[sonia1959]

Hi everyone, our final day is April 21st, we are very happy, after this long journey, we have lots of people that want to come to celebrate our happy day. I'm very nervous, never have a party w/ many people maybe 100, don't have any idea what to do, what kind of food to serve, what activities to do for the kids, our party is April 26, I know I have plenty of time to plan. How do you celebrate your finalization date. Any ideas would be highly appreciated.

[julierose24]

My daughter's adoption party was outside. We rented a jumper for the kids, and pink and green table linens for the tables and chairs outside (also rented). We had italian food (very easy, big tubs of spagetti, salad, and bread). In the center of each table, was a pot of flowers. I painted the pots with my daughters name and the adoption date, and had an adoption saying printed on paper and sticking out of the flowers. I chose close family members to take these home at the end of the party. I also had a slide show of my daughter's life going on inside on the TV. It had 2 songs, one of only pictures of her with the song "Isn't she lovely," and one of my daughter and husband, with the song "fathers and daughters" by john mayer. It was pretty easy and we had about 80 people. The big problem was what to do with all of those presents. Too many toys!

Julie

[sayoko7]

I went totally the other way. My husband and I took off work and we just spent the day together as a family. We rented a whole bunch of movies, made a huge tub of popcorn, and ate junk food all day long. We asked the girls how they would like to celebrate, and this is the route they chose.

[WannaBtheMommy]

In my family we do pot-lucks for pretty much everything! There are so many of us now... The host person provides punch & coffee, iced tea in summer, paper plates, utensils and cups. Occasionally our host person will provide an entree (usually spaghetti or chilli or soup) and we all kind of stick to the same theme. Our host person coordinates so there aren't 6 green salads... We try to use parks as often as possible so we aren't all crammed into a house making a mess. We decorate with streamers, posters, balloons, anything that doesn't have to be nailed to a tree is fair game! Favors tend to be kid-stuff like bubbles, stickers, crayons... we hit local party stores and Wally-World and get a few big bags of stuff. We have also done pinatas, made soap, done fingerpaint, painted t-shirts...
It works well for us.
An idea for the present overload... you can donate "overflow" to the local children's ward, homeless shelter, fire department (they collect for Toys for Tots here)or see if another "not quite as fortunate" Foster Family in your area could use them.

[shan76]

On our adoption day, we took our son to Discovery Kingdom (Marine World.) We had a blast, and D even the sky coaster: that thing that is kind of like a bungee jump. I say he was brave in two ways that day!

We are planning a party for late May. I'm creating a little adoption ceremony so other family members can feel a part of it. We'll steal somethings, like the unity candle, from a wedding ceremony.