Tavin's 5th Birthday...Abraham Lincoln-Style

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was a popular five-year-old birthday party theme?  No?  Well then, you are right.  It's not popular, I'm not sure anyone has ever done it before.  But a few weeks ago when Doug and I were brainstorming what we should to make Tav's birthday special we easily found ourselves pondering some of his greatest interests of this past year.  His appreciation and affection for Abraham Lincoln rose to the top, so we went with it and had fun being creative for our unique about-to-be five-year-old.

Unfortunately, as the day of Tav's birthday drew close he came down with a nasty cold and cough.  We should've figured.  Tavin has literally been sick on his birthday EVERY single year in one way or the other.  He was even born with a sniffle (I remember freaking out about it).  So, although I had prepared 24 pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for him to bring to preschool for a mini birthday celebration there at snack time, we had to keep him home.  He took the news very well since he was zapped from a poor night's sleep Tuesday into his birthday morning and he knew that if he had a restful morning and afternoon nap, most likely we could still have his party.  Since he didn't make it to preschool, I did let him open the gift that had arrived days ago from Gramma and Grampa and the gift from Uncle Nate and Aunt Megan that he had been waiting to open since Sunday.  Here's the happy (although snotty) birthday boy.

He opened the gift from Uncle Nate & Aunt Megan, Alex & Andy first.  We just discovered this book at the library and it is beautiful.  So perfect that we now have a copy to treasure as our own!

Alex had also packed up a little bag that said, "Do you want to build a snowman?" and inside were the contents to do just that.  It was a fun activity for Tav and then he sweetly gave the snowman (or "Olaf" as Penn calls every snowman) to Penn Rye.

Next he opened his present from Gramma and Grampa (check out Penn's confused/sort of left out face!).

He loved the Planes 2 t-shirt (which he wore the rest of the day) and he tore right into the race plane glider that came with it.  It was a nice distraction for him all morning.  Thanks, Gramma and Grampa!  Here you can see him on the phone with Gramma and Grampa right after he opened it.  Perfect timing that they called to sing to him right at that moment!

The rest of the morning/midday was pretty low key for the birthday boy...trying to conserve energy, get him rested and be able to have his party in the evening.  Once I got Penn and Tav down for their naps around 1:30pm, I was busy!!  The party was a go and I had plenty of preparations to finish up.  The day before I had made the favors with Tav.  United States cookies.

A very creative (for me, I generally don't think of myself as creative, let alone artistic!) project for the afternoon included making the "Pin the Whiskers on Mr. Lincoln" game.  Thank goodness for Pinterest where I found a tutorial for elementary-age kids on how to draw President Lincoln.  I figured I could give that a try.  

The finished product.  I know, it looks like elementary-age work, but I was super proud.  I've never drawn a person's face before.  It sort of looks like Lincoln, right?

For the other decorations I just printed off some simple, free stuff online and made my own birthday banner, set up our American flags that we keep on hand for patriotic holidays and displayed a bunch of library books we had around on Tav's favorite president.

The blank space on the buffet was reserved for the cake.

Doug asked a friend from church to make a cake on-theme for the party.  She loves to bake intricate cakes and so she took on the challenge happily.  She and Doug decided the White House would work best.  Doug picked up the cake on his way home from work, minutes before the party began.  Pretty impressive (and enormous!).

Tavin was thrilled when he came down from his nap to the surprise of the downstairs decorated for his birthday.  He knew it was an Abraham Lincoln theme, but he didn't get what that meant.   It was so fun seeing his reaction and made my prep work totally worth it.  This is a special kid with these mature and brilliant interests.  Doug and I were happy to fan the flames and honor his special personality.  It was rewarding too because I knew he loved it and appreciated it.  With a birthday close to Christmas, I so wanted him to know that we wanted him to have his own special day still.  I think he got it.

The Lincoln-inspired poster board top hats were the first activity of the party.  As kids arrived around 5pm, they got to opt if they wanted a hat like Tav's.  Most of the boys did, the girls weren't into it.  Tav was pretty proud of his which I think got his buddies into it too.  As friends arrived we kept them busy with the hats and with playing with what else but Lincoln logs of course!!  We had a challenge for them to try and make a one-room log cabin with a window and a door (just like the one Lincoln helped his father build as a young man).  

Creative play with the logs won out though and soon enough everyone was there and it was time to start more of an organized activity.  The kids were super intrigued by the Lincoln whiskers game, so we went right for that at 5:30pm.  It was a hit!

After the whiskers game, the kids played a bit more, but we figured we should get their snacky dinner started to cut off the craziness that was beginning to ensue as well as stay on schedule to make sure we got through cake and singing before anyone had to leave.  Here's a view of the kiddos at the table.  They were some of Tav's oldest, closest friends and they all did a really good job as guests.  Only one parent stayed, so we were thankful that we knew the kids so well and that they are all such sweeties!

After everyone had a chance to eat some real, well-balanced food, it was cake time!!  Tavin was so excited about his White House cake!  

Here's a video of "Happy Birthday" for our five-year-old!

The kids LOVED the cake.  I didn't have it until later that evening, and I LOVED it too.  I'm not usually much of a cake person, especially if it's from a bakery or store, but this was amazingly most, chocolatey and mouth-watering.  We have plenty left, so if your mouth is watering as you read this, just stop by and we'll give you a generous portion!  Thanks so much to Michelle for the amazing cake for our Tavin!  After cake, the kids played a bit and then we decided to fill the last few minutes with present-opening.  The kids were all so sweet about it.  They crowded in around Tav to see what he was getting or watch his reaction to their gift.  They all handled it so well.  Here's a glimpse of a few moments of the controlled chaos.  Tavin did a great job being excited about anything, but he didn't have to fake it.  The presents were so generous and perfectly age/interest appropriate.  What a blessed little boy!

Claire's mom, Deborah, one of my dear girlfriends, made Tavin an Abraham Lincoln t-shirt.  Tavin LOVED it!

Koen gave Tav some Legos he paid for himself, which was super sweet to see and then he made a card at school for Tavin.  Inside he drew a free-hand sketch of Abraham Lincoln.  I forgot to take a pic of it for the blog (things were a little busy at this point!), but it was fantastic and Koen was so proud and excited to give it to him.

Parents arrived right at 6:30pm to pick up their kids.  We've decided an hour and a half is the perfect amount of time for a birthday party.  We were on the verge of craziness only a few times and we had enough activities to fill that space well while also letting the kids just be around each other.  Once everyone had gone with hugs and thanks from the birthday boy, it was time for us to get our boys to bed, do a quick clean up of the most necessary things and then promptly retire to the couch to chill out!!  Phew, we did it!  And Tav, it was totally worth it.  You are an amazing kid and we value you, your interests and the boy the Lord is cultivating you to be each and every day.  We pray that you will continue to be interested in things that build you up and inspire you to be a man of character, just like your hero of the year, Abraham Lincoln.  We love you and can't wait to see what lies ahead for you this year.