C.J.’s Valentine’s Day themed, crafty, dress-up 6th birthday party — to which he wanted all of his friends to attend dressed as “rock-star sassy fairy ballerina Harajuku girls” — was a huge success! We are still recovering so this post will be more photos and less words. Enjoy!
The Birthday Boy’s tiara…and some for his friends.
C.J. and I made cupcakes for his guests.
I usually pin crafts to my Pinterest board and never actually make them. Not this time! C.J. and I folded hearts using pages from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and strung them together to make garland. This photo doesn’t do our work justice.
The Birthday Boy’s outfit. He decided to ditch the leg warmers and opt for his silver heels over his purple bejeweled ballet flats.
We hadn’t intended for jumping on the trampoline to be a part of the party, but it’s hard to resist a good bounce.
This was the first year that C.J. didn’t receive a single “boy toy.” He’s really digging the new La Dee Da dolls.
His favorite gift of all…Uncle Uncle got a headband with a blonde braid attached, purchased extensions of real hair and hand sewed them onto the braided headband. C.J. can have long, blonde “girl hair” whenever he wants.
The day after the party, C.J. bounced in his new dress that, according to him, makes him look like a teenager and his couture headband.
Raising My Rainbow 
My 6 year old son just celebrated his birthday with a Freaky Fabulous Monster High Theme. He invited everyone from his class and I was pleased that some boys showed up. I set up a freaky fabulous make-over section and we did a photo shoot in front of a poster of the Monster High characters. Everyone got in on it including adults. Seeing my son in his red feather boa and tiara was the highlight of the party. The smile on his face was still there when he fell asleep that night.
Thank you for your blog. Knowing I have some where to turn for words of wisdom is wonderful!!!!
I’m officially jealous of that houndstooth sweater – do they have it in grown-up size?!
Looks like the party was loads of fun!
Seeing these photos of CJ reminded me of my Eli years ago, and brought tears to my eyes. My Eli is now 11yrs and her name is Acacia. 🙂
That’s wacky! Hope it was totally awesome, man!
Love the garland!!! My LO will have this at our one year old celebration. Thanks for the idea 🙂
I am impressed that the parents of the children attending got him such great gifts. What a great party filled with love, friendship and acceptance. So happy for you and your family
As usual, congratulations on being such an awesome mom!
I don’t know if you’ve previously addressed this, but I was just wondering: is there any reason you (or you and CJ) choose to keep his hair cut short? I have a friend with 2 sons who are what people consider gender-conforming and they both had the most gorgeously long (and wild) manes until they decided for themselves that they wouldn’t mind getting their hair cut shorter. I also know someone with a son who still loves his long hair at age 10 (also “gender-conforming”), and has no plans to cut it short anytime soon. So I was just wondering, since you mentioned that CJ pines for long hair…isn’t there a hair cut that would suit him better than the the one he has?
I’m not trying to be critical, by the way, this is a sincere inquiry. I’m sure you’ve already contemplated the options ad nauseam – I’m just wondering about the thinking behind the outcome.
I have read your blog for a while and find it amazing. The idea that such a young boy can stand up for what he wants, when so many adults find it hard to fight against the traditional ideas of normalcy. You have truly inspired me!
That smile says it all 🙂 So cute!
I know I’m a late commenter on this one, but I’m just so happy he had a great party!
I am so happy for CJ. What a wonderful memory this will make for him – and for you.
VL
Pingback: Happiness Is… Being Yourself, Being Accepted, Being Loved… Being Fabulous! | walkingphilly
Every child, every person, deserves to be happy, loved and have a perfect birthday party, full of family, friends and memories. What a lucky child to have such a day and such a community of love! I’m just jealous that I can’t rock leggings quite like C.J.!
EXT. BACK YARD TRAMPOLINE DAY
CJ and friends, all dressed to the nines, engage in a slow-motion montage of bouncing joy. After the recent challenges of hiding his true self at school, the elation of personal freedom of expression is expressed by close ups of long flowing blond extensions on a braided hair headband inter-cut with CJ’s beaming smile. (Music swells)
Glad to see CJ and his friends had such a sparkly time.
Not related to this thread in particular, but I found this one quite interesting: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-02/science-confirms-obvious-men-and-women-arent-different
I clearly meant “Ethelthefrog”, not “Ethelthegrog” Sorry to be confusing… 😉
My favourite pic is the outfit because of an important detail: C.J. smilse !!!
Thanks for sharing !
No one deserves a great party more than C.J. I’m so glad that it was everything he had hoped for. What an amazing mom you are! I sure love Uncle Uncle too!
This is wonderful and perfect. Thanks for sharing.
very cute! thanks for sharing
Three cheers for CJ, his fabulous friends, CJ’s Mom (and all your helpers), and Uncle Uncle!! Inside my heart was bouncing with joy!
