The Birthday Party

We have never had an actual birthday party with friends for any of our kids yet.  We had a Halloween party a few years ago (and that was a lot of fun).  Z has gone to a few friends parties this year, and he wanted his own.  I finally caved.  BUT I knew I would not be renting the gymnastics center, BounceU, or anything like that. 

So we told him that he could invite 6 friends (because he was turning 6) for his party.  I decided a pizza party with a movie would be an easy kind of thing. 

He decided up front he wanted a Ninjago party.  I kind of planned on that, but since there were no Ninjago invites, I knew I wasn't locked in to that (we got "pizza party" invites instead...leaving it very open!). 

Good thing. 

Monday he decided that he wanted an Angry Birds party.  So much for my general party.   

So Tuesday I told a girlfriend, and she sent me a great link for awesome cupcakes that she used for her sons Angry Birds birthday.  (Mine turned out pretty good, I think!)

Tuesday night I went out to get his balloons, and got Angry Birds plates, and decided to look for a slingshot as a party favor. (Note: I have never actually played Angry Birds. I don't really know what it is about. I DO know that it involves a slingshot.)  Well, there are no slingshots that I can find anywhere, except at Oriental Trading Co, and no way was I going to pay $40 for 2 day shipping. 

So, I get crafty (you can laugh all you want here..."I" and "crafty" are not normally in the same sentence).  I finally decided to get a "Y" from Hobby Lobby, and Nate and I were able to rig up our own slingshots.  Not perfect, but ok.  Thursday involved 2 plus hours driving to 2 Hobby Lobby's and 1 Michaels (plus Office Max and a Chik-Fil-A stop to bribe my kids with chocolate milk).  But I got all the Y's.   

I found a link to make fun balloons, too.  My kids loved them, and I was glad that I was able to double up with Z's birthday balloons (just had to run out to get one more). 

 I guess this is the only picture I have of the slingshot...

So Friday night the kids all get to our house and play outside for awhile. Then we came inside and they got to decorate their slingshots with Angry Birds stickers. Then it got sticky...they all got into their marshmallows and let them fly with the slingshots! They loved it :) 

I didn't let the littles use slingshots, but I did let them each pick out their own stickers.  N got Toy Story, L got Cars, and C got Thomas the Train. 

We ordered pizza and then the kids ran off to play.  They covered every inch of the house that I allowed them to (just not our room, the littles room, and the laundry room).  You know that scene in Toy Story where the mom says, Kids, time for cake! and all the kids go running?  That really happens.  7 kids running and pounding around my house, like a stampede. 

Z got some fun gifts from his pals...a lot of Legos (guess those kids know him!).

 And then came the slip.  Z chose a movie (Over the Hedge) for them to watch.  We figured that would take an hour and 45 minutes or so.  About 5 minutes in, they were all DONE.  They took off to the basement again.  Z and one boy watched for about 30 minutes, but that was it.  Ok....plan B? 

They were playing fine, so we got the littles to bed (thankfully they are already quite adept at sleeping through anything). 

After a bit though, they needed something.  Nate got the great idea to hook up the laptop (with Angry Birds on it) to the TV, so they all took turns playing and watching the others play.  Problem solved.  (Love that husband of mine!)

The kids really seemed to have a good time.  I was glad to have just my kids back though.  We'll see how much of a tradition this becomes....

It was a lot of work, but look at the grin on his face!  :)