We spent his birthday celebrating at the NC Zoo, just us as a family. It was GREAT and we really enjoyed doing that as a family. BJ and I both took the week of his birthday off to celebrate. We LOVE experiences and exploring together so this was a perfect way for us to celebrate Brooks! We went to his weekly swim lessons as a family, the NC Zoo, Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville, Dan Nichols Park, South Mountain State Park, and Apple Hill Orchard and Cider Mill. This is a tradition we plan to continue for future birthdays!
Figuring out the logistics and how we wanted to do Brooks’ party took a lot of consideration and ultimately we decided what we felt was best for us and our family. These are strange times and while we decided to do things a little differently this time than what we normally will, it was GREAT and we had FUN celebrating Brooks!
We decided to split up the birthday festivities into two weekends that way we could invite more people but also not have as many people all together at one time. We invited immediate family and our closest friends the first weekend and then extended it out to extended family the second weekend for a drop by party so it would be spaced out and again not having as many people here all at one time.
The theme of the birthday celebration was the BIG ONE, fishing theme. I found an editable Digital File on Etsy to use for invites and signs for the party decorations. We live on the lake and have a lot of family and some friends that enjoy fishing so thought since this party was at home this would be a GREAT theme! We had fish and lake themed snacks and finger foods along with fishing decorations. We had One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss for the guest book for those that attended to sign. We also did a time capsule where we had family and friends write a note to Brooks that we will put away until his 18th birthday.
Brooks had so much fun celebrating and got some AWESOME, FUN gifts. Some of our favorites include a handmade book (from Bee’s Books) we got for him that was specially made for him, handmade bear rocking chair, a car ramp that he LOVES playing with, a fishing toy for the bathtub, books, basketball/soccer toy, fishing rod and tackle box with homemade worms and trucks.
