I feel like every year I put less and less effort into Spencer's birthday parties. Maybe I'm just getting better at managing all the tasks, or maybe there are less tasks, or maybe it's a combination of both, but each year seems to get easier. This year was definitely easy, with the exception being it was a sleepover so it just lasted for a long time.
We held the party on Saturday the 9th. It started at 2:00 pm. It ended the next day at 10:00 am!
The window decoration looked cool in the morning light.
Goody bags for all the kids. We forgot to make one for Spencer! They all got a Pokemon cup (that they used during the party and then I washed), a Pokemon bracelet, and candy from the pinata.
Pokemon cards for decorations
We used a lot of stuffed animals to decorate.
Posters too
Elliott was heading to a friend's house for a play date for the afternoon portion of the party, so we did some individual and family pictures before he left.
I made the icebox cake in a springform pan and then released it from the mold so I could frost it. I was afraid it would all fall apart over night without the ring to keep it together, but apparently frosting makes a pretty good glue.
Ginger was pumped for the day!
Spencer invited two girls and four boys. By 2:30 we had two girls and three boys at our house and we didn't want to delay the water balloon fight too much, so we left a note on the door for the missing boy and headed to the park. I am not joking when I say he got to the park as the very last water balloon broke.
They did two battles: teams and then a free for all.
They all had fun and they were all soaked at the end.
Back at home we had snacks (Doritos, potato chips, cheetos, hot cheetos, M&Ms, and fruit- I was seriously embarrassed buying the groceries for this party) and hung out for a bit.
Then it was pinata time.
It never even occurred to me to look INSIDE the pinata before buying it, but apparently I should have. The only space to put candy was in the section where it says "birthday". The rest of the pinata was blocked off. So we "modified" it and knocked some more space into it so we could fit more than 20 pieces of candy. It was pretty banged up before we even started. You can see it being held together with packing tape.
Birthday boy got to go first.
I think 3 kids got turns before it busted apart.
Ginger thought it was riveting.
Happy kids (Julian did not want to be in the picture).
Presents were up next. Spencer has really generous friends. He got the best gifts!
And then, right before the girls were due to leave, we had the cake.
I was not a huge fan of it. I think it would have been better if I hadn't cheated by using cheap cookies from Walmart. There is something to be said for using quality ingredients and going homemade.
There was a quick light saber battle outside before the girls were picked up by their parents.
Michael and I needed everybody to chill out for a little bit at this point, so we made it video game time. And Elliott came home and joined in.
This is how we felt by 5:30 pm.
Not seeking attention from his brother's friends at all.
After some video game times I left Michael in charge and I headed to go get dinner. It was a nightmare. I went to Basha's deli. The lady there was a total witch (or something that rhymes with that). They had no pizzas made and she said it would take 40 minutes to bake one. They didn't have enough fried chicken or fries either. None of that was her fault, but she could have been nicer about it. So, I bought the chicken and fries they had and then went to Safeway. I bought more fried chicken and fries. And then I went to Little Caesars, where they had NO cheese pizza but I was told I could wait 20 minutes for one. I opted for a pepperoni pizza.
Feeling tired and defeated, I headed home, but was re-energized by the beautiful sunset.
It was so gorgeous I pulled over on a side street to take these.
Dinner is served.
After dinner we agreed to let the kids go swimming. Without a certified life guard!
Then there was more video games on the beds we set up,
and ice cream sundaes.
The big boys were actually awesome about including Elliott.
Michael and I went to bed at 11:30 that night. We left the boys with a warning that they could stay up as late as they wanted, but they couldn't be loud and we'd make them go to bed if they woke us up. They were good until almost 2:00 am when they woke us up. So, Michael played the stern father and went out there and shut down the whole operation.
The boys slept until about 8:00 the next morning. Then we filled them up with donuts and sent them home
Ginger was pretty thrilled with the variety of floor beds available to her.
I think it was a very successful party. Spencer said all the kids were talking about it at school on Monday. That must mean is was cool.
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