Every parent (most parents?) wants their kids to look up to the right people, the right heroes. They, themselves, would do well to aim at a virtuous, faithful life worthy of imitation—and many of us try and hope to succeed! But beyond the example set in the home, most of us desire for our children to be rightly positioned in life and in community so that they might glean a sense of virtue and good character and sturdy, unshakeable faith from noble men and women, whether in the form of books and films and sporting events or church potlucks, family gatherings and local little leagues.
This past year, perhaps in some part due to my husband’s passion for presidential history, my son developed a real interest in and love for Revolutionary War-era well, everything, chief of which being the Founding Father to end all founding fathers—General George Washington (Really imagining that Hamilton song to be playing here as you read this—maybe a feature to integrate, Substack?)
Near-universally admired and lauded by his Continental contemporaries, Washington—though imperfect—possessed a spirit of courage, resilience, grit, compassion, determination, humility and self-control.
A good hero for a young boy to have.
And so we encouraged him in it with books and documentaries and even a forthcoming trip back to Mt. Vernon, whose grounds we frequented for mornings out with two babies in tow when we lived in DC.
And then, it came time to plan his 7th birthday party…
Last year, when fire trucks and rescue heroes were the interest du jour, I found a wonderful local gentleman and Vietnam vet who owned a small fleet of vintage firetrucks that he used for various events and hired him to surprise our son on his 6th birthday—a surprise that rivaled that of the Battle of Trenton (but in a good way?) and one that I thought I’d simply never be able to top for any child ever again.
Now, before we go into the details of this year’s party, a brief moment for my philosophy on kids’ birthdays:
Our children’s birthday celebrations have run the gamut from extremely simple (so sorry to my third born, late-January baby!) to, well, vintage firetruck, bounce house, etc. etc.
Generally speaking, I follow the birthday child’s lead in terms of their excitement/hopes for their big day. When it comes to big family celebrations—which for a young child a birthday is among the biggest—I also tend to employ the marketing/fundraising tactic of Surprise and Delight (I write more about this here).
This varies from kid to kid and year to year. I’ve learned that for the first few years of life, a simple family gathering at home with fun balloons and sweet decorations, a new baby doll or toy truck, and a cake with a candle is truly all that’s required. I have even curated a Family Birthday Box filled with heirloom-quality items—a special plate, silver number candles, embroidered crowns for each child, a birthday sign, beeswax candles, etc.—to make things simple for me as I seek to also be present during the day with them.
But once they hit five or so and have a legitimate little group of friends, or even just one close friend, the notion of a party or gathering becomes more appealing. I’ve found that typically inviting the same number of friends as their age works to make a manageable and fun little two hour party. A family birthday outing or adventure with a friend or two in tow also makes for a sweet celebration.
But as much as I have tried to push the family outing idea, my big kids have maintained their love for and devotion to throwing a great birthday party. They talk about their parties to each other all year long, select a theme, plan most of it themselves, help me with the decor and the menu and genuinely delight in inviting their friends to celebrate with them.
My refrain then becomes, "You are only {insert age} once!” and it’s true. I want them to know how much we delight in the fact that they were born, how incredible it is that God made them, what a beautiful gift this life is, and that life lived out in Christian community is about celebrating what God has done in and for each other with others. Now, of course there are a million different ways to communicate all these things to a child on their birthday, but personally, I let them go as big as our family’s capacity in a given year or season allows while maintaining a handful of simple, steady family birthday traditions as our baseline, the “we always’” that we never skip (which is perhaps another post altogether).
But, I digress. This is a piece about birthday parties, after all.
Specifically, the 1776-themed party we threw for my son’s 7th birthday conveniently just weeks ahead of America’s 250th birthday.
So without further delay, here’s our Party Plan:
I probably had the least capacity in this department with our having just moved back into our home post-renovation. For this reason, we opted to have the party outside despite the construction dumpster, port-a-potty and storage pod still lingering in the driveway.
I anchored the space with a 6 ft tall George Washington cutout from Amazon with a quote bubble that read “Happy 7th Birthday!” that I made at home.
I gave each child a handful of American flags (though not technically correct for the time period) to adorn the yard and was impressed when they placed the larger flags at the base of every tree in our front yard and the smaller ones neatly in front of each boxwood around our front porch.
July 4th decor, to awkwardly borrow a term from the Brits, sorted.
We hung an old tea-stained flag on our big oak tree and flung plastic Americana table cloths over folding tables we borrowed from a friend.
I always set up decor and balloons and gifts in our breakfast room to greet the birthday boy or girl when they come down the stairs in the morning (after they wake up to a room full of balloons and streamers on their bedroom door) and for this I purchased a few fun Americana party pieces from Meri Meri and then tied anything I could up with this grosgrain American flag ribbon.
I love to host a kids party between meals to ease the burden of food prep so that I can be more present in the fun! I sat down with our son to go over the menu and then assigned a revolutionary-themed name to each item the details of which are below.
1776 7th Birthday Party Menu
Continental Cannons
pigs in a blanket
Revolutionary Rockets
watermelon star and blueberry skewers
Cannon Rammers
just two marshmallows on the end of a skewer & a huge hit
Tricorn Chips
blue and white tortilla chips—wish I found red!
Shrapnel
pretzels, white chocolate-covered pretzels and M&Ms
French Reinforcements
macarons
A successful kids party is a structured kids party in my humble opinion. Little kids like to know where to go and when and what’s next. Our son’s guests were greeted by colonial fife and drum music and a little painting station featuring Washington busts, American flags and star-spangled stars for everyone to keep their hands busy right away, which kept them mostly entertained until the main event.
About a month before the party, I had the idea to hire an 18th century historical character to come to the party and nerd out with the children. Dear reader, I was not optimistic about finding such a person—and definitely not in a town with so much historical significance and landmarks this close to the Semiquincentennial.
But as God would have it, in His sweet care for our dear son, I found a local historical actor on none other than a website entitled “Gigsalad" who had done work at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and other local sites.
And he was perfect.
From his entrance into the party donned in colonial military attire to his introduction featuring the reading of a letter to my son from General George Washington himself to a taxation game involving the unjust seizure of red, white and blue M&Ms (rightfully restored at the end of the game) to writing with quill pens and real ink, signing an authentically sized copy of the Declaration of Independence, sealing a letter back to Gen. Washington with wax, a Colonial game demonstration, and fifing Happy Birthday, “Private Daniel” was truly better and more intentional that I could have ever imagined.
Our beloved impersonator then sent each child home with a quill pen, ink and fresh papyrus which we tucked into the goodie bags we had already made featuring a feather ball point pen, mini American flag, and a pocket Declaration of Independence/Constitution.
We finished the party off with a homemade Revolutionary battlefield cake and opening some very thoughtful gifts from sweet friends.
Few things fills my heart quite so much as making my children feel delighted in and deeply known—mission accomplished.
Happiest 7th Birthday to my dear son & Happy 250th Birthday, America!
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