little pumpkin

For the past month, I've been carrying with me this perfect vision of Carter's Little Pumpkin Birthday Party.

Sunday, my vision was finally rolled into animation ... and I have to admit, as life would have it, it didn't turn out quite as incredible as I'd pictured.

Carter refused to wear his socks, so the birthday boy's attire had a slight caveman vibe to it. The "Lil' Pumpkin" iron on I bought for his onsie during cake time only partially ironed on (so it read, L; Pumpkin) and gave the white cotton a brown tinge, so he settled for a plain white shirt at the most exciting (and taped/photographed) part of the night.

Sigh.

Ok, now that its faults are off my chest, welcome to (the details of) our pumpkin birthday party ...

We had Carter's monthly video montages playing on a loop on the TV for the duration of the party. Everyone came into the house, which I had crammed with pumpkins, orange balloons, orange lights, bright, paper streamers and spiced candles. They were asked to put on orange and yellow glow bracelets while they snacked on caramel apples, fancy dips and finger foods and sipped mulled wine and warm, spiced cider. Later we ate smoked pulled pork, specially cooked by my husband and his dad, corn bread, sweet potatoes and various pasta salads.

He was having too much fun crawling around the room to really be any help to me opening his presents, but eventually he found out that he'd scored tons of sweet new outfits and toys.

The sign I painted

Daddy's trying to talk him into giving up the tube of Butt Paste

The main cake (left) and the smash cake (right)

He was so engrossed by everyone singing to him, he hardly noticed the pumpkin cake that was bigger than the size of his head

Cutting the main cake

Favors: DVD video montages I made and glittery pumpkins filled with chocolates and silly bands

After the cake candle was blown out, the conversations grew quieter and eventually everyone trickled out to their cars, Matt and I agreed that we didn't carry the same excitement for this party that we did on his actual birthday. I was so busy keeping up with food and and timing the order of events that I didn't get a chance to sit with Carter and see what he thought of his party. And I was ok with that, because even with the house draped in orange and filled with food, laughter and people we love, his actual birthday a few days earlier had something magical about it that made it feel intangible.

Here's a video I put together of footage from his birthday on Wednesday and the party on Sunday. (Make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page and stop the music player before you click Play)