The best things in life are free......

As we approach our first born's 8th birthday I find myself overly excited in preparations.  There are treats to hand out to his class mates on Friday, cakes to bake, extra food to make as the party venue's food is pretty average , the party bags to hand out at the end of the party, then the Thank you cards after the event.

And boy do I get excited.  " What cake would you like, what treats for your friends, who's coming, haven't heard from such and such, do you know which parents are staying ( This is my cry for help with supervising of 20 plus children ...very very very excited children).

I often find Xavier saying " Muuuum....I already told you"...this is because my over excited brain seeks the need for change to always try and improve his childhood memories.  At worst I figure if I screw everything else up at the very least he will say " My Mum threw me great parties though"!

Which brings me to "THE GIFT". For someone who prides herself on minimalistic living, lives on a budget, and is a hippy at heart, when it comes to my kids birthdays something snaps.  And although I know what we are going to give him next Saturday I find myself still searching for that little extra surprise.

So I asked him, if you could pick 5 things to do on your birthday or receive what would it be?  These were his answers :

1.  That I wake up and I've turned into a Ninjago Lego.

2 .  Play with my friends

3.  Have Nonno come down from heaven and share cake with us

4.  Go on a night walk with our torches.

5.  Play 10 games of Uno without interruption.

Pretty simple really.

 Can't say I can make number 1 happen ( although I have 'ebayed' it).

Can make number 2, 4 and 5 happen.  As for number 3,  I promised him that his Nonno will be looking down from heaven and celebrating with us.

My lesson from Xavier was that not once did he mention a 'thing' to be purchased.  Not to say he does not like 'things', he is a normal child that does ask for things but obviously not to high on his wish list.

As we swing into birthday preparation week I will keep it simple, enjoy his last week of being 7 and take the pressure of creating memorable moments. 

Something tells me they unfold naturally anyway :)