Dissecting the Birthday Goody Bag

So....my favorite person in the world is turning 5 this weekend. Yes, while the rest of you may have a different understanding of what Labor Day means, it will forever remind me of that one Labor Day weekend I had 5 years ago, where three days of labor (followed by a c-section) produced the biggest challenge of my life..... my daughter. Tomorrow we celebrate her special day with her new kindergarten class. My husband and I get to be the lucky parent volunteers for the day, and since there are no homemade goodies allowed (thanks to CA law), we're bringing goody bags instead for each of the kids to have.To me, every piece of this bag is well thought out. To the average person, they'd think "that's nice." Let me explain.... for starters, the green bag is a reminder to everyone to "Think Green". The Cars baggie of fruit snacks is for my husband- he's a huge fan of Lightning McQueen, to the point where "Ka-Chow" is part of our vocabulary (he also ate quite a few of these while stuffing the goody bags for me...haha). It's also the item for "instant gratification" for the kids. The box SAYS that are fat free, only 80 calories, and contain 100% of their Daily Value of Vitamin C (so the parents can't hate me too much, it's better than a cupcake).

Next part of the bag: seeds. It was important to me that we do something to help the environment, and also highlight some of my daughter's interests. She is the BEST seed planter in the world, and as you can tell by our garden, she plants them everywhere. I have to publicly thank Botanical Interests in having 45 packages of seeds to me in record time. To explain: I ordered from one company, paid for extra shipping, emailed to make sure I could get them in time....and no one responded to me. I contacted the company, got a "we didn't respond to you because we couldn't guarantee they'd be there in time", and I'd be without the seeds I wanted for kiddo's class. I cancelled my order. Then I contacted Botanical Interests, they called me right back, I placed my order and I paid for overnight shipping (SO glad they have that as an option!), and my seeds arrived....overnight! Problem solved! Thank you BI for excellent customer service!

Back to the seeds, my daughter had picked out poppy seeds in multiple colors to give her friends. I wasn't going to complain because I personally LOVE California poppies and wish that I would see them in Spring all over my neighborhood (besides my own garden). Well, now maybe we will! California poppies are GREAT for little kids because they are the easiest seed to plant (to the point where some people might call them invasive, you can just sprinkle them in the yard in January here in CA). But, they are our state flower, and our native insects adore them, and I adore them too as they are one of the first plants in our garden to bloom and feed our friendly bees.

Next we have the temporary tattoo's. I mentioned the fruit snacks as "instant gratification" for the kids. Well, the temporary tattoo's are for the lasting effect. My daughter LOVES tattoo's (probably because of mommy's real ones), and we were able to find a bunch that she loved.

The last item, the "diamond ring", was a nod to some of her BFF's since she was a baby. My daughter has been in a Montessori school since she was 8 weeks old. Some of her friends from that school she's had practically since birth. These are not average kids, they are all some of the best accessorizing, loving "rock stars" I've ever known. My daughter has been through a lot with them (like talking, walking, fighting over Prince Charming). Even though my daughter isn't in school with them anymore, I hope as a parent I can help her retain those friendships even as she begins to develop new ones in kindergarten. Someday, we'll get "the band" back together, but until then, we'll shine on!

Until then, wish us luck as my husband and I tackle our first "volunteer parenting" experience tomorrow- and wish the world's youngest wanna-be master gardener a happy 5th birthday :)