Around Here We Prefer A Small Crowd

William is my child who doesn't much like being in a big group. Ever. Especially if there's noise. A Big Noisy Group is a definite joy-kill for my buddy.

And it's only taken me five years to figure this out.

All four of his previous birthday parties have involved 8 million family/friends. And he's been a total wreck for each and every party.

So, today, we had a small party. Only 4 friends. His very closest friends. The ones who are here almost every week. It was like an inflated play date. He loved it. Every minute.

For his party, William wanted Bolt on his birthday cake. No problem. And Bolt plates. And Bolt napkins. AND Bolt party hats. The hats had dog ears. This was a bonus for Will.
He was very happy about his Bolt party hat. He likes to wear it, then pretend to BE a dog. With super powers. This was so cute for a while. But after the eleventy-millionth 'super bark', it got a bit tiresome.

When our guests arrived, each received a real dog collar. I thought this was such a cute idea. But then, they ALL started with the 'super barking'. Chaos.

So, I made margaritas. For the parents. We needed them. Margaritas really do make everything better. Then the boys decorated bone-shaped cookies. And ate them. All of them. This was before we had cake. It was a Sugarama.

In order to receive their candy-filled goody bags (sorry parents - more sugar to take home. yay.) the boys had to complete Super Dog Obedience Training.

Here they are scratching behind their doggie ears:

Both funny, and sort of impressive, eh? The flexibility in the youth today. Who knew?

And here they are wagging their tails:

Don't you just want to pinch every one of those little bottoms?

Me too.