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Finalization - Party Ideas???

1K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Authentic_Mother 
#1 ·
Okay so we have had out little one for 2.5 years and we are fast approaching finalization.
We never really had an adoption shower being that she was through child services and things can be so iffy, but we wanted to have some kind of party for the finalization.
Have any of you done this and if so, what did you do? I dont really need a lot of things for her cept maybe some shoes.....but generally I was thinking if they wanted to give gifts it could be something to commemorate adoption or something. But I didnt know if its like a typical birthday type thing or what?
Thanks in advance for any and all help!
 
#2 ·
First of all congratulations!! What a wonderful blessing for you and your family!

We finalized when DS was 4 -- he had been with me since birth. We rented a picnic shelter at a park with a wonderful playground and had a bbq. We didn't ask for gifts, although some people brought them. We invited whole families, as opposed to just kids or just families with kids his age like we would have at a birthday party, and we invited people like his teachers from school who we wouldn't have invited to a birthday and who were really touched to be included. Also his godmother and godsister flew in to be there for both the finalization and the party afterwards.

The other thing we did was ask DS how he wanted the event commemorated. He was very adamant that he wanted to wear "man clothes" to see the judge. So his "adoption gift" from me was dress pants, dress shoes, a button down shirt and a tie -- not something I would have chosen to put on such a little kid but it really brought home to him the importance of the event, and I have to admit he looked cute!

I think that part of the difficult part of this for me is that DS never knew that we weren't finalized -- our adoption started out as a regular domestic newborn adoption and then there were complications that dragged it out forever. He didn't know any of the details of those complications. If you had asked him at 2 or 3 he would have said he was adopted (even though technically he was still a ward of the adoption agency). So while I was through the moon with joy, I didn't want to communicate to DS that the adoption had ever been in jeopardy.
 
#3 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Momily View Post
First of all congratulations!! What a wonderful blessing for you and your family!

We finalized when DS was 4 -- he had been with me since birth. We rented a picnic shelter at a park with a wonderful playground and had a bbq. We didn't ask for gifts, although some people brought them. We invited whole families, as opposed to just kids or just families with kids his age like we would have at a birthday party, and we invited people like his teachers from school who we wouldn't have invited to a birthday and who were really touched to be included. Also his godmother and godsister flew in to be there for both the finalization and the party afterwards.

The other thing we did was ask DS how he wanted the event commemorated. He was very adamant that he wanted to wear "man clothes" to see the judge. So his "adoption gift" from me was dress pants, dress shoes, a button down shirt and a tie -- not something I would have chosen to put on such a little kid but it really brought home to him the importance of the event, and I have to admit he looked cute!

I think that part of the difficult part of this for me is that DS never knew that we weren't finalized -- our adoption started out as a regular domestic newborn adoption and then there were complications that dragged it out forever. He didn't know any of the details of those complications. If you had asked him at 2 or 3 he would have said he was adopted (even though technically he was still a ward of the adoption agency). So while I was through the moon with joy, I didn't want to communicate to DS that the adoption had ever been in jeopardy.
Thanks! That is neat that he asked for "man clothes"! I bet ya'll got some adorable photos! I do plan on getting her a nice dress for the adoption and then saving it for her.
Thanks for the ideas of inviting EVERYONE! I was trying to think of a way to make it different from a birthday party and just couldn't think of how!
 
#4 ·
we finalized when dd was 6 months old. our neighbors threw a shower type party for us at a park nearby, and my family got together on the weekend and had a cake. we weren't there for the finalization as it was on the other side of the country. we just got a call from our lawyer that it was all done.
 
#6 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by pumpkingirl71 View Post
We had dd's party a month ago : ) We combined it with her dedication.

One thing we did that was nice was send a small page of a scrapbook to everyone we invited. They decorated with pictures and messages and we put it all together. Actually, they are still trickling in...
I considered this! I thought it would be nice to let people scrap up some pages for her with pictures they had. I may still do this! Did you send accents and assesories as well?

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja-belly View Post
we finalized when dd was 6 months old. our neighbors threw a shower type party for us at a park nearby, and my family got together on the weekend and had a cake. we weren't there for the finalization as it was on the other side of the country. we just got a call from our lawyer that it was all done.

That sounds really nice too! Good ideas!
 
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