We finally celebrated my daughter’s birthday over the weekend. A little late, but with the cold bug we all had to deal with, it was best that we get some time to get well beforehand.

I’ve always kept the parties simple. Themes are simply declared, such as when she wanted a princess party. We just told the guests to wear their princess dresses, which just about all of them already had. Obviously we didn’t invite any boys to that party, although we could have encouraged them to be knights or something.

But I liked the theme better this time. It was a garden theme.

I made a butterfly shaped cake. That’s as close as we got to decorating anything around here.

Rather than do gift bags, we had the kids decorate little pots and then plant seeds. This was a huge hit. First graders love craft projects. I understand the ones who forgot to bring theirs home are anxiously awaiting my remembering to bring them to school.

And several of the parents were quite delighted at the lack of small, rapidly broken toys to deal with. We all know how quickly the usual gift bag fare goes into the trash. It’s ridiculous.

They were also fascinated by the seed bombs we gave them to plant. Most of the parents had never heard of the idea, but really loved it. I’m thinking there are probably too many seeds per bomb for that size pot, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

It’s really nice being able to give the kids something a little more memorable to take home with them while giving a really subtle lesson. I don’t think most of the kids or parents were really thinking of this as an environmental move. It just looks like a way to have the party favors be a little more unique. Given that I don’t know which of the parents would really be up for a discussion on environmental topics, I’d call that a good thing.