Leonardo’s actual Birthday happened on Mother’s day Sunday, and it was the most beautiful sunny May day I could remember. Since then and for another year his Birthday falls on weekdays, and that’s why we celebrate it twice – first in a small circle of our family, and the second time with a big themed party in our house on Mother’s day Sunday (which is the second Sunday of May in the USA). So far it became a tradition, and this year was no different.
As always, I started preparing for it months in advance. Leo’s third year of life was marked by his adoration of Totoro – a friendly & powerful forest spirit who looks like a mix of a bear and a rabbit lives on camphor trees roars loudly, eats acorns, and loves to fly. Pinterest board was created (HERE) and I started looking for inspiration.
I used one of the frames from the cartoon – Leo’s favorite moment when little heroines meet Totoro under the rain – for the invitation postcard, as well as for “thank you” cards and Leo’s framed print (my hand-made keepsake gift to him, also as per tradition).
All decorations for the party were from Flying Tiger – my favorite Scandinavian design store where you can find anything from toys and art supplies to kitchenware and furniture. Leonardo’s first two Birthday parties (which you can read about HERE & HERE) were pretty monochrome, but this time I was inspired by the lovely colors Flying Tiger had in stock. The leitmotif color was red, of course *) In fact, for Leo’s actual day of Birthday, it was the only color I used. Floating up at the ceiling, flaming red hearts were the first things he saw when he opened his eyes, and he literally jumped up with excitement. The magic started right there!
For the big party on Sunday I added banners and more balloons (all from Flying Tiger), this time of various colors, and created two sets of tables – for grownups and children. since our theme was of Japanese origin, I decided on Asian fusion finger food: sushi rolls, Korean pancakes, seaweed snacks. kids table had lots of yummy and good looking snacks from Flying Tiger: various cookies, rainbow marshmallows, soft strawberry twists, as well as chocolate milk in the cutest milk bottles with stripey straws.
We decided to have a magic show & balloon twisting as part of the entertainment, and this 45 min show by Funny Face Entertainment was fun for both kids and grownups. Leo couldn’t stop laughing with excitement, especially when a black&white spotted rabbit magically appeared inside the box that Leo has been sitting on. Our wonderful magician Romeo made beautiful balloon creatures for every little guest, and Leo received a very special balloon-made Totoro sculpture.
Totoro piñata was found on Etsy (made by The Pink Bubble Shop). I never had experience with piñatas before but I always loved the idea. knowing that Leo might not have enough strength to break it himself I asked to make a pull-string opening for our cardboard Totoro. Filled with candies and confetti, when the time came it was a huge success among kids. (though confetti and torn apart cardboard definitely made significantly more mess that I was ready for.. hehe)
Again, as part of our 3-year-old tradition, we had two cakes – one for kids and one for grown-ups (though they easily got switched and mixed up later on), both executed by the multi-talented Sabrina from Sweet Petal BK. Leo got to blow three candles on a Totoro cake three times while we sang “Happy Birthday” in English, Russian and Spanish.
For gift bags, I ordered a bunch of white snack paper bags and hand-draw Totoro on each of them. depending on child’s age it had anything from little Totoro plush to Totoro pen, with other little things like stickers and puzzles.
Initially we wanted to consummate the party by watching Totoro cartoon on a big screen, but our little guests (and their parents!) were too tired to stay for one-hour long animation, so we ended up watching it in a small circle of us three, for the 101st time (I might be slightly exaggerating the number). Leo went to bed hugging his frame picture depicting of him & his friend Totoro standing under the rain holding umbrellas. Despite all the confetti on the floor and explosion of toys (some of them broken), I went to bed with a huge smile on my face remembering all the happy moments of these wonderful Birthday celebrations. In the end, it’s not the material gifts Leo will remember but – hopefully – the experience, the sofa jumps, and happy laughter together with his little friends. This is all that matters, right?
By the way, if you are a fan of My Neighbor Totoro just like Leo you can find all Totoro-related products that we like so much – from the original DVD to stickers and temporary tattoos – on my Amazon page at: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dreamingofleonardo
Thank you for reading!
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