ethan's nightmare before christmas 7th birthday party

Ethan's actual birthday isn't until the end of June, but he informed me a few months ago that having a summer birthday is the worst thing ever. All of his classmates were discussing their summer travel plans, and he realized early on that no one was going to be in town for his actual birthday. I heard his request loud and clear, and so we had his birthday party a month early before school let out. This year, he requested a Nightmare Before Christmas theme and, as usual, we held his party at My Gym here in Coconut Creek, Florida.

The party was at 10 a.m. so we went with bagels and cream cheese, plus other snack-y foods. My friend made us Ethan's beautiful cake and also the Oogie Boogie cupcakes. I got the cake toppers from Etsy and they were the perfect touch. I made a bunch of Halloween-themed chocolate lollipops and attached them to a giant cut-out of the hill from the movie. I also set out jars for Sally's spells and little trick or treat pumpkins for the kids to use at the candy buffet (er -- spell counter).

I turned part of the gym into Christmastown and used that for my party favor themes. Each kid was sent home with a Christmas stocking filled with Playdoh and shape cutters, coloring pages and crayons, slime, Halloween tattoos and a gift card for a free Italian ice from our favorite local shop, Cecilie's Italian Ices in Coral Springs, FL.

As I do every year, I insisted we needed a photobooth area. I scored this Jack and Sally shower curtain off Amazon for super cheap, which made the best backdrop.

As always, my sweet little Jack Skellington had the best time ever -- and I couldn't ask for anything else.