Tips On Getting Babies to Sleep by Guest Blogger Angela of the Mommy Stories

Well, it's been awhile, my friends! This poor little space is getting pretty dusty and it's time to change that. Being a mom of three has started to catch up with me. Mira is 16 months now and she's a firecracker. She climbs everything, dumps anything she can find, makes more messes than any of my kids and has been on a sleep rebellion. So I thought since I'm a walking zombie, maybe you are too. In our family, I am the strict one with kids. I have rules and I am admittedly on my kids all the time to correct behavior. It's an exhausting job! But I am terrible at the sleep part. My sister, however, is the baby sleep master. Her kids slept so early and never looked back. Over the years she's helped me get mine on track and I'm so grateful for it that I figured you'd enjoy her wisdom as well. So here it is, words to live by from my sister Angela of The Mommy Stories:
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I'm getting caught up on some old post ideas I've had and this one has been on my brain for years to actually write and put to words. Getting a baby to sleep through the night is the hardest thing ever. It's something all moms talk about, all moms work toward and strive to figure out, because well, we NEED sleep. The lack of sleep thing with a newborn is the hardest part of parenting it feels like. I was a zombie during that part of our lives.

I've taken years to post this, because, well, I hear so often from parents who are in the thick of not sleeping that they just cannot do anything to fix the problem, it is what it is, they're just dealing with not sleeping for a year or more. They think it's normal and they feel judged or bad mothers if you suggest anything else. I've never wanted to judge, only teach. I want you to take this information as helpful tips if it can be for you. No judgment at how your path has gone up until now.

After three children who slept through the night at 5 weeks, 8 weeks and 9 weeks consecutively I've learned a few things I'd like to share in hopes that it helps you teach your little one to sleep through the night early on.

NOTE: This post is written for new parents starting out with an infant or parents starting out with their second, third etc. and wanting to ensure they sleep better than the last. If you need advice on how to help an older baby/child sleep through the night after a pattern has already been established to not sleep please consult with your pediatrician and a sleep specialist such as the Baby Sleep Geek in Maine https://thebabysleepgeek.com/.

Sleep Philosophy
I think it helps to start with hearing a little about where I'm coming from in my belief and philosophy about sleep. Notice the title of this article, "Teaching a Baby to Sleep Through the Night." I don't subscribe to the philosophy that some babies just decide to sleep through the night. I think it's different for all babies, yes, but for the typically developing, healthy baby I believe you need to teach them to sleep through the night. I think there are conscious things you can do to help your little one sleep longer stretches early on.

To me, it's a parenting choice you need to make for your sanity and your own health, as much as for baby's learning experience and overall wellbeing. When I talk to parents of babies who don't sleep through the night at 9 months, 12 months, 2 years old, there are typically things they've done or not done to get there. That's not to place blame, in fact it's a good thing, once you know what's not working you can work toward fixing it to something that does work and gets all of you more sleep. It's the same as any other situation that doesn't work for you- exercising or being out of shape, buying fruits or not, having a clean car or not. If it's your priority, something you're working on, it may have a better outcome than not focusing on it.

I also believe that it's OK to want to sleep. It doesn't make you a bad mother if you work hard to help your little one sleep - without nursing nonstop and without putting them in your bed. If you want to do those things, that's great, I don't judge you. But I think it's completely OK and nurturing and wonderfully bonding to have your little one sleep through the night and take bottles instead of needing to nurse every hour in your bed. I think there's this shame or something for moms who talk about needing to get that sleep, and that's just ridiculous.

A well-rested mother is a better mother, end of story. I think we'd all agree to that. So just give yourself grace if you want sleep, it's normal. It is not a badge of honor to say you're nursing nonstop and staying up with your baby. You don't HAVE to do that to be a good mom. 

Of course, those who do ARE great moms, and those who sleep longer stretches are great, too, just like those who use formula are awesome and those who nurse are, too. Everyone's experience is different.

Tips for Teaching Your Baby to SLEEP: 
Note: These tips are for the typically developing, healthy baby. I realize that all babies are different and those who have an extenuating circumstance like sickness or colic or something along those lines may have a different challenge with sleep to address with their doctor. Growth spurts? Do your best to keep to routine, but remind yourself it's NORMAL for babies to eat more and need to be held more during those times. The key here is to TRY to follow some of these suggestions and to make better sleep a priority versus something that you expect to just happen. 

