Reptile Birthday Party-Happy 5th My Sweet, Boy

When my little guy first said he wanted to have a reptile party, I thought, ok, that’s a little different but so fitting for him. I knew I could make it happen so we quickly agreed on the theme. I did what most people do and headed to Pinterest to get some ideas and see what others were sharing. I love utilizing Pinterest for inspiration, but sometimes it’s not always easy to recreate certain looks (I’ve had a few Pinterest fails in my day) or certain items you’re looking for can’t be found.

If you’ve been following this little space of mine then you know A loves all types of critters. It seems like more often than not I find him with something in his hand or he’s off trying to catch something. He really seems to have no fear and I haven’t figured out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing just yet.

We wanted to make his 5th birthday extra special for him so we decided we would have someone come to the house that could bring along all his favorites. You know, snakes, lizards, a baby alligator, just the everyday household friends. We went with Rizzo’s Reptiles and could not have been happier. Jesse made his day so special and he’s still talking about how he’s the only one of his friends that’s ever had an alligator at their party.

I’m not going to lie, I had a lot of fun planning his party too and I know that some of these things the five year olds didn’t care about, but I love adding in small details that made it just as special for me to be able to put a personalized touch on things. 

If you’ve been a reader since wayyyy back when, eekk going on five years now since I started this blog after A was born, then you might recognize some of the ideas and decor from his first birthday. We had a camping theme for him and I incorporated a lot of the same ideas into his reptile party. My father in-law made this wooden cake tower for him for his first birthday and we’ve stored it and used it several times since. It was so special to be able to pull it out again and have it there for his fifth birthday.

We kept the menu simple but had fun with some food themes. I love some good food themes. My friend Becky from PaperieOffPark created the gator-ade labels for me and all the food tent cards. She also did them for little nugget’s shark themed party and I am always impressed with how they come out!

Ok, so let’s talk about the day. If you caught my insta stories then you saw some behind the scenes fun. We decided to wait and tell him the day of his party that he would actually be having live reptiles there with him. I had a complete fail moment when I thought I was taping his reaction but I don’t know what in the world my pregnancy brain did and I got two seconds of him running away all excited to tell his little friends that a snake was coming. Let’s just say he was sooo excited and felt like the star of the day, as he should.

We’ve had so much rain over here lately that I was worried about his party because little nugget’s was a wash out. Thankfully we could not have been blessed with a better weekend for his party. It was sunny and in the low 70’s and perfect for being outside. We had the bounce house set up for him, stumps set out for all of his friends to sit on during the reptile presentation, corn hole out in the backyard for anyone to play with, and plenty of tables for the adults to sit and relax at.

We put together a head table for him and his friends to sit at and enjoy lunch and then had separate food tables and a cake table set up.

Overall we really couldn’t have asked for things to go any better. I got to sit and catch up with some of my friends while the kids played, everyone left with full bellies, and plenty of goodies in their goodie bags.

I still can’t believe that my little man is five today. It’s crazy how quickly the years go by.  I’m trying to eat up every moment that I can with him. Even on those crazy days when we still have meltdowns and are trying to work through our feelings. A, we know that God has big plans for you. You are such a smart, creative, and amazing little man that doesn’t miss a beat. I’ve said it before but your memory seriously blows my mind and the things you think of far exceed your years. We pray that God will continue to instill passions and desires in your heart that will be utilized for amazing things as you continue to grow older and mature. Keep shining and never let anyone dull your confidence. We love you more than you will ever know!