Trace's 6th Birthday Party

Trace wanted a Zombie Party theme for his 6th birthday.  I am not one for planing elaborate, creative birthday parties so I was thinking great, what to do.  I did research and everything was way over my head, as in way too much work and detail.  I had to tone this down by like 98%.  We have a beach here called Playa De Los Muertos,  he beach of the dead,  because the local graveyard sits at the entrance.  We will have our party there.  Perfect!  I even thought of having a scavenger hunt in the graveyard and maybe having friends dress up and pop out but we thought it would be disrespectful to the dead and anger locals.  We can still have the party and Playa de los Muertos and have Zombie like food, a Zombie pinata let the kids run around the beach. Perfect, now do we have a big party or small?  Trace wanted small, he is not one for large groups and receiving much attention. So small it is.

We had the party on Friday, June 7 because I had to leave for work the next day.  It also happened to be right in the middle of the Sayulita swell.  Ozzy was concerned that Playa de Los Muertos would get washed out because of the swell, so we asked around on Sayulita People and found out that not only did it get washed out the day before but also because parties aren't allowed on the beach.  I am thinking, what?, this is Mexico, who is not up for a part on a beach?  I spent a lot of brain energy on this party.  I wanted Trace to be happy with the Zombie theme that he wanted.  As parents, don't we always want the best for our children or at least want them to be happy with their birthday party?  I finally threw in the towel and accepted my inability to throw a theme creative party.  So this is what I did instead:

1) We still had the party on the beach, we just moved it to the North Beach just down the hill from our house.  I was happier there because we could watch the surfers ripping up the swell.

2) We brought down saw horses with a piece of wood for a table and used an Iron Man table cloth from last years party.  I made pizza, hot dogs, fruit salad, jamaica juice (a local favorite), wine, beer and water.

3) Trace invited friends from school, boys only, except of course Alex.

There was a cool painted rock right there on the beach and the kids made up a  Zombie game that they played

This game must have been catch the princess

Trace, Bo and Mateo playing in the surf

4)  We brought out the pinata.  I think this is always the all time favorite part of birthday parties here.
The kids and I did our best trying to make a Zombie pinata but in the staggering humidity it never dried so I had to go on a search for a Zombie pinata, with no luck.  So I bought a pinata that was Dora's backback and if you turned it upside down it had the shape of a Zombie's head.  So I spray painted it purple and grey and Alex made a nose and mouth that we taped to it with eyes that we somehow came up with.  We filled it with candy, giant lolipops and chocolate.  Big mistake on the chocolate,   I didn't think about the melting factor.  The one problem with the pinata, except how ugly it was, was that it had to be hung upside down.  Nobody even cared.

My upside down, er, Zombie pinata

Ozzy holding the Pinata while the kids get lined up to take shots

Trace up to bat

The pinata is broken and the kids scramble like crazy for candy.  Trace usually stands back,  I think he is afraid of all the other kids and then is upset that he didn't get anything.  This time he jumped right in there.  He is finally learning that you have to be aggressive in this country to get what you want.

4) I broke out some bubbles which were a huge hit

They made up a game that the bubbles were bad guys and they used the bubble sticks to pop the bad guys

5)  I made a Red Velvet cake, (blood) with whipped cream and crushed Oreo cookies.  It was really good.

Everyone sang the Mexican Birthday song to him.  He and Bo were the only full blooded gringos so it was only natural for the kids to sing the Mexican song.

Giving some love to my little Zombie

The parents watching in awe at the amazing swell

And thus made a successful birthday.  The kids had a ball running around the beach together, making up games, the moms had a wonderful time resting and chilling on the beach and chatting away, not having to worry about their children, I was happy that it all came together and that no one cared about how "ghetto" it was, and most importantly the birthday boy had a fantastic time, he didn't even notice that there wasn't really anything to do with Zombies except the games they made up.

A happy Traceman