• Set a routine in the hospital. Feed every two hours. I learned this one by chance. When my doctor left the room the first day after settling me in with the newborn after my c-section I asked how often I should feed the baby. He said every 2 hours. So I did that. On the dot. Of course, if baby was hungry sooner, that was fine, but I kept it routine from day one every 2 hours. Regulating the feeding pattern naturally regulates the sleeping pattern. So feed baby every 2 hours- nursing or bottles, whatever, it works the same. If baby is sleeping when 2 hours comes along, wake them with a diaper change and feed to keep routine. Yes, I know you aren't supposed to wake a sleeping baby.... but during the day all bets are off because YOU need your sleep at night. If you feed a baby every two hours during the day, you get more sleep at night because baby is fuller during the day and not as ravenous when he wakes up later. Feeding every two hours I kept up with the same ounces also. Nursing or bottles, this works the same. 
• Start early… I start helping my babies sleep better in the first few days of life by feeding them on a routine… that leads to sleeping on routine. But at least by 6 weeks, you should be thinking about teaching them to sleep. It won't be perfect, it won't be succinct, but you HAVE to work toward a routine. It doesn't just happen. I believe we need to teach babies to sleep, just like we teach them to walk and to use a spoon at breakfast. Help them by setting the scene and routine early on. 
• Keep to the schedule. Schedule with a newborn? haha Yeah right! I know, I get it. It's not always on cue with a newborn. Butttt the more you stick to feeding on a routine, then sleeping happens on a routine. So make your #1 priority be that you are feeding on a routine. This means you schedule play dates and doctors appointments and things around the feeding routine as MUCH as possible. Not always possible, of course, but do your best. It means you wait to go to Target until you know you can feed baby first and then go, and then shop and change diaper in the parking lot and then nurse in your car so you're on routine. Think of it like your job right now is to keep this baby fed, healthy and happy- which includes sleep, too. It's OK to let other things go by the wayside. 
• Don't pick up right away. If baby wakes in the night, don't pick her up immediately. I know that is your instinct, but sometimes babies wake up. That's normal. They don't always need something. Shush them, rub their face, re-wrap the swaddle around their body from the bassinet, but don't pick up if they aren't really crying. 
• Don't offer food right away. Sometimes they just need to be held upright to get a burp out. Sometimes it's a wet diaper. Other times their sock fell off and they are cold. Don't instantly go for more food. Yes, of course many times it's food in the beginning, particularly through a growth spurt, but don't always immediately think that. Try a pacifier. Try shushing to sleep on your shoulder. My kids were very routine with eating because I set it up that way from day one in the hospital- feeding every two hours, so when baby was crying at 45 minutes to an hour after I fed them, I knew it was not food they needed so I'd help them fall asleep. IF baby is hungry, of course feed them. But don't always rely on that being the case. 
• Dream feed at 10-12 at night to fill up, and make it a bottle. This is a big one that helped us. Staying up later at night in those first few weeks and waking baby to feed him before you go to sleep at 11 or 12 at night helps you to get longer stretches during the time you'd be going to bed. Babies don't go to bed at 7 at night or even 9 at night, if you do that they will be up in a few hours. Of course, my babies would fall asleep by 8ish at night and then we'd just wake them with a diaper change and a bottle. Bottles fill them up longer than nursing, so this last feed at night I pump and Dad fed a bottle. Then we'd all go to bed at midnight to get in a few hours during our normal sleep pattern. This worked great. 
• Start bottles and pacifiers in week one for soothing and filling baby up more. Pacifiers are a must in my opinion. Babies need to suck and soothe. They do NOT need to use you or a bottle for that purpose. We used a bottle by 5 days old with every child of ours. Two of the three nursed perfectly, one never nursed to begin with. Same with don't always go for offering food, sometimes baby is just fussy and needs soothing instead of more food, so give a pacifier. Waiting to use bottles until the week before you return to work after maternity leave is a BAD idea. Many, many moms and babies struggle with this, I see comments about it all the time in our Facebook group. Avoid that by using these tools early on before baby has a chance to get confused by them. If it's all baby knows from the beginning, they won't be confused or bothered by using any option- breast, bottle, pacifier. 
• Bottles from 12-4 am only. No nursing during this time. Bottles fill babies longer, three kids and that's our experience. Talking to other moms who use bottles, this was the case for them also. This also avoids the case where you nurse at 1 a.m. and baby is sleepy in the dark setting and doesn't nurse on the second side so isn't full and so needs to nurse a half hour later. Nope... bottles only so they fill up and get back to sleep. 
• Teach them where they will sleep. Lay baby down for at least one nap a day in the place where you want baby to sleep at night… bassinet, crib, etc. NOT just swings or rock and plays, etc. IF you want baby to sleep in the bassinet in your room at night, you need to teach them it's a good place to sleep during waking hours where they can see in the light. If you are moving from bassinet to the crib in the next room, then during the day put baby in the crib to lay around awake while you fold laundry or put them down for a nap in there - even after they've fallen asleep in the swing move them to the crib for example. It's about comfort and teaching them this new place to sleep. I held my newborns while sleeping multiple times a day just because they grow so fast and it was so sweet. My routine idea doesn't suggest you don't hold your babies. It's just that you need to try at least a few times a day to help them sleep where they will sleep when older, in a setting they will sleep in when you return to work, for example. 
