What do you do when both of your kid's birthdays are smack in the heart of the holiday season? Turning two and four this year, I didn't plan to have a big party, but a small combo-bday celebration with our closest family and few friends at our house for my littles. But then Liam, who is more aware now of his birthday now, started talking about his birthday party and my heart melted. And knowing Nora didn't really understand the concept - we kept the combo and moved it a bit closer to Liam's actual bday.
I still wanted to keep this party under control - keep what matters at the heart (because sometimes I think all these over the top b-day parties are more about proving something to other adults than the child's happiness), but I also knew that I couldn't handle having a slightly larger than originally planned gathering at my own home (especially with it stuffed with holiday decor). So, we had it at a local Yoga Studio - one of my very favorites in the Kansas City area, Darling Yoga!
They actually have a jump house that fits in their large yoga room which kids always love! So we used this room to set up a few snacks, cupcakes, added some balloons and a couple banners, and that was it! The littles ran around, loved building forts with the yoga blocks and then, of course, we had a kid's yoga teacher come and do a little yoga class for the older toddlers in the smaller yoga room. I was unsure how this would go, but you guys - I was swooning over those lil tots doing yoga, all quiet, listening intently to their teacher, Kat, and sticking their little bums in the air!
Not only is yoga SO GOOD for them, but it was so fun! Their yoga teacher had them doing animal sounds, kicking their feet and leap frog jumps! Then at the end, they turned out the lights to lay in savasana - which illuminated a ceiling of stars! They were in awe!
This was the most well-behaved these kids were the whole time! I loved watching them laugh and giggle their way through yoga. This makes me want to start taking Liam more regularly (and Nora soon once she is a bit older)!
Some of the babies and younger toddlers stayed in the big room during kid yoga and got the bounce house all to themselves, which was good!
This ended up being the perfect thing to do to let the kids just have fun, play and get out some energy! I also loved it because I could relax a bit myself, not feeling like I had to run crafts, fill drinks, worry about impending weather or fit everyone in my home.
If you are in the Kansas City area - I highly recommend
contacting Darling Yoga for your next birthday party! Then all you have to do is bring whatever decor you fancy, some nibbles & sweets and a bucket of drinks. I didn't even do little goodie bags - but instead laid out a bunch of sticker sheets on the food table to decorate and then for kids to take home!
The most important thing, Liam loved it all! (I think Nora did, too?? haha). Thanks to all our family and friends who came!
