[mab_123]

We are getting ready to plan an adoption party, but are kinda clueless on what to do. Anyone with idea's or thoughts would be helpful. We adopted a sibling group that is older. Thanks

[texastanya]

Congratulations!

I don't have any advice, really. I'm about to be in a similar situation, only my boys are 3 1/2 and 20 months. We were thinking of having a pony party or something like that at a local stable that has ponies for the kiddos to ride, games, and food stuff.

Best to you.
T

[DianeScraps]

Well we aren't quite ready to set up our party, but hope to have our adoption finalized within the next 90 days.

We are planning our event to be religous celebration. We are both pretty religous as are the girls. Neither of the girls have been baptised, so we are planning a baptistim and 'family commitment' ceremony at the church with deserts to follow.

My brother is a music major, in his 2nd yr of college, so he will be coordinating some musical entertainment with some of the girls favorite hymns and such too.

[sfbaymom2000]

With older kids, maybe a barbeque would be nice if the weather is good. I would get ballooons, cake, etc. to show them that the day is really special and important to you. And take lots of pictures at the finalization...and video if you can! It will be one of the most important days in your lives! I would also look for a special gift for the kids. Adoption announcements are a nice way to also show how excited you are to have them join your family. I used www.picturemeperfect.com and they came out absolutely beautiful.

Congratulations!

[Mom2threebabes]

Upon our finalization, we are going to have an "Open House" Adoption Celebration at our home for a couple of hours where people can come and go and offer congrats. I'll serve finger foods & drinks. Then, as a family, we will do something special on the day we actually finalize.

[darla24]

We adopted our 3 year last August and had a huge party for him in July. We made invitiation that i stamped that included our older children pictures. We planned this for several months and sent out tons of invitaions to family and friends. We had a ton of fun, music and games for the kids. It was great to have all of our family together. We will be adopting another child later this year and will plan about the same thing. We are going to make this a pool party as well as a barbque. We had tons of fun both the kids and the adult. Good luck

[shaylynn]

Congratulations on your upcoming adoption day. When I adopted my 2 yr, 4 yr and 6 yr old sibling, we had invited everyone to come to the court room and then to a resturant close by. I gave them each a comforter with their names and adoption date embrodered on it. Now each year on the anniversary of the date, I give them something for them to keep and put in their hope chest. ps The comforter were also embrodered with the words "forever loved and in our hearts"

[ladybugqueen]

My girls are 9 & 11. They were in my home for 11 months when they were 5 & 7 (well, 6 & 8 when they left). I always throw "goodbye parties" for my foster kiddos when they return home. We order pizza and I'll have a small gift for them & each person in the house will say what they'll miss most about that person & we each light a candle. ANYWAY I'm rambling...the girls' "party" theme was Hawaiian.

Obviously, they came back into my home (about 1 1/2 years ago) and adoption finalized this summer. We chose a Hawaiian theme again. We made invitations with their faces & mine cropped into a clipart image of 3 Hula dancers. The girls registered at Walmart for things for their "forever rooms". On the invitations we said:

Please join us in saying "Aloha Mau Loa" (Hello Forever/Never Again Goodbye) to J & B adopted by A on July 19, 2006. We gave the directions to my church & put on the bottom: "If you would like to contribute to their "forever" bedrooms, the girls have registered at Walmart." Tacky? Maybe, but I figure babies get baby showers...the big kids should get one too.

We served cake, punch, nuts, mints & I played a video I had recorded for the girls. (I felt like I would bawl if I did it in person.) I wrote them a poem and read "In Case You Ever Wonder" by Max Lucado (I just skipped the page about when the child was a baby) and told them what they meant to me. I displayed tons of pictures of the girls and our first family photo. We had games for the kids.

Because they were siblings, I expected each girl to get a few things for their rooms...but people were VERY generous. Almost everyone invited showed up to celebrate...some even drove in from other states. I was completely overwhelmed and so were the girls!