• Keep the sleep routine short and simple. I've heard of people having these elaborate sleep routines, like bath, lotion, nurse, rock, song, music, massage, etc. It sounds lovely, but it's too long and not something anyone can duplicate. Make your sleep routine simple, something that anyone can step in and recreate - in case you want a night out and Dad's in charge or you are heading to a wedding and grandparents step in, or perhaps you go back to work and daycare provider needs to repeat this routine. Make it easy, only 1-3 steps, and less than 10 minutes long, 5 is ideal. I know this sounds harsh... but you won't only have this one child typically, and when second child comes along it'll be hard to keep this up. So stick to pajamas and diaper change, rocking while singing a song, and into bed or something along those lines. 
• Don't start anything you can't finish or continue as part of the sleep routine. This involves things like the rock and play - babies grow out of these quickly and then are used to rocking to fall asleep so struggle in cribs I've heard. I had a friend who was going to give me one of these for baby #3 and I refused it, afraid we'd create a habit we couldn't break. I never swaddled my kids for sleep, because I'd heard WAY too many stories of babies outgrowing swaddles around 5 months old and freaking out crying and not sleeping when they weren't swaddled since they were so used to it. I avoided this altogether, mostly because baby #1 taught me he didn't like his arms in the swaddle, and then purposely with kids 2 and 3. We'd swaddle their body tightly but keep their arms out so they were used to that part. Be conscious about your sleep aids and routine- if you can't continue it past only a few months, don't start it. It's one less thing to deal with. 
• Night time is NOT play time… don't talk, don't turn on lights, move swiftly and quietly when doing a diaper change and getting a bottle out or when nursing. Day time is for lights and playing. I'd put the hallway light on, not the baby's room light on. I'd rock in the dark to nurse or bottle feed. I'd pick baby up crying and shush them and whisper that it was ok, that I was here, but no cooing and talking after that. Keep it a quiet setting so they can easily fall back asleep. 
• Have help, let dad in on the process too. You don't have to do it all in the night. NO way! This is another reason I use bottles in the night. It's OK to want some sleep yourself. You don't have to be the ONLY one helping your baby. Teach your partner whatever you are doing with your routine so that you aren't the only one who has to always do it. Start by showing them during the day for naps. 
• Noisemaker - these are must haves. They make noises like in the womb that are comforting for baby. They block out your own noises of snoring and moving side to side in your bed, or a cough that could wake baby. These are great. 
• Think basic needs: are they cold? is there light in their face? is it too dark? too noisy, not noisy enough? diaper change? need to burp? take care of these things for a happier baby to sleep. Do these things when baby wakes and before putting baby to bed. Diaper changes in the middle of the night - YES. I know some people don't do this, but you can do a diaper in less than a minute if you need to to keep baby sleepy. It'll help them sleep longer if you give them a fresh diaper, then feed. It'll also wake baby to be alert to feed appropriately so they get filled up longer before you put them to bed again. 
• Don't let all naps be in car seat or driving around with motion. Yes, these are great places for sleep, my babies slept wonderfully in the swing and in the car. BUT it should not be your go-to. If baby falls asleep while nursing, then swaddle and put into the crib once a day so he wakes up there. If baby falls asleep in the swing, great! But go over and shut off the motion of the swing after a few minutes. If you know baby typically sleeps at this time or that, don't go out in the car, stay put so she can learn to sleep in her bassinet. 
• Don't take the easy way out. It's so much easier to never think about sleep and to just go through the motions letting baby sleep all day long in the crib for hours and to just nurse every time you hear a fuss from the baby. It's so much easier to whip out your breast than it is to pump a bottle in the night. I get that... but long term that's not easier, it's not helpful for you. It's harder to think it out, be proactive planning ahead and teaching your baby when you're so freaking tired already. I get that... but it's hard for about two months maybe versus the long term hard of not sleeping through the night for over a year.... think of it that way. 
• Put to sleep groggy, but not asleep. This comes with time, usually after the six weeks mark. It's really good to help put baby into bed before she's asleep so she gets used to falling asleep. Babies wake a zillion times a night, it's normal for them. So to help them fall asleep on their own in the night, you need to help them fall asleep during the day too. So feed them, burp and rock, and quickly put into bed, with music and noisemaker if you wish. Let them stay there. In the beginning they may not fall asleep, but they get used to this and it's good for them to learn. 
• Go longer stretches without feeding when they get a little bigger. After about the 6-8 week mark, give or take, you can start to eliminate those 2-4 am feedings by doing a diaper change, shushing them to sleep, rocking, or decreasing the amount of food they get. This only works for a healthy baby who's back above birth weight and when you know they aren't needing to be fed just tired from waking up too soon. Never prevent a hungry baby from eating, of course! Just be more conscious as they grow bigger- do they really need to eat or is this just fussy crying from waking up a little too early? 

