The Big Party

So, on September 15th we finally had J's birthday party. Although his actual birthday was in August, I held off his party until school started, hoping kids would actually show up. Well, that didn't happen. J isn't a very social kid, so I know he doesn't have many true friends in school, but I was hoping that by him handing out the invites near the beginning of school would get to the parents easier. Oh well. We still had a blast with those who did attend.

Now here comes the fun part! All of the details.

I worked on this party for quite a while. I knew (by pushing it back) I would have to manage my time between J's party and A's party (next month) so I wouldn't get behind on either.

Like I've mentioned many times now, I love planning parties. They don't always happen exactly like I plan (but really, what does?) but I still am very proud of my work.

For J's party we decided to have it at a local park. I was origionally worried about the heat but thankfully the weather held out and it was a decent day. We also had plans to go to the splash park after we ate cake and opened presents.

I appoligize that my photos are horrible (and lacking). I'm the worst at taking pictures, especailly at my kids parties. I'm usually the one busy making sure things are going attempting to go as planned. The photos I did manage to take don't really do the party justice, there was so much more than what I was able to capture.

These are the Lego men marshmallow pops that I made. I was very nervous about making them, but I think they turned out super cute. Again, sorry you can't see many of the faces... I was in a hurry taking the picture. I origionally bought two (one for each side of the table) large bowls to fill with M&Ms to use for displaying them, but I didn't buy enough so the pops weren't standing upright. So I decided to put them in a smaller cup I had left over and that seemed to do the trick.

These cups were filled with multi-colored Jell-o. Once they were set out I think half of them were gone the first minute. They were so refreshing on this warm day. I really wanted to attempt to make layered Jell-o but wasn't exactly sure how to go about doing it. I decided to just give it a try and see how it would turn out. I just made one flavor at a time, per package directions, the allowed them to cool. The only thing I did different was I had to do the "quick set" version of the instructions, so they would be ready in time for the party. I also attempted to be even more brave and do a diagonal layer effect. You can't really tell from my crappy picture, but they actually turned out pretty cool. Also, to decorate the cups, I attached to each one a sticker I purchased got for free from vistaprint.

These were popcorn balls that I attempted (and failed). I just couldn't get my proportions of marshmallow mixture and popcorn correct. I think if I had taken better measurements and calculated things out better, they would have turned out great. Needless to say, the few you see gone in the picture were the only ones eaten... I also added in mini M&Ms to add some color. 

Now for decorations. I wanted to keep them simple (and cheap, haha) so I just made some homemade streamers (tutorial found here) that hung from the pavilion rafters. These hung above the tables where everyone sat to eat. Again, this picture doesn't do them justice, you just have to take my word for it :)

Now this was a project I came up with on my own, homemade lego blocks. Basicly I just bought floral foam, tissue paper, and clear beads all from the dollar store. I wrapped the foam in tissue paper and then glued the clear beads on top in a lego-type pattern. Super easy and cost about $5 to make enough for three tables.

Here is a picture of J's banner (that I also got for free from vistaprint!) hanging above his cake I made. I really wanted the cake to be the showcase of the party and I think it was. It makes me so happy to see the excitment on my kiddos face when he gets to see the special things I make for him. It makes it all worth it in the end. It also doesn't hurt when I get the same sentiment from adults, too :)

And here is a picture of the birthday boy with his cake. Yes, the cake was bigger than his head! Six layers to be exact. Also, I plan to do another post about how I made the cake, so stay tuned. You'll never guess what the inside looks like...

 

As far as the other things I did/ made for the party that weren't available for photos when I finally got around to taking them were:

 

Rectangle pizza- cheese and pepperoni (to look like lego bricks)

Lego brick pinata- tutorial here, mine looked just like this one but blue without the pull strings

Homemade rectangle platters for the food- covered in theme matching tissue paper

 

One of the highlights of the party was the science experiment I did with all of the kids. I wanted to do something different, that all of the kids could help with, and I also needed it to fit into baby food jars I had saved to use for J's party. So what did we make? Slime!

 

J and I had made some a few weeks ago as a summer experiment and we both loved it so much. I knew it would be a hit with the kids at the party (ranging from two to nine years old). I also knew I wanted to turn the baby food jars into lego men heads, but didn't want to paint them, incase I decided to put something edible in them. So my solution was to draw faces on each of the jars and then tint the slime yellow.

 

Of course I didn't think the whole project through (color wise) and as we were making it, it looked like runny eggs. The kids loved it but the adults were turning green, haha. I made sure to give each kid a special task to help with the project, then when it was time to mix I allowed them all to put their hands in. The look on their faces when they felt it for the first time was priceless (I guess my memory will have to do for that image). After it was all mixed I divided it equally into all of the jars and sent one home with each of the kids.