Danger! Danger Will Robinson!
 

Go classic like Hank suggests. Our two hour parties worked like this:

15 minutes of kids arriving and general running around.

20 minutes for craft (I have three girls so the crafts have been jewelry-making, picutre frame decorating, pumpkin decorating, etc.)

55 minutes of Games: musical chairs, pin the X on the Y (grin on the pumpkin, shell on the mermaid, tail on the pig), hot potato, bean bag toss, spoon races, if the kids are sophisticated enough Simon Says.

10 minutes of Pinata: they never break so each kid gets at least three swings

20 minutes of cake and Ice cream

Danger! Danger Will Robinson!
 

My parents were pretty good about moving the pinata inside for birthday parties when the weather wasn't cooperative.

Danger! Danger Will Robinson!
 

Crafts=good idea but I think it's best to have something specific to make or paint (yikes) or put together. A craft store will have a bunch of things to paint, some with "raised" features so it's easy to paint them, like containers with a removable top and the top is in the shape of a dinosaur, or ladybug or flipflops. If you don't paint inside, kid can make placemats, totebags, visors (hats). "Freeze Dance" is fun - put on music and then abruptly turn it off -kids still dancing are "out." If you have games, make sure to have cheap "prizes". I find it's too loud to do "kid bingo".

Danger! Danger Will Robinson!
 

I was at a party for a four-year-old on Saturday, and Duck Duck Goose was a big hit. Age of those in attendance (including some siblings) was 2.5-10, and everyone had fun. No equipment required, and no mess to clean up later.

tm

It didn't rain, so all was well.

L'il Ty is reading, in the sense that he can decipher sentences, but we're not quite over the hump, in the sense that while he can read sentences from a book, it's enough effort that he can't really pay attention to what's going on, and doesn't retain the plot (e.g.). So he's not quite into it yet. My thought is to find him age-appropriate graphic novels or something else with pictures that's age-appropriate and plot driven that he'll want to read on his own. Tintin is one though, though some of the vocabulary is a little advanced. Any other suggestions?

Note: I don't think either this suggestion or Tintin is particualrly age appropriate below, say 8 or 9, but they're so awesome, I'll recommend anyways.

Asterix. Lots of colors, lots of action, lots of funny pictures. It will take him YEARS to get get all of the puns and rather sophisticated cultural and historical jokes, but he'll like the magic and the dog and the just-plain-fun-ness of the series. Plus, he'll have a leg up on his peers when he starts learning about Roman history later on down the line.

And you'll laugh your ass off when you're helping him decipher names like "Cacofonix" (the village bard), "Fulliautomatix" (the village smith), and "Ekonomikrisis" (a random Phonecian merchant).

you must have a book store near you with a great kid's section. I remember just sitting with my kid and browsing around. most of what were my kids/our favorite books were stuff that was not around when we were kids.

Oh. Rosemary Wells' Max books are probably about that level. Max's Dragon Shirt.

There is really nothing more fun than giving a new reader free reign at the local book store. Let them pick what they want and they will read for fun. Try to pick it out for them and they will never understand why people read.

The best thing you can do is stand back a bit.

This is our rainy Saturday fall back plan. My kids probably think book stores are only open on rainy days, but that's OK. By the same logic, the public library is only open when the highs are in triple digits.

My son picks crap. In general, I agree with the principle, but with him in particular, he's wired to pick books that he's not interested in reading. The same thing happens at the library. I have some sense of what he'll like -- Tintin, The Wizard of Oz -- but left to his own devices at a bookstore or library he'll come home with stuff that he doesn't wan to read. Alas.

RT, I love Asterix, but I think it's a little harder to read than Tintin.

Formula
 

I checked the ingredients on the Target brand of formula ($13)and they're identical to the ingredients in Enfamil ($27). Is there any reason to continue using the name brand formula?

Formula
 

Nope.

Formula
 

Danke.

Formula
 

Of course, you're a failure because it's not breast milk.

Formula
 

There is still breast milk, but we are now supplementing w/the wife back at work.