I had good intentions of switching up the theme this year. I kind of feel like it’s lost a little of the surprise and magic. Early in the month though, Kaitlyn and Sof started asking about it. It’s still new to Sof and her friends, and the big girls apparently never tire of it.
It seems it still has the magic.
I always look for a new Gingerbread theme book on Scholastic. This year I found one called “Keep Running Gingerbread Man”. As the old saying goes, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Turns out the story revolves around all the characters being too fat and out of shape to chase after the Gingerbread Man.
We had to do the party on the first Monday of break, so we didn’t have our usual “get ready for it” party. That was kinda sad. I was so looking forward to seeing how Anne had progressed in her house making skills. Lucky for her Mark took over that whole job!
Adrienne made the big gingerbread guy. It took two tries again this year. By the time Natalie is 20 we should have that part mastered.
I asked Sof what two friends she wanted to invite. She didn’t hesitate to answer “Allie and the triplets”! I didn’t bother to explain that that was really 4. Lucky for me Lexi, Livy, and Kaitlyn all invited different friends from last year, so I didn’t have to totally reinvent the wheel!
When the girls finally got there, we started with making a gingerbread ornament and decorating the houses.
We added a game of bingo this year to switch it up. It was a lesson in patience for some of our littlest ones, but it paid off when they realized everyone got a prize eventually.
We had our usual scavenger hunt using pictures like last year. Sof’s group did better than last year, but once they spied the prize they just went for it!
We ended with a game of hot potato. Again the little girls didn’t quite get it. They were anxious to get out so they would get their book! LOL. They didn’t want to stay in for the extra prize!
Every year that we pull this off feels like a huge accomplishment. It’s a lot of work at an already busy time, but I know the girls will always have great memories from it.
Natalie must have had a good time because she was asleep 10 minutes after the organized activities ended. The other girls went in the basement to run off some sugar. Em gave Nat her phone to play with while we got cleaned up. We looked over to see this sweet bug out like a light.
…while visions of sugarplums danced in her head.
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