Getting Your Zzzzzzs

Of course in the beginning you're doing all you can and juggling too many things, including your hormones. If you use the swing more or you nurse more or hold baby to sleep more - it's OK! My second fell asleep to her bottle every single night for months and months, probably like 9 months old we were doing that as our routine, it just happened she'd fall asleep. It's OK! Just do your best to set up a routine that works and to be more conscious about teaching your baby to learn this skill of sleeping through the night.

It may sound harsh or strict or too routine for a newborn... but it's the same thing as going to take your child for immunization shots or teaching them to potty train or reminding them not to use bad words. YOU have to teach them, and then you have to be consistent in that routine so they learn it. It's NOT something that just happens.

You have to make a conscious effort those first two months especially to help your baby sleep, to get him on a routine so that he's able to sleep better and so you get the rest you need. 

Think of anything else in your life - at work, with your family, with your other children - if you do something haphazardly, randomly, not planned and then all of a sudden six months later (typically when most parents are losing their mind from lack of sleep and desperately want their kid to stop waking up in the night) you decide it's time to change it up and force them to sleep and even make them cry it out... how's that going to go for you? How's that going to go for your baby?

I've not had to cry it out a single day with any of my children. I understand why some have to do this, but it's not ideal for me. If you can avoid it by teaching your child, by YOU being consistent and planned and more thoughtful from the start, that's ideal for you and baby versus crying - both of you crying typically through that process. It just takes effort, patience and thought. I do not suggest these things lightly. I know they take time and a lot of effort during a time where you are sooooo exhausted and can barely pour your coffee. I get that. So enlist help, talk to a friend, get your partner on board to assist you. If you do this, you have a couple of tough weeks or months of lack of sleep and putting in more effort - versus a year or two of NO sleep.... pick your battle here.

Yes, it's more effort at first, it'll feel exhausting thinking this much.... but it's worth it in the end. I swear.  I'm one of those people who needs sleep to be a good mom. I rest daily on the weekends even for 20 minutes to lay down and close my eyes. I'm not patient otherwise. It's OK to recognize this in yourself. Helping your baby sleep helps you, too, momma, and that's a good thing.

