Fourth Birthday Party

We had a sweet little fourth birthday party for Kyran the evening of Sunday the 17th, with just a few close friends and neighbors.  We decorated the house with fall leaves and the lanterns from Martinmas.  Kyran wore a crown of bright red leaves I collected from the north side of town, which he said looked like a "fire crown."  

After our guests arrived, we decorated forest gnomes as our craft, painting wood pegs and adding felt capes, wool hair, and acorn caps.  We then played "spin the bottle" - the child who the bottle landed on got to present his or her gift to Kyran. 

 The next game was "pat the pan" - a blindfolded child is given a wooden spoon then must crawl around the floor trying to bang into a pan that is placed upside down with a gift underneath.  This was enjoyed by all, and was very entertaining for the parents to watch.  The gifts were baby forest gnomes inside leaf pouches.  

We then moved on to cupcake decorating, and the kids were free to use any frosting, leaf cookies, or candy acorns they wanted to make their creations.  We gathered all the cupcakes together to form Kyran's birthday cake.  

We ate a little supper together -Kyran's choice of tacos, then sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake.  We closed the evening with the story of "The Great White Egg" that tells how a little boy named Kyran joined his family one joyous day.  The last line of the story is: "Every year after that, on a day in November, a feast is prepared and candles are lighted to remind us of the starlight on the mountain and the gift of the great white moon bird, and the day that Kyran first stepped down to the earth."  While reading this, I lit votive candles and let Kyran present one to each of his guests.