Preschool Valentine's Day Party!

Baylor had his first Valentine's Day party on February 13th, and he was anxiously excited for it.  Parties, in general, make him nervous, but he likes school and it was going to be a pizza making party so there was a little excitement thrown in with the nerves.  The party was in the last hour of class, and I showed up a few minutes early and listened in the hallway as the teacher finished up a book.  Once we were let in, the party got going and, as things tend to do when you're trying to throw a party with eighteen preschoolers and a bunch of their parents, it moved very quickly.

First up, pizza making!  Baylor initially thought he didn't want sauce on his English muffin pizza, but then he changed his mind and wanted it on top of the cheese.  I was a little worried that he wouldn't eat it if it didn't end up looking like a regular pizza, but we went with it.  

I had him wear his red button-up shirt for the party, and he looked so very handsome!  I actually told him he looked "dapper" and ever since then he's been into wearing "dapper" shirts ... which generally means shirts with collars.  This is his I-just-tried-pepperoni-for-the-first-time-and-did-NOT-like-it face.

Once the pizzas were assembled, the kids found their places on the rug and got their activity tags to show them what order they were supposed to go in.  I volunteered to head up a group, but I should remember in the future not to do that and to just be there for Baylor; he needs a little more attention and help getting comfortable with his new experiences, and I feel like it's my job to help him with that.

Our first activity was a pizza version of the game Topple; this little plastic chef had a pizza balanced on one of his fingers, and the kids were supposed to roll a dice and then put on the corresponding pizza toppings, trying to avoid tipping the whole pizza over.  Unfortunately, the pizza was almost too tippy and usually only one or two toppings would send it totally off-kilter.  Luckily, it seemed like the kids had fun anyway.

Our next activity was a little craft, right up my alley; we made a treat for the birds by stringing Cheerios on pipe cleaners and then shaping it into a heart and tying it up with a string.  It was really cute, and Baylor got to stand next to one of his favorite classmates for the duration of it.

Next up ... the pizza play dough table.  *sigh*  I'm too anal retentive for this type of activity, so I had a little trouble just letting the kids do what they like, especially Baylor who basically took a bunch of toppings and coated them in play dough.  But in spite of my nervous hovering, he still seemed to have fun!  Yay!

It seems like there may have been one more activity, but I forgot what it was.  That's what I get for writing this over a month after it actually happened.

Once all the groups were done with their activities, the kids headed back to the mat so Mrs. Sims could tell them what was going to happen next.

As the kids made their way through the activities, Mrs. Fillman and a couple parents had the toaster oven in overdrive.  They somehow managed to cook all the little English muffin pizzas in time for snack.  Baylor enjoyed his in spite of the sauce-on-top situation.

There were also sweets to be had, and Baylor quickly ditched the little pizza for them.  White chocolate coated rice krispy treat, anyone?

After the snacks were consumed, the kids got to hand out their Valentines.  It was a bit chaotic as all the "mailboxes" (decorated brown lunch bags) were in a row, tacked to the "chalk holder" (I don't know what you call it now) at the front of the room.  Preschoolers aren't exactly known for their patience and waiting-in-line skills (plus there ended up being two lines that started from opposite directions ... not a good start) so it was a bit of a free-for-all, but I did my best to make sure each one of Baylor's little classmates got one of his awesome (but way over their heads) spy valentines.

In the end, I think my little man had a good time in spite of not being a huge fan of parties in general.  Of course, we couldn't bask in the glow of preschool party success for long as we were already late for ...