Birthday Party Success

We pretty much skipped Valentine's Day this year to celebrate Joey's 8th birthday. He had such a great time. I'm so glad we did it at home! Joey invited his classmates but only two were able to come. At the time, I was a little disappointed more kids didn't show but I soon realized he had WAY more fun with the two boys who did attend. Trent and Neil are his closest friends so they all had a blast! I have to remind myself, my son is not like me. He prefers smaller crowds and more intimate settings. The biggest party attendance in the largest venue doesn't equate to the BEST party experience!

Joey chose the party theme: Super Heros & Villains so he could dress up like JAX (similar to a Storm Trooper-I think!). I liked how it allowed the kids to come to the party dressed up getting one more use from last year's Halloween costumes! Upon entry, the hero (or villain) was photographed with Optimus Prime. Each of the kids brought their own light sabers (Yoda, Darth Vader, and JAX attended) so a battle immediately ensued. The Force was strong with each of them but a truce was finally called 30 minutes later when we moved onto creating their own Super mask. After 15 minutes of semi quiet creativity with markers, glue, feathers, and stickers, it was time to kick up the activity level by playing a game of pin the Spider on the Spider Web (a spin off of the classic Pin the Tail on the Donkey). Up next was the Kryptonite Toss which is nothing more than Styrofoam balls wrapped in green construction paper tossed in a box. After a few exciting rounds of Kryptonite Toss it was time for to find as many Batman locators as possible. I had printed 20 Batman logo medallions on standard copy paper, cut them into squares and taped them all over the party area (walls, furniture, etc) and set the boys loose to find as many as possible. The hero's and villains had fun racing around the house! The balloon pop followed and was more fun than I expected! The rules were simple, pop all the balloons using ONLY your bottom. The kid who popped the balloon with the sticker inside wins. The boys got VERY creative popping the balloons using their knees, feet, and bottoms! It was very noisy but extremely entertaining!

We took a small break for Krypton Cake, Yoda Soda spiked with radioactive bug-infested ice cubes and Super Ice Cream. The boys REALLY liked the radioactive bug ice cubes (green Koolaid w/plastic bug rings frozen in ice cube trays). I also discovered just how amazing Pop Rocks are in soda and as a cake dusting! After refueling with cake and ice cream, it was time for the piñata. I put in an honest effort to paper-mache a box to create the perfect piñata but my glue mixture wasn't thick enough and threatened to fall apart so I ditched it for a last minute substitute-a birthday gift bag. The boys broke the stick after 30 minutes of relentless whacking so the loot was tossed to the floor for all to grab! We finished the party off by opening gifts and going through the piñata loot. Great fun was had by all and we all have tons of fun memories to last a lifetime.

Tomorrow I'll share a few tips to help make your h0me birthday party run smooth so you keep your sanity and not loose total control of your house! In the meantime, enjoy the photo slide of our party experience!