Paul has been playing “birthday” with imaginary friends for months. He will stir up a bunch of toys in a bowl with a spoon to make a “cake,” then he’ll spread out a blanket, wrap a toy in another blanket (to be the present), and then invite me to celebrate with him. His imaginary friends regularly turned two or maybe 10, and I have had dozens of birthdays since my last special day in January.

So needless to say, I was rather excited to help him celebrate his real special day. Although we don’t plan on having a friends birthday party every year, this was definitely a year to plan something fun.

I was told that a theme is not necessary, but I chose one anyway. Paul loves the concept of Super Why!, who is a superhero for preschoolers because he can read. Besides, Paul has learned how to read, so playing on the theme of reading, alphabet, and phonics was just what he liked. My games were rather loosely based on the show — but it didn’t really matter, because Paul went around for days telling everyone he was Super Paul because he knew how to read. That was the idea in my mind.

A few fun things about planning a party with a kid who is really excited: As I began making lists, he was jumping around the room.

“Can we play Duck Duck Goose?! Don’t forget we need decorations! I need a party hat!”

(He insisted on the party hat. He wore it for about 10 seconds and then told me he didn’t want a party hat. Sigh.)

Below, I have a video that has collected still shots from the birthday party, plus us singing to him as well as still shots from the rest of the birthday party. If you’d rather, you can browse the Flickr collection of photos here.