Happy resting! :)

Cookie Monster & Elmo Party With Guest Blogger, Angela of the The Mommy Stories

A big thank you to Angela from The Mommy Stories for this awesome photo filled write up on having a Cookie Monster & Elmo inspired party!

**All photos by Angela Avery

 

our little sunshine's Cookie Monster & Elmo party!

I am pretty sure when I was pregnant with one of my children I stumbled upon this blog post by Annie's Eats and said to myself, I MUST have a Sesame Street party someday!

(My sister wrote out her welcome Happy 2nd Birthday Addisyn chalk announcement. So cute! She wouldn't let go of her new shopping cart for the picture.)

Then I had a daughter who was totally obsessed with what she called Elmo (really Cookie Monster) her entire second year of her life. So, voila, Sesame party it was!

However, I'd also had the idea of a You Are My Sunshine party. It was the song my mom used to sing to me as a baby and now I sing to my daughter, so I thought it was sweet to do a party. She's also so sunny, smiley and happy, it was fitting for her. When she showed her true love for Cookie Monster and eventually the real Elmo, I decided, why not, let's just combine two themes?

It was fun this way actually. I was a bit nervous, not sure if it would tie together. We made it work super fun, all for her, of course. What worked with doing the two themes was not going over board on either one. I didn't do all the many, many ideas I found on Pinterest. I just did a few for each theme and it came together great.

 

(She wasn't impressed to have to stop and say "cheese" in the middle of playing that morning before guests arrived!)

We luckily were given this adorable Cookie Monster shirt from her cousin. I got the headband at Target last summer. The tutu my mom found at a consignment sale, so adorable. Who doesn't like tutus for a girl's birthday party?! The tights were also given to her from her big cousin, she wore them last year at her birthday, too. So cute.

I loved how her outfit said everything about her... she's a Cookie Monster lover, enjoys food like he does, bright and sunny like her outfit and totally girlie, yet with sneakers on to signify she's ready to run and play with the big boys if she needs to. This is totally my daughter. 

We decided on a morning pancake breakfast because that would cover the You Are My Sunshine theme, as well as pancakes are one of Addisyn's favorite foods. I loved doing a breakfast party. We set everything the night before and only had to entertain the kids for maybe two hours in the morning before the party. Then the party was over at their nap time, so they went right down. It was a great timeframe. We started the party at 9 a.m.

We sent an Evite invitation online. I love these, they're just easy and a good way to keep track of who can attend. The invitation read:

Addi is our sunshine, our only sunshine, she makes us happy when skies are gray... and she is also in love with Elmo and Cookie Monster! Join us for a sunshine morning breakfast, brought to you by the letter A and the number 2. Come hungry for pancakes and more sweet treats.

I work in a middle school. I knew I wanted the letter A and the number 2 somewhere for my daughter's party, to match Sesame Street, however I'm not artistic at all. I knew where to go - I asked the art teacher to send me an artistic student. She sent me a sixth grade girl who listened to my ideas and then ran with it. She created that sign above, "Addisyn's Street" for the door to the party. I loved how cute and Sesame Street-like it looked. Just a sweet touch, and I was super glad I didn't have to attempt to make it myself :)

We had the party at my grandparents' house that we rent out in the summers. It was perfect, large, open, nothing in it since it's a rental house. We had plenty of space inside and out on the deck for everyone. Love that I didn't mess up my own house, too!

I set up this table for the kids. Unfortunately, maybe 4 of the kids actually sat at the table. It was just so busy and everyone was running around. I thought it looked cute though, oh well!

This banner below was made by the wonderful Jessie Estes. She gave it to me for my son's fishing party a few months ago, and it worked perfectly with our color scheme for this party, too. Loved it! I got so many compliments on it, and had to admit I wasn't the one who made it :) 

Another Dollar Tree special! I got all of the cups and plates, table cloth, silverware, etc. from the Dollar Tree.

The blue and white straws I found in the dollar bin at Target. Loved them!

