The Party

I was going to wait to do this, but I figure now is probably the best time anyway.

What a day we had yesterday! When I woke up, I got ready as fast as I could and then headed to Walmart. I had a few last minute things to buy (ice cream, drinks, etc.) and also needed to get all the balloons filled with helium. After we were finished with the shopping, we went home and packed everything up and headed to the church where we had the party. We got all the tables and activities set up and had about 70-80 balloons to blow up for the "Get the Goomba" game. We were just about finished with the balloons when kids started arriving. I had received an RSVP from 13 kids that would be coming, 2 that couldn't come and hadn't heard from 9 others. We ended up with a total of 16 kids there. I'd have to say I was impressed with the turn out.

As they all came in, I let the boys pick out a Mario or Luigi hat and mustache and the girls got a tiara and necklace. They were given a character and told to find their character at the tables. After they all got there, I rounded them all up and explained the activities to them. I then split them all into groups of 4 and sent them to their stations. I had lots of help! My Mom, Beth, Chad, Tammy, Kaylene and Ryan were all there to assist in trying to control the chaos. I had forgotten a few important things... like a bat to hit the pinata with and a blind fold for the mustache game and the pinata, so Ryan went home to get those.

After the activities were over, we had Alex open his presents. My favorite moments of the party happened during this time. Alex sat up in front and then each child would bring the present up to him. It was cute, because they all had to help him open his presents. On a couple occasions, the child would take the present out of the bag and hand it to Alex. However, the funniest part was one of the girls had brought Alex a card. When she brought it to him, you could tell she was very proud of this present and just couldn't wait for Alex to open it. It was one of those tri-fold cards. So he opened it (very slowly) and then opened the card the wrong way. There was money in the card and it fell on the floor. As the money fell, yells and screams came from the kids. They all swarmed to pick the money up for Alex. And I don't know who said it, but one kid shouted, "Alex, you got dollars!" The girl who gave it to him then said, "Yep, it's ten dollars." It's probably one of those "had to be there" moments, but the adults there couldn't stop laughing!

Once presents were opened, we went to hit the pinata. I had a baggie with all the characters in it, so I randomly chose a character and that was the child that got to hit the pinata. Well, the third kid to hit the pinata, accidentally hit the hook that was holding the pinata to the rope. (The exact same thing happened last year too.) The pinata fell down so I had the birthday boy come beat it to death. I ripped it open, spread the candy out on the floor and had the kids come clean it up. It's a little scary watching 16 kids come at a full run towards you!

Once the candy was all cleaned up and in the kids bags, we sat down for cake and ice cream. We sang "Happy Birthday" and Alex blew out his candles. My cake turned out pretty well (although I do need a better recipe for a cake filling) and we dished it all out to the kids. We ended up having a lot more extra time than I had expected, so we sat down and played a game of duck, duck, goose. (It had been a REALLY long time since I had played that) I had a lot of extra prizes left over, so after the game, I had each child pick out a few prizes to take home. Then they all ran around like crazy kids for a few minutes until their parents came.

All in all I think it was very successful and that the kids had fun. Poor Alex has another cold and was sick through the whole thing, but it didn't bother him that much. Ryan asked me if it was all worth it. I told him it was. I spent way too much money and had way too much to do, but seeing it all put together and watching the kids have such a fun time really made it all worth it! (However, I think we will be toning it down just a little for next year :) I have over 100 pictures of the party, so choosing just a few will be hard. I will also post more pictures of my cake on my other blog if you are interested in seeing it.


Here is "the cake"

All the tables set up and places set for the kids

The present table

This was "Luigi Bingo". I made the bingo cards and the kids used Yoshi eggs (jelly beans) for the markers.

This was "Get the Goomba" activity. Although it was short, most of the kids loved sitting on the balloons. A few did not like the loud noise that came with it.

A few of the kids at "Stick the mustache on Mario"

We did Yoshi's egg hunt up on the stage

A few more kids at Luigi's Bingo

All the kids sitting while Alex opened his presents

Presents

More presents

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I had all the kids sit on the black line while the pinata was being hit. No chance of being hit with the bat.

Up to bat (oh, and I know the blindfold is weird, but it was all we could find. Another one of those important things I forgot to bring)

Alex beating the pinata to death

Beth holding the kids back while I ran out of the way

VERY HAPPY KIDS!!!

Sweet little Darek. He was so good throughout the party!

Alex with his cake

Enjoying some yummy cake and ice cream!