Wow! Looks like a fantastic bash! I’m so glad CJ had a wonderful birthday!
XxMO
http://www.madame-ostrich.com
Everybody needs an Uncle Uncle that comes through like that!
This tickles me. My daughter ( African American who wants her hair in a short Afro) longs for long blonde hair. I’m totally going to make one of those headbands!! And I love the theme…. The parents did a pretty good job capturing rock star, fairy, harijuku… Etc. love it.
Awesome Awesome Awesome! So glad the day turned out so well and that his birthday was observed JUST like he wanted! 🙂 You are great parents…..!
What an amazing Bday party…….CJ is happy. The only thing that matters.
Glad CJ had a happy day!
How wonderful for CJ! I hope more parents of gender creative kids follow your lead and bring joy to the lives of their precious children. CJ truly had a HAPPY Birthday!
Definitely the party of the year! 🙂
Aww!!!! Love it!
What a lovely smile on a happy child. I’m so glad he had such a great party – and that the friends he invited – and their parents – understood the kind of gifts he wanted.
What a fun time! I want a party like that.:) Glad he has pretty hair.
What a terrific birthday party! Much love and many birthday wishes to C.J.! I’m glad it was such a wonderful day.
So glad to read C.J.’s birthday went well. He’s fortunate to have you for a mom, and accepting family & friends. Your blog is an inspiration. 🙂
Happy Belated Birthday CJ. It looks like you had a wonderful time. Excellent work on the Hearts Garland. You and your Mom did a great job. I’m pretty jealous of the headband you got from Uncle Uncle. It’s sure a lot better than when I was young and had to put a yellow towel on my head to have long blond hair, LOL. I just want to tell you how lucky and blessed you are to have a Mom and Dad that love you so much, and a wonderful family that makes you happy. May you have many more wonderful birthdays.
Congratulations, and happy birthday to CJ. Parents like you give me hope!
– Connie
I just noticed you refer to CJ as He —- so CJ is comfortable with the choice of masculine pronouns, and does not opt for the feminine option? I wondered as we used to have a little girl on my daughter’s soccer team who was also gender non-conforming but she openly insisted on being referred to as a boy…. got online at school with the boys, and only accepted male pronouns etc. Just curious….. Also wanted to say how thrilled I felt for CJ when I saw what Uncle Uncle had made for him.. Wish ALL families whatever their interests and orientations might be had such Loving, Insightful and Involved family members!!!! Love your Blog! Lyn~
Wonderful! LOVE that smile on CJ!
So happy that C.J. had a wonderful time and received appropriate gifts that he loves!
What a wonderful day for CJ and your family. I love celebrating our kids for who they are – your family is an inspiration.
I have always wondered why CJ dosen’t have longer hair? It would suit him so well 🙂
looks like fun! my daughter also has the Xia Xia hermit crabs and loves them – I’m sure CJ will enjoy them! 🙂
YAY!
Looks like loads of fun. I’d love an invite to the next bash! lol. 🙂 You can get gorgeous wigs SO cheaply on eBay! You should check it out. I have pink ones. 😀
Looks like a huge success based on those smiles. Good job, Mom! And, Happy Belated Birthday C.J.
Look at that smile in the pic, that’s what is it all about. He obviously was very happy!
I smiled through this whole post. I’m so glad he had a great birthday! 🙂
I smiled all through this post. I’m so glad he had a great birthday! 🙂
What a wonderful day it was! Many more to come, I’m sure!
Nooooo! Not a teenager! Not yet! You’ve got 7 more wonderful birthdays to plan and hopefully share!! Happy Birthday, CJ!
How fantastic! Love love love the headband – Uncle Uncle did great work on that!
Fabulous! Simply, utterly. And, Uncle Uncle is the coolest – ever.
I knew, I knew it would be a HUGE success! Jumping on the trampoline looks really fun ~ and CJ’s new dolls are quite cute. By the way, have you ever seen Cutie Pops dolls? They are designed with a lot of accessories to change easily, all bright/colorful/candy/heart/cute themed, and easily exchangeble hair extensions, too ~ I believe they have an official website where you can find more about them.
What a great day for CJ and his friends to celebrate his birthday !~! I’m really glad that it went well, that he received presents that he’ll have fun with and that the whole bunch of then had good time. You are a good mom. You make a delectable cupcake. Uncle Uncle outdid himself with the wig.
That is so beautiful and you and your family are just wonderful. Keep it up girl! : )
Yeeha!
I never quite know what to say that hundreds of people haven’t already said – but I think it’s just wonderful that you’re taking such good care of your child.
Too fun!! What a great Birthday party for C.J.
That’s a big :), Mom. That was a birthday fit for a princess.