The cone hats were a MUST in my mind. I just kept picturing all of my young birthday party pics, we always used to wear cone hats. I ordered them on Amazon, two packs for about $10 I think it was. Again, only a handful of the kids actually wore the hats. Oh well, I tried to be cute!

The birthday girl's seat! Her awesome Cookie Monster hat was hard to find. Most Sesame Street things are either for first birthdays or all Elmo. I found this at a random party store I found in New Hampshire when just driving by. Love it :)

A funny thing that emerged when planning was the color scheme of yellow (for sunshine) and blue (for Cookie Monster), which are my husband and my wedding colors. Our daughter was born the day before our anniversary, we call her our anniversary baby, so it was fitting that her party was with these two colors!

For treat bags, I made them simple. We were having an Easter egg hunt where the kids would get treats in the eggs, so I wanted the bags to be smaller. I also am always aware of not giving people tons of junk or extra things to just add to their already-packed house full of kids' toys, so I tried to pick things I thought people would really use.

I had these paper bags in the kitchen and last minute before the party decided to put the treats in them, drawing a sun and their names on each bag. It was so simple, I loved it!

I'm usually a little overboard with party planning, I liked that with this party I scaled back a little bit on my creativity and Pinterest-ing. I couldn't do all of the bigger ideas I had because we chose to invite so many kids this time. I can do more when we don't invite so many people, but we loved having more people at this one. It worked out great!

Inside each bag the kids were given a box of Sesame Street crayons and some Crayola bath soap, both found at the Target dollar bin. Then each child got a Sesame Street coloring book, "Sunny Days," perfect for our Sunshine party. I found those at Dollar Tree and Target. We threw in some eggs, too.

For food we had everything you can imagine at a breakfast! We had SO many compliments on the food. It was awesome. My husband did an amazing job cooking. The best part was we prepared everything the night before, only had to cook pancakes and throw things into the oven that morning. It was so easy.

We had two platters of French Toast Creme Brule, my husband's family recipe, SO yummy! I made an egg, cheese, mushroom, peppers, onions, etc. bake casserole. Then we had cheese and grapes, watermelon, chocolate chip cookies (of course, Cookie Monster's favorite!), Panera muffins and croissants, danishes, etc. We also had chocolate chip pancake muffins with maple syrup (back left corner with Elmo cupcake toppers in them), these were yummy but the wrapper stuck to them, unfortunately. Then bottom right of the above picture we made banana cupcakes... slices of bananas, spread peanut butter over it, top with coconut and a blueberry. So cute!

Then there was Cookie Monster made out of blackberries and grapes, with yogurt eyes! LOVE this :) We made a small version since blueberries aren't in season right now. My sister made the Cookie Monster and the sunshine cheese platter. Love how these turned out, so cute, easy to make, and looked awesome.

I had been looking for a You Are My Sunshine sign for months, just hadn't found one reasonable enough. Two weeks before the party I was scrolling Facebook and found this on Sassy Steals. LOVE that site!

I made the blue notecard signs for a few of the food dishes that morning. I was proud of myself going another simple route here. Usually I type up notecard signs for food, they look cute, but then get tossed out, I don't think many people care about seeing them. This time, I went simple and just wrote a few out, not for each food, and it looked fine and was helpful to identify what certain foods were.

My husband made this adorable pineapple spread. So cute!

 

I didn't get a great picture of it, but we had a yogurt and pancake bar of toppings (shown below on the counter in front of the stove).  We put out two kinds of yogurt and some granola, then we had the following toppings for either pancakes or yogurt:

• blueberries
• strawberries
• raisins
• peanut butter
• sprinkles
• chocolate chips
• cranberries
• coconut
• cinnamon 
• 3 kinds of maple syrup (blueberry, strawberry and plain)

For the cake, I knew we didn't really want to give out cupcakes at 9 a.m. so instead we had mini muffins for the kids or cinnamon buns. For my daughter, I made a simple stack of pancakes cake! It was very messy, so non-traditional, but worked great, she loved it!

I just put 4 pancakes stacked on top of each other, sprinkled with rainbow sprinkles and strawberries, with whipped cream. Then I added her candles, done! It was a messy cake, but she smiled, it worked.

