By I love a theme and when it comes time for a party or gathering, a good theme just genuinely makes me happy. So when the honey badger was approaching her fourth birthday, I instantly had a concept in mind. She loves to golf with my husband and is part of the First Tee Program at our community golf course. Although we generally don’t do many presents for birthdays, we bought the birthday girl her very first set of golf clubs and themed her party around golf.
I would love to take credit for the party as a whole, but really all I did was come up with the theme and make some chocolate golfballs; and my mom handled the rest! She went above and beyond, and created a Pinterest-worthy party that I had hoped for. We served “Peanut PUTTER and jelly sandwiches” and “CLUBhouse sandwiches” as well as a variety of others foods on par with the theme. We had a mini golf course set up in the back yard and plastic clubs for all the kids. Also, because she’s a grandma and knows how kids are, she found foam golf balls for everyone to use, because shortly after they tried golfing they immediately started throwing them at each other. Foam golf balls for the win! Overall the party was a huge success.
One of my other favorite parts of the girls’ birthday, is that in lieu of gifts from family and friends, we ask for donations to a local organization. We believe in our family the importance of giving back, and instilling this philanthropic attitude from a young age. My older sister started this tradition with her children, and I have happily continued this. One of my favorite organizations is the Hobbs Weekend Hunger Initiative. This program provides back packs of food every weekend to children who are considered food insecure.
In Lea County, where we live, 23% of children are considered food insecure, and 29% of these children do not qualify for school lunch assistance. Unfortunately, these statistics don’t apply to only our small town. Nationwide, one in 4 children do not know where their next meal will come from. In each backpack children are given canned sausage, a cup of Chef Boyardee, a can of “bean and wieners,” two fruit cup, two pudding cups, and generally two NutriGrain bars. This backpack of these items, is all that most of these kids will eat over an entire weekend. Being the mother of two little girls, I can’t imagine the heartache one would feel, of not knowing where your child’s next meal went; Which is one of the many reasons we choose to donate to this organization on birthdays, as well as throughout the year. This year for this birthday we were able to collect over $1200 to donate to WHI Hobbs, which we will be taking them this week. Each birthday, instead of mailing in the check, I prefer to take the girls into the facility so they can begin to see and understand why we do this for birthday’s and the significant difference it can make in other people’s lives.
Overall, this birthday party was such a success. The kids had fun, the adults drank John Daly’s (an Arnold Palmer with vodka), and we were able to collect money to help feed children in our community. And that is pretty much the closest to hitting a hole-in-one that I will ever get.
*By following the link provided, you too can donate to the Weekend Hunger Initiative of Hobbs, and help provide a backpack of food to a hungry child*
