The girls turned 4 on September 7th, and leading up to that day I was back and forth on whether or not I would have a birthday party for them. I couldn’t believe that we were seemingly in the same place we’d been the year before – with so many of our friends coming down with what we were sure was the Delta variant and feeling like a party might not be the best idea. Then the girls and I got sick, and I knew a party on their birthday was off the table. They ended up being healthy on the day of their birthday, and we had a beautiful, simple day together. They went to school and got to bring treats, then came home and we did presents and cake as a family.
After that, I kept saying I wasn’t going to throw a party, but we just have so many friends who wanted to celebrate them and an easy pool to do it at! I talked to the girls and we decided to do a “pool party” – since that’s where we spend all of our time anyways. Romy requested a “unicorn float cake” and Piper requested a “flamingo floatie cake,” I ordered a few things on Amazon in their favorite colors (green for Romy and pink for Piper), and we had ourselves a party!!
Cute backstory – when the girls were babies, they had a unicorn and flamingo float. They LOVE to look back on photos and videos of them in those floats, and have stayed very loyal to the fact that the unicorn is Romy’s and the flamingo is Piper’s. I think with being twins, they like to do or have things together, but they also really cling to the things that make them different or the things that distinguish them, even just in past photos/videos.
Activities
When I finally decided to have a party, I started thinking we needed a bounce house or a petting zoo or some grand activity to make it seem like a birthday. I thought about setting up stations or crafts for the kids. Then, I pulled it back and thought “maybe I’ll just get a piñata”… But in the end, we had no planned activities (not even a piñata!) and I loved it that way. We are lucky in that we have a lot of fun stuff for kids at our house, so we had the pool, the trampoline, a sand box, a swing set, and I just let people do whatever they wanted. It was such a hot day that people mostly stayed in the pool or took breaks in the playroom inside and I didn’t feel like I had to herd anyone anywhere or force any kind of schedule. The only planned thing was to sing happy birthday to the girls, and that was enough!
Food
We have a good program going with our usual pool day food, so I stuck to it! A lot of our friends have to drive far to get here, so I want to make sure there’s enough food for them to stay as long as they want. I had breakfast casseroles (made the night before so I can just through them in the oven), pastries, fruit, and coffee ready to go for people who showed up in the morning (and to make it so that we could have lunch a bit later), everything prepped to grill burgers and hot dogs for a lunch with watermelon, grapes, salad, baked beans (cause guys, I grew up on those things!), and chips! Costco Instacart delivery is my best friend! I also had baskets of snacks set out by the pool for the kids, and for desserts we stuck with the theme and did the girls’ requested cakes, some beach ball cake pops, and some sunglass cookies.
I was going for kind of a retro pool party vibe, so I had to include these retro Igloo coolers! If you were born in the 80s, I’m going to bet that seeing these takes you right back to childhood! The colors happened to match the party, and we have actually used them a ton!! I put all of the kid snacks/drinks in them, and also had some little favors out for the kids – bubbles, beach balls, and sunnies!
Gift Ideas
I have to preface this by saying that we are still at a fun age where they get excited about the smallest things. I could have given them one small/cheap toy and if it was something thoughtful or that they’re into, they’d play with it for hours. I told people they didn’t need to bring gifts, but of course with all of our friends and family wanting to love on the girls, we ended up with some great stuff anyways! Since I had a lot of you on Instagram asking me for gift ideas for a 4-yr-old, here are some gifts that were big hits with the girls…
Bikes – they already have these balance bikes, but have never had an actual bike with training wheels. These were recommended by a friend, and they’re so cute! I went with the 16 inch wheels, based on the girls’ height.
Digital Cameras – the girls are always stealing my phone to take pictures and videos, so my parents got them these little mini cameras. They love them, and the price point is such that it’s ok if they break them ;).
Character toys – we had friends who got them toys from their very favorite shows, and the girls have been playing with them nonstop. You can’t go wrong with toys from the new Paw Patrol movie (every kid right now needs Liberty or the new “vehicles” for the other characters, touché to the Paw Patrol franchise on that!) They also got a bunch of Bluey toys which is our absolute favorite right now (I laugh/cry every episode, don’t even get me started). And a friend who knew they love T.O.T.S got them little crates with baby animals in them and it has been SO cute to watch the girls “take care” of them and pretend to be Pip and Freddy from the show! My little brother got them little Tuk Tuks from Raya that actually roll up and they play with those non-stop!
Costumes – my girls are super in to costumes right now, but it’s hard for me when they constantly want to change in and out of something elaborate. My little sister got them super hero capes/masks and I love them! So easy to take on and off and so fun to see them act like little heroes!
Walkie Talkies – their aunt/uncle/cousins got them walkie talkies and they are such a perfect age for them! Finally got the concept of pushing the button to talk and letting go to listen ;). They love taking them all over the house and yard to talk to each other!
Pillow Pet – my sister’s family got them pillow pets that project different colored stars onto the ceiling and they LOVE them! It’s so magical!
Remote Control Bumper Cars – Our friends got the girls these and they are almost a bigger hit with the adults!! And a really fun way for the adults and kids to interact together. We all decided that they are a perfect gift for any age!
Diving Toys – a friend got them a treasure chest diving game, which is so perfect for them! They’re just learning how to dive, and you can sink the treasure chest to the bottom and have the put the coins in the slot for an extra challenge.
Experiences – while the concept of an experience is still hard to grasp, I think it’s so cool to give someone a card that says you’ll take them somewhere. One year our friends gave us a gift card to the San Diego Zoo, another year a friend made a little card that said they’d take us to the aquarium!
I got emotional enough about these two girls on my Instagram, so I’ll spare you here! You can also catch a highlight reel with the few videos I have of the day – we were having too much fun for me to know where my phone was. I will just end by saying that I’m so glad I threw this party together at the last minute, because these girls are so fun to celebrate and we have the best people in our lives to bring together for it! Forever grateful and so, so lucky!!
Happy 4th birthday, Romy and Piper!!! You are loved by SO many!
xx
Jen
OOTD
