My Kids Love Birthday Parties!

We went to several birthday parties in April, and now Toby has birthdays on the brain. Every day we get the "Is today my birthday?" question. Today I had him count to 30 so he knows how many days are left until his birthday. I want each birthday to be special, but we are really bad about planning parties for kids. Company coming for dinner? No problem, we say. A multiple course dinner party for 8? 10? 12? We're on it. A birthday party for 5 year olds? Not really sure what to do with that. We've waited until the kids are old enough to ask for what they want in a party, which means that last year Toby got Oscar the Grouch cupcakes, and cousins as guests. Even now, after a year in preschool, Toby's showed more interest in just having a birth day to celebrate than having a party.
And we've been to some spectacular parties. Remember the one a few years ago for the kid (who we barely knew) whose father worked for the party rental company? The party with a bounce house and popcorn machine and crazy pirate cake? I think that kid was turning 6 and there were probably 40 people there. And just last month we went to a party with over 20 people, a fantastically amazing train cake, and a personalized banner for the birthday boy; he was turning two.
I'm not sure what type of party we'll have for Toby this year. I've signed us up for a family fun run in neighboring Noank, which should be a good experience for Toby. He's already telling people he's going to run in a race. :o)