I've been reminiscing about the wonderful parties that I've thrown for my boys. The guests seem pleased as they talk about it all year and await their next invitation. I must be doing something right!
Before I begin, let me just say that I wish I had begun my relationship with Pinterest prior to this party! It would have saved a lot of time. However, I enjoy being creative for my kids.
It all began with the invitations! Handmade from construction paper, they look like Lego Bricks. Believe me, my hands were tired from all of the cutting and writing. Inside, of course, was all of the information (date, address, RSVP...you get the idea). I made NINE of these. Yes, this was probably one of my smallest parties, but you'll see why soon.
Decorations included more bricks cut from construction paper, streamers, and goodie bags!
My original plan was to get some different colored bags from the dollar store and put the dots on them to make them look like Lego bricks.
Well, that plan changed the moment I saw these beauties! Yellow Lunch Sacks at the dollar store. Mini figures popped into my head! Lex loves mini figures! These were super easy to make. I just trimmed the tops and used a sharpie to color the faces.
Remember how I stated that I had a small party? Well, I had NINE 6 year olds for about 20 hours.
There was no way that I was going to handle the 20-30 kids that I normally have.
Activities for the first day included:
1. Squirting water at each other (Got these squirters at the dollar store)
I painted a line in the grass, put out some buckets and let them go! I painted the lines in the yard so that they'd stay far enough away from each other to not squirt each other in the eyes.
2. Over the years, I've collected lots of Role Playing Costumes. I would purchase costumes at yard sales and after Halloween sales. Girls aren't the only ones to play dress up!!!!
3. They played a lot in the back yard as well (swing sets and forts are great for boys).
4-6. We served Pizza for dinner, did some more dress up, and then headed outside for some fireworks!
The boys were pretty worn out and it was getting late, so they camped out in the living room and watched a few Lego movies. Clutch Powers and Hero Factory were good choices. Netflix helped with that.
The next morning, I was super proud. Lex's best friend, Timmy, was able to stay the whole night. This was big, because every time he would try to stay, he'd only make it a few hours.
Cereal was a good choice for the boys. I bought a few different ones and let them have at it. When looking after nine wily 6 year olds, do you really want to cook? Didn't think so.
Below you will notice a cool trick that doesn't require any spending for Lego toy storage. A Blanket! Yep, that's it. Any old blanket will do. Sit it on the ground, throw some legos on it and have fun! When it's time to clean up, just pick up the blanket and pour the contents into the storage container. My husband adopted this plan as a kid, and he still uses it today. You heard that right. He still plays with Legos. In fact, there's not a room in my home that doesn't have Legos.
After building with Legos, the boys played dress up. Again. We also did face painting. Nothing fancy, they were all warriors (close your eyes and think of Brave Heart). They played with the water squirters again and ran a muck in the back yard. :)
For lunch it was PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!. They also had lemonade with Lego mini figure ice cubes.
Now, on to the cake! For this I baked Four 9" cakes and Two 6" cakes. I stacked the layers with icing in between each layer. After putting a thin layer of icing to set the crumbs, I put it in the fridge for a little while. I do this with all of my cakes. Then, I put on more icing, and chill it again. When the icing is nice and firm, I get a warm cup of H20 and dip my fingers in it. I then run my fingers along the icing to smooth it out. By the way, I use Wilton's Icing Dye to make the colors. For the black, I used a tube of Wilton's icing. Notice how a lot of my cakes have a smaller cake added to a big cake? That goes to the birthday boy!
The birthday boy was trying to stack all of his presents. They quickly fell over. I love that boy!
Ever beat a Lego? Now's your chance. To make the pinata, I took a priority mail box, cut some circles in it and added some paper cups.
I used a runny glue/water mixture to paste red tissue paper on the box.
Those Priority Mail Boxes are no joke! It took awhile to break it, but it was well worth it!
Goodie Bags included:
Some Lego Candy found at the local candy store for about ($7.99 lb.)
Bubbles
Silly Bands
Homemade Lego Mini figure Crayons
A top (because Lex also loves tops)
And a Lego Mini figure key chain that I ordered from Lego.com off of the clearance section (Don't forget to sign up for the Lego VIP membership, it's free and you rack up points!~ I have $165 in Lego money for Christmas this year).
When Daddy gets home we'll be planning our next birthday party. Can't wait!