Note to self: wait until pancakes are cool before topping... it all melted! haha

Big brother wore his Elmo T-shirt for the special occasion!

Just a little reading in the middle of her party. Love this :) 

After the kids ate, we did cake, and then we did presents. I usually do presents and then cake, because I have a busy boy who after eating cake cannot possibly sit still to watch someone open presents. We did all the food first at this party though since it wasn't real sugary cake, it was all breakfast treats.

She loved all of her baby dolls and girlie toys :) So fun! 

Then after presents we went outside for a huge Easter egg hunt! Her party was the day before Easter Sunday, so of course I had to toss in a third theme to the party, Easter! Ha! I went a little crazy with themes this party, but come on, after I realized the party was right near Easter I thought, how can we not have an egg hunt? It was perfect. The kids LOVED it.

I got all 130 eggs at Dollar Tree for $5. We filled them with erasers, rings, balls, stickers, coins, jelly beans, and chocolate eggs.

We did two egg hunts, one for the 3 older boys (3-7 years old) because we knew they'd outrun the younger ones. They had their own section of eggs to find. Their eggs had lots of coins in them, real money. Then we did a baby and toddler hunt for the 10 months to 2 1/2 year olds. It was so cute.

We also had chalk and bubbles for the kids to play with outside as activities. 

Overall, a perfect party. We had so much fun, tons of food, so many people told us how great of a day it was, sunny and outside, egg hunt and yummy breakfast.

Can't believe our little sunshine is TWO!

Lobster Birthday Party with Guest Blogger Angela From The Mommy Stories

 

 

Looking for some great party ideas? My sister, Angela, from the Mommy Stories just threw her son (my big guy nephew, Owen) a lobster themed one, in honor of my dad's profession: a Maine lobster man.  Thanks, Angela, for showing us how to put the party all together, while keeping to a budget.

My little guy is FOUR!

We knew early on in the year that he'd have an ocean party fit for a lobsterman's grandson. Yes, that's right, my father is a true Maine lobsterman.

My son is pretty obsessed with his lobster traps, bait, and of course those old bugs, lobsters! He's into the boat the most. We visit several times a year on Frenchboro Island in northern Maine, off the coast of Bar Harbor.

We HAD to have a party like this because of his interest, but also because my son's middle name Joseph is after his Papa (and my stepdad, grandfather and then my brother's middle name, but who's counting?!). It was super fun to honor my father's career as a lobsterman through this party. I told him he was the guest of honor. 

My handsome guy FOUR years old!

We visited the Children's Museum and Theater of Maine in Portland just before Christmas and my son didn't leave the real lobster boat the entire time. He loved it so much! It had a hauler to haul up the traps of lobsters. There is also a touch tank upstairs with star fish and snails, etc. There is a large whale hanging from the ceiling, a pirate ship out back, and another speed boat to ride on. It's a perfect place for an ocean party. He is also very into make believe lately and pretending he's a real worker, so it was an awesome location.

We always have had parties at our house, and with an immediate family of 30+ that doesn't leave room for inviting any other friends. So this year we were excited to do it at a larger place to invite a few extended cousins. We still tried to keep it to just family since it gets expensive with the party packages and paying per person at the Museum, but it was fun for my son to be able to invite a few more people to his party to play with him.

I start all birthday party brainstorming with some good old Pinterest searches.

Here is my board that I created with ideas for this party. I hope you check it out, because there were TONS more ideas that I did not implement. I chose to keep this party slightly simple since the atmosphere of having the party at the Museum was going to be enough. The kids barely were in the party room, they ran around the Museum so much playing and having fun. So check out the board for more ideas, especially if you're having the party at home.

www.pinterest.com/angelaavery78/owens-4th-lobsterman-ocean-party/

I have to say I had a difficult time finding ideas specifically for what I was looking for. I found one lobster party... one. All others were swimming, pool, sea life, pirate, etc. type parties. I had to get a little creative.

I sent an Evite email invitation with this wording:
"Owen's turning FOUR, and he would like to SEA you out on the ocean with him catching lobsters and fish.

Join us at the Portland Children's Museum for some make believe fun, with lobsterman Owen. Check out the live turtles and fish tanks, steer the real lobster boat and haul some traps, even touch a live starfish or sea urchin. Our lobster boy will show you the ropes!

