This past weekend we celebrated the first birthdays of Josiah (my second son) and my nephew, Morgan.  They were born only 2 and half weeks apart, so of course a joint birthday party was in order.

To answer the question that I am asked constantly…NO, we did not plan to have them at the same time.  Maybe there are families that actually plan these things.  We are not that family!

Every time someone asks me this question I picture the two couples sitting down together with their calendars, strategically marking big red “X’s” over the dates of menstrual cycles, all while listening to Marvin Gay or maybe Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”

It’s horrifying. PLEASE, stop asking me!

Now, on with the point of this post.

So we celebrated their first birthdays with a Cookie Monster theme.   Why Cookie Monster?

Did our sweet little boys select this themselves? No, if they selected it based on their favorite things right now it would have been a milk, pacifier or maybe orajel themed party.

Is Cookie Monster super popular in Mexico?  No, in fact he’s practically impossible to find.  We ended up with a random blue monster pinata, because Cookie Monster was not an option.

Basically, the answer is that I went with my strengths.  What am I good at?  Making cookies.  How can I turn that into an appropriately themed 1 year old birthday party?  Ah yes, Cookie Monster!  Perfect.

So there you have it.  Plus, he’s blue and they are both boys.  Another perfect match.  Genius!

So what does any modern mom do once she has selected a party theme (or maybe in order to select one)?  Yes, of course, scour Pinterest for ideas.  Let’s face it…I’m just not that creative on my own.

So the pictures you see are generally the result of me stumbling upon other people’s great ideas and building on them…pretty successfully I think.

Anyway, the party was a great success…friends young and old came, Mexican rainy season kindly held off it’s wet downpour until the evening, we ate hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, and lots of cookies and cupcakes, we beat up a pinata, we sang happy birthday (both the Mexican and American versions), we smashed cupcakes in babies faces, no one was injured and no toddlers or babies had complete meltdowns in front of all their guests despite the lack of naps.  In my mind, these are the markings of a good first birthday party thrown by American-expats living in Mexico.

Now, go ahead and pin away, so that other people can think I’m actually creative!