Those of you who helped brainstorm the time travel birthday party...

[MamaSheep]

Thank you! We had it this morning and it was a big success.

 

:party:

 

I got a bag of "magic time travel crystals" (diamond shaped plastic decorator jobbies from Wal-Mart's flower section). Then we filled up the living room ceiling with helium balloons with ribbons hanging down (it's a small room), and Dh set up some fun lights we have for Halloween decor (he likes to have the best front porch in the neighborhood). There was a strobe light and one that makes a swirling pattern of colored lights. Being a techy, dh rigged them up so they all turned on with the push of one button, and he even made a cool time machine "screen" on his computer that would count down to the right year, and hooked it up to the tv. The girls held their time travel crystals and spun around three times and all the lights and sounds went off (dh set it up with Dr. Who theme music...hee hee). We landed in prehistoric times and found a dinosaur nest (made of paper Easter grass shreds) with an inflatable dinosaur mama. In the nest were little dinosaur model puzzles (8 for $1 at the dollar store :) ), and they each chose one and we had a little competition to see who could assemble theirs first. Being girls, though, they all wound up helping each other. Then we hopped back in the time machine and tried to find our way home--spin around three times and off we go! This time we landed near a pair of (cardboard cut-out) pirate ships and were pressed into service on the crews--everyone got a plastic eye patch. We divided into two teams, which threw foam "cannonballs" at each other's ships until one sank (tipped over). Then we all hopped back on the time machine, spun around three times, and landed in the Old West. This time there was a bank robbing bandit waiting for us (big brother). We put red bandannas on everyone except the birthday girl, who became the sherriff. The front porch became the "jail" and we played a tag game in which the sherriff is "it" and when the bandits get tagged they have to go in the jail. Another bandit could accomplish a jail break by tagging a bandit in the jail. After all the bandits were rounded up we hopped back in the time machine, spun around three times, and thankfully landed back in 2010, just in time for dd's birthday party. We had cake and ice cream and opened presents, and everyone got to take home their magic crystal, dino puzzle, pirate eye patch, one cannonball, bandit bandanna, a sherriff badge, and a packet of Fruit Gusher time travel crystals. I made a round cake that looked like a clock face with a pair of plastic dinos at 3:00, a plastic pirate captain at 6:00, a sherriff badge at 9:00 and a big number 8 candle at 12:00. There were smaller birthday candles in between the plastic toys and clock hands made of chocolate. It turned out really cute, I thought. And a good time was had by all.

 

So here's a big thank you to all of you who helped me with ideas!:grouphug:

[*********]

Thank you! We had it this morning and it was a big success.

 

:party:

 

I got a bag of "magic time travel crystals" (diamond shaped plastic decorator jobbies from Wal-Mart's flower section). Then we filled up the living room ceiling with helium balloons with ribbons hanging down (it's a small room), and Dh set up some fun lights we have for Halloween decor (he likes to have the best front porch in the neighborhood). There was a strobe light and one that makes a swirling pattern of colored lights. Being a techy, dh rigged them up so they all turned on with the push of one button, and he even made a cool time machine "screen" on his computer that would count down to the right year, and hooked it up to the tv. The girls held their time travel crystals and spun around three times and all the lights and sounds went off (dh set it up with Dr. Who theme music...hee hee). We landed in prehistoric times and found a dinosaur nest (made of paper Easter grass shreds) with an inflatable dinosaur mama. In the nest were little dinosaur model puzzles (8 for $1 at the dollar store :) ), and they each chose one and we had a little competition to see who could assemble theirs first. Being girls, though, they all wound up helping each other. Then we hopped back in the time machine and tried to find our way home--spin around three times and off we go! This time we landed near a pair of (cardboard cut-out) pirate ships and were pressed into service on the crews--everyone got a plastic eye patch. We divided into two teams, which threw foam "cannonballs" at each other's ships until one sank (tipped over). Then we all hopped back on the time machine, spun around three times, and landed in the Old West. This time there was a bank robbing bandit waiting for us (big brother). We put red bandannas on everyone except the birthday girl, who became the sherriff. The front porch became the "jail" and we played a tag game in which the sherriff is "it" and when the bandits get tagged they have to go in the jail. Another bandit could accomplish a jail break by tagging a bandit in the jail. After all the bandits were rounded up we hopped back in the time machine, spun around three times, and thankfully landed back in 2010, just in time for dd's birthday party. We had cake and ice cream and opened presents, and everyone got to take home their magic crystal, dino puzzle, pirate eye patch, one cannonball, bandit bandanna, a sherriff badge, and a packet of Fruit Gusher time travel crystals. I made a round cake that looked like a clock face with a pair of plastic dinos at 3:00, a plastic pirate captain at 6:00, a sherriff badge at 9:00 and a big number 8 candle at 12:00. There were smaller birthday candles in between the plastic toys and clock hands made of chocolate. It turned out really cute, I thought. And a good time was had by all.

 

So here's a big thank you to all of you who helped me with ideas!:grouphug:

 

Dude.

 

Yur like the coolest mom ever. Seriously.

 

I am SO not that creative.

 

Please don't ever tell my boys about that birthday party; it will make the regular ol' balloons/cake/presents thing we do look totally lame-o.

[MamaSheep]

Dude.

 

Yur like the coolest mom ever. Seriously.

 

I am SO not that creative.

 

Please don't ever tell my boys about that birthday party; it will make the regular ol' balloons/cake/presents thing we do look totally lame-o.

 

 

Aw, thanks! I think having a theme of some sort really makes it fun. If you think about it, without a theme all we did was assemble little puzzles (I think each one had all of 7 pieces), throw balls at something, and play tag.

 

One of my favorites was a medieval one we had for ds at about this same age. We dropped pencils in a jar while standing on a chair (archery contest), rode brooms up and down the family room (horse race), and whacked a dragon-shaped pinata with a stick until it died and disgorged its treasure.

 

I was feeling kind of like a bad mom because here's this darn birthday, and we need to have a party right after I spent a bunch of time this summer cleaning and rearranging the whole house and I don't want it messed up, especially since right now I really want to focus on getting organized for school, which I'm not ready for and will need to start in just a couple more weeks. And I don't WAAANA make a party. What a grump. And of course now we have a baptism for her coming up next weekend and we'll have some family in town for that, and I've got a bunch of planning still to do for that. And I'm really glad she's in our family, and I'm glad she's turning 8, and I'm thrilled that she's getting baptized next weekend, but I'm just really ready for it all to be over with. I should be excited, but I'm just tired. I need a nap or something. Anyway, it's nice to be told that I'm a good mom, thanks. :)