As you may remember, we decided to throw our 5-year-old’s
birthday party at home this year. We ended up with 13 kids, most of them
5-year-old boys, and a temperature of -5 degrees outside. Hmmm, that posed a problem since our party
plan was to start outside with a super cool obstacle course my husband put
together that included some 4X4’s, a slide, a hoop, 5 ski poles, some tennis
balls and a large bucket. Use your imagination!! I am fairly certain my husband
was more excited about it than the kids.
First lesson learned: You might be more excited than the
kids about the activities planned and will have to role with the punches.
Since nobody wanted to go outside when they first arrived,
we dove into pillow making…huge mistake.
The energy, which exploding upon arrival, was intense. Add to that a
bunch of stuffing, and we ended up with one giant fuzzball of a living
room. Plus, the kids were so excited
about the party that they couldn’t really focus on the project. YIKES! In the end though, the pillows were completed
and the kids LOVED them! I also used the pillow craft as our goodie bag, killing two birds with one stone by creating an activity that would produce their own goodie bag! Yay for no candy and lots of cuddling! The only hiccup was the project was done in
about 15 minutes. Hmmm, now what do we
do???
Second lesson: Always do something to get the
wiggles out before jumping into a calm activity…and always assume your house
will be trashed J
Thank goodness for Papa!
This is when I called upon my dad.
The 72-year-old man saved the day at his 5-year-old grandson’s birthday
party with magic tricks! Yes, the same
magic tricks he did for my brother and I at our parties. And he had the kids sitting still, quiet and
in complete awe! They were even cheering
for more! He used the “have you ever
seen me unscrew my finger before” trick and the “ I can rub this coin into my
elbow and find it in your shoe” trick.
It was beautiful!
Third lesson learned: Always have grandpa at birthday
parties!
After Papa’s magically moment, the kids seem to go their
separate ways. Some went outside to
brave the cold and the obstacle course…to my husbands delight! Others went upstairs to play with air hockey
and Beyblades. In the end, the kids
played, ate cake and even opened presents without chaos. With help from my 11-year-old niece Jordan,
we handed out numbers to the gift givers, and when their number was called,
they got to bring their gift up to Spider (who was sitting in a chair) and
stand by him while he opened it.
Fourth lesson: Your vacuum cleaner really can make
any mess disappear!
Before we knew it, our two-hour extravaganza was over and
the doorbell began to ring, to everyone’s joy!
Fifth lesson learned: It’s okay to celebrate when the last
child is picked up. Birthday parties are
quite the festive feats!