Because the kids were older, it meant that much more to them. They've never had family and community support before, so it was really one more thing that showed them what family is really about and what a GOOD thing it can be. My youngest one (who thinks way past her years most of the time) said to me "Mom, I knew these people {meaning my coworkers and family they hadn't met yet} liked you, but I never knew they liked me too! I never knew so many people could want to be with me!" and ran off with a grin from ear to ear to go play with her new cousins and friends.

I wouldn't have traded that party for the world!

I wish you the best!!!

[Michellemomof5]

Do you all do the candle lighting ceremony at your placement or adoption party? If you have not heard of it, let me know and I will forward it on.

It is such an awesome way to include everybody in the party.

[straightblues]

Keep these ideas comming. I want to have a HUGE party when and if that day comes. Can't wait for the darn appeal to be over. Maybe planning a big party will help keep my mind off it.

[agvelas]

We rented a hall and had a huge party this was also her baptistim party to so we invited 75 close family and friends and it was great we this for both of are girls.



April

[Cristi727]

My husband and I have been on this rollercoster ride for 3 years now and are finally adopting our boys, age 4 & 10.

To count down to the adoption day, which is the 29th, we have a count down link. We each got several pieces of paper, wrote down favorite family memories, and linked them together to form a chain. Each night the boys take off a link and read the memory. It is a fun way to count down to the adoption and hear everyones memories.

We are also planning a lunch party at PF Changs. We have a group, around 20, who are going to come into the room with us when we do the adoption. Then right after we are going to go treat lunch for our guests. I will be contacting the manager to see if I can drop by a personalized cake and decorations so it will be extra special for the boys and our guests.

My brother and step father are making the boys a fort, so when lunch is over they will be surprised to go home and find a new play structure.

I also sent out announcements with pictures of us as a family, and a seperate one of the boys. I made it a family effort, and bought stamps for the boys to decorate the envelopes. We got several calls from the receipents oohhing and awing over how precious the annoucements were, which made as all feel good.

I also bought them books that are personalized from an online company. You give them the childs name, age, town, and three friends and they incorporate it into the story. You also get to personalize the front page as a dedication. The books just arrived in the mail and they are beautiful.

Lastly I personalized pencils with their names and adoption date. Then got notepads, stickers, pencil sharpeners, and candy to put in small bags. We are going to bring these goody bags to their classmates, so they can celebrate with their school friends as well.

I know we are doing alot but we have had them for over 3 years and have had alot of time to think of the type of celebration both adults and the children would love during our many appeals.

Congrats on your family and have fun with the plans.

[Boulderbabe]

This sounds so beautiful! What a great way to celebrate FINALLY getting the court's stamp of approval on the family you've been for ages.

I bet your boys will remember this as one of the best days of their lives.

[WhoKnew]

Cristi,

I did the same thing, with the personalized books. I had looked all over for an adoption related book to give dd on the finalization day. I was very disppointed by the lack of books appropriate for older child adoptions (that didn't focus on the sadness, anger, and confusion children feel). So I have since written one and am in the process of publishing it. It has been endorsed by top adoption and parenting experts!

Christine

[mrsred]

I just thot I would post an idea of what I did first for our son's adoption party last year, then for our daughter's adoption party last night. Both times we held "open house" type parties. I use a digital camera and have all my photos in "albums" on my computer. A few days ahead of time I printed, on plain paper, a 5x7 copy of just about every picture I had taken with the child in it... whether they were the focus subject or not (like standing next to sib while sib blows out birthday candles). Then the day of the party, while child is upstairs playing I, with the help of my husband and parents, taped the pictures up ALL OVER! We had over a years worth of pictures of E and 9 months worth of pictures of T, so as you can imagine, I could cover a lot of wall space. In both instances, the expressions on their faces on seeing all the pictures of themself was well worth the $80 worth of printer cartridges I blew through! Plus, the pictures were a good focal point and conversation starters as friends and family came to celebrate with us. Afterward I leave the pictures up for a couple days to cement the fact that they are such an important part of our lives.