In the absence of a grand obsession on the part of First Daughter, I decided to go with a fall theme so we could send our guests home with some of our Jack Be Little pumpkins as party favors. I also happen to have a fantastic apple cake recipe. (Now that I think about it, I'll ask my aunt if I can share it with you.) My parents arrived a bit before the party with buckets of apples for us to use in games, decorating and baking (even after freezing slices for pie and making applesauce all day Saturday).
Apple bobbing seemed like fun, but not so much for the preschool crowd. I did a little looking online and found a number of sites that suggested hanging the apples. Kansas Dad tied some twine to the stems and instructed the kids to try to eat them without using their hands.
It didn't take long for all of them to figure out it was a lot easier with hands, so that's what they did. They ate them, too! (Of course, the strings are still out on our clothesline, but they're not hurting anything.)
As the kids munched their apples, Kansas Dad showed them how to catch grasshoppers and dropped them into the chicken tractor for the roosters. We're pretty sure this was the highlight of the party for all the older kids. There is something very fun about watching those chickens chase each other around carrying pieces of grasshoppers.
Kansas Dad hid our pumpkin party favors in the front yard. Just like an Easter egg hunt, he made some very easy and some much harder. We let the little ones (three and under) go first while the bigger boys had to wait until all of the younger ones each found one orange and one white pumpkin.
Back on the porch, the kids exchanged their pumpkins (to be picked up later to go home) for a bag of candy. Yeah, they loved Kansas Dad. (Don't we all?)
We finished up with cupcakes for the kids and apple cake for the grown-ups. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the apple cake after all my stressing about it. It turned out well. I just frosted it with cream-cheese frosting and placed some of my apple cookies on the top.
I think all the kids had a good time, which is what mattered. I'm not hanging out a shingle for party planning anytime, soon, though.
