Happy Birthday Shakespeare!

Lucy is my little Shakespeare lover. We finished up the Tempest recently and it wasn't quite as big of a hit as A Midsummer Night's Dream but I'd say it was in her top 5 stories of Term 1. She's been asking for a Shakespeare birthday party but that isn't really going to work out for a couple different reasons but when I realized that April 23rd was Shakespeare's (supposed) birthday, I thought we could have a bit of fun with that for her sake.

I didn't get great shots but we all had fun so hopefully some of that shows through. We sang him happy birthday and ate some carrot cupcakes I had stashed in the freezer. (Sidenote: I love this recipe and it makes great cupcakes too but a lot of them. Last time I made it I got 36+ cupcakes! Good thing they freeze well.)

Played "Pin the birthday hat on Shakespeare"

 

 Neither kid wanted to use an actual blindfold so Lucy closed her eyes. Jonah pretended to but he's a bad liar so after three tries, Craig helped make it easier by covering his eyes.

They decided they all tied but me. I was way off and my blue hat is hidden by Lucy in this picture. At least no one can accuse me of cheating!

Then they dressed up as their favorite characters. Lucy had worn her hair in braids all day so it would be "bumpy" (aka wavy) because that's how she imagines Puck. She wore some silks. Jonah was bottom and drew himself a donkey face mask hat. Which was pretty hilarious because his drawing skills aren't great so it was basically just a smiley face on a piece of white printer paper. But he was excited. They were only going to recite their favorite lines but that quickly led into acting out their favorite scenes and a costume change or two. Jonah even made himself a microphone out of magnatiles and Lucy found a flower shaped bracelet for him to sprinkle in her eyes. At one point the needed an extra person and I asked if daddy could participate but I was told no. Apparently all the grownups were supposed to do was clap at the end and ask questions. They made do by having Jonah quickly change from puck to bottom and back again.

The play we watched last month included a q&a session afterwards with the actors so Lucy and Jonah included that in theirs as well, they sat on the edge of the stage just like those actors did and asked us to raise our hands. It was so cute! Front state to finish, the whole show really reminded me of that Christmas pagent scene from The Bells of St. Mary. Nothing was pre-planned and they talked it out as they went and made up lines to fill in the gaps of the passages they knew.

After that, the kids headed out to the backyard with Craig to test drive our new tent. That wasn't really part of the planned party but it was a nice addition. She told me "Yesterday was so fun. First Shakespeare and then camping. It was all my favorites!" I don't think this will be the last time we celebrate April 23rd.