I find it hard to believe, after nearly a decade of being a Washington, DC wedding photographer, that one time, long ago, this used to be a hobby. It feels like a lifetime has passed and I consider myself so lucky to get to do something I still absolutely love — even all these years later! But since my hobby turned into my job, I found myself wanting something else to fill the void. Enter planning birthday parties for my kids — something I would absolutely never want to do professionally, but love doing just for fun!

You may remember Landon’s Peter Rabbit birthday party, his Puppy birthday party, and his train birthday party from past years! For his fourth birthday, we did an Around the World birthday party featuring each of the seven continents. Believe it or not, this is the party that I had originally planned for his third birthday. I basically worked on the entire thing during the initial quarantine, with the help of my mom, and had the whole thing ready to go. After I realized that things wouldn’t be changing for a long time, I decided to push the party a year so he could enjoy it with his friends!

Kids were invited to the party via a personalized airplane ticket — each kid was allowed two carry-on parents to enjoy the party with them :)

The guests were welcomed at a Passport Station where they had their photo taken for their personalized book. They’d be using this when visiting each of the seven continents — each book contained a page for the respective stations with facts about the continent and a place to stamp once you had “visited”!

The first stop was Asia, which had a heavy focus on Chinese culture. The kids each decorated a scratch dragon — dragons symbolize great power, good luck and strength — and opened up their fortune cookies!

Next they were invited outside to visit Antarctica and play in the snow amongst the penguins; Australia to do kangaroo sack races; and South America where they opened up a toucan piñata.

The remaining three stations were all food-related: an African watering hole, an American lunch, and desserts from all over Europe. How AMAZING is that globe cake made by my mom!?! She outdoes herself every year (just look back at the posts above; they were all made by her!), but this 3D round cake was a new level. Everything was completely done by hand and was as delicious as it was pretty!

Kids enjoyed their meal “in-flight” style, on a tray meant to replicate airplane service.

When the fun was finally over, each kid took home a suitcase filled with a wooden airplane activity and decorated sugar cookies!

Passport interior, x-ray machine, all signage, airplane ticket invitations | DIY
Passport Exterior | SJPrinter
Decorated Sugar Cookies | Chubby Hearts Bakery
Balloon Arch | PopFest Co.
Favor Suitcases | LasCaheetas
Kangaroo Ears | BabblesandBubbles
Continent Stamps | BeeMountainStamps