We'll have fishy snacks, lobster cookies, and ocean water to drink. Come have fun - and of course prepare to work a little with Captain Owen!"

I was given by my wonderful friend Jessie Legere some fish and ocean bowls, signs, a table cloth and banner (that I didn't use because the Museum had already put this blue one down and written on the chalkboard), etc. So I went with her colors of blue and greens as ocean colors.

I found those fun polka dot napkins at Wal-Mart. My son decided the day before the party he HAD to have party cone hats, so Jake and the Neverland Pirates hats it was (Wal-Mart, $2.50 for pack of 8).

We did minimal food, just snack type things, because we knew the kids would be so busy in the Museum. The focus was not on the food, but on the activities. So we had the following food:

Tortilla chips and Goldfish crackers = fish and chips

Salsa = seaweed

sea cucumbers = cucumber slices

buoys = cantoloupe balls and grapes 

Pirates Booty

Shamu Whales cheese crackers

However, check out the Pinterest board I made, TONS of cute ideas for food if you were doing this at lunch time or not at a busy Museum like we did (Goldfish cracker shaped bread for sandwiches!)

Ocean water and grape juice

For treats we had confetti vanilla-based cupcakes with aqua blue frosting (that came with little fishies, which I didn't know until I got home from the store! Score!), topped with a Sweedish fish.

The birthday boy requested a chocolate cake, so we used the same aqua blue frosting, along with some gummy lobsters from Yummees candy store in Kittery, Maine.  (Don't worry, they ship, if you are having a Maine-themed party outside of southern Maine!).

For gift bags for our little guests my husband helped me make these lobster bags. Yes, they took about an hour with both of us cutting out those claws, but they were too cute not to make so we did it! I got the red bags, pipe cleaners and googley eyes for $3 at the Dollar Tree, then we found lobster pictures online and my husband copied these and cut them out.

 

Inside the treat bags we put a small bag of Pirates Booty, bag of whale and sea cheese crackers, a gummy candy stick of sea life creatures that my husband randomly found at BJs (so excited!).  I printed some coloring pages off of the computer (boats, sea creatures, lobsters, lighthouse, etc.). I always like to include things like that so if kids wanted to color at the party they could, for some quiet down time, but also as a fun way to really send home the theme of the party.

Then, my favorite part of the party, was the Sea Fish Bar (not sure what else to call this!). I found this idea on Pinterest, of putting out the various types of Goldfish crackers and letting kids fill up a bag of them. I then added in other treats to go with the lobsterman theme. Loved how this turned out!

Although, I'll admit, at a big busy Museum party it wasn't a great idea, only a handful of people actually filled up treat bags, they were too busy running around and playing. I ended up making up little treat bags for the kids to take home.

I got all the little red containers at the Dollar Tree for $2 total. 

I was so excited at Christmas time when I found these Goldfish cracker small plastic bags in New York, totally randomly. They were perfect! 

Herring = Sweedish fish 

We had such a great time! My little lobsterman loved his party, cake, singing happy birthday to himself, and of course all of the make believe at the Museum.

We had the kids go play while we set the party room up (you only get 2 hours in the room, setting up and cleaning up included). They played about 45 minutes, then came to the party room where we had snacks ready for them. We sang happy birthday, blew out birthday candles, served up cake and cupcakes, then moved right into the presents so we could get them back out to play more for the last hour or so of the party. It worked pretty well.

We asked people to sign the L is for Lobster book. It's fun to have books filled with notes from loved ones on our book shelf. I threw that in as a last minute idea, and so glad I did.

The birthday boy with his lobsterman grandfather! 

My husband found these adorable T-shirts at the last minute when he was picking up the lobster gummy treats. It's winter in Maine, not many tourists wanting summer lobster T-shirts, so they let him get one get one free, so 4 shirts for $20! So excited.

(exhausted at the end of the party. Not to self: take family picture BEFORE the festivities next year!)

My husband's says "Got lobstah?" Mine says "Crustacean Nation" and the kids had MAINE lobsters on theirs. 

A very (busy, hard working!) HAPPY birthday boy!