We have officially started transitioning into a new phase of birthday parties (at least with Burke)- to a more ‘big kid’ version. This year’s party was a smaller crowd (and no parents), with less organized activities (though, they played HARD in the neighborhood pool for the first half of the party) and no theme (unless ‘pizza party’ counts as a theme).

And food has taken center stage- Burke’s priorities for the party were a chance to have fun with his friends, yummy pizza toppings for the grilled pizzas, GELATO, and an Italian Soda Bar. So friends and food were pretty much his only priorities- ha!

Which I love.

And apparently, all Burke’s friends share his love for yummy pizza (and gelato!

And italian sodas- even the kiddos that had never tried them before gave rave reviews!), so letting friend time and food share center stage was a was a win all around.

To set up the Make-Your-Own-Pizza Bar, we set out a big stack of individual pizza crusts, several sauce options (red pizza sauce, pesto, white truffle sauce and barbecue sauce), several cheese options (fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, and shredded colby jack), and lots of toppings (pepperoni, sausage, grilled chicken, tomatoes, green peppers, olives, sundried tomatoes, carmelized onions).

Each guest put their pizza together and then took it outside for Adam to grill. So easy, and so delicious!

I can’t believe we are already moving into this new ‘big kid’ stage, but also I am loving watching our kids grow into themselves (if that makes sense), and also really enjoying the funny, quirky, interesting, caring people they are becoming. Seriously, just adore them. Bring on pizza parties and the other big kid stuff!