Lego Birthday Party!

First, let's meet our party subject.  

This is my son Ethan Avery on the morning of January 18th his 7th.. SEVENTH.. birthday.  Uhh how the hell did this happen...????

His spikey 'special occasions' hair and snowpants/old man pose!

The only thing this guy ^^^ loves more then Lego is... nothing.  He loves nothing more than Lego; possibly me, one of the bringers of Lego.. but perhaps that's just a fantasy I have?

Exhibit A, B, C, D and E

...........

Tell me when can a boy have enough Legos?

My challenge was to fulfill his insistent request for a home birthday party with a minimal amount of fail in the fun ideas department.  Join me if you want to see how I did!  Otherwise this is just a lot of noise.

Invitations: 

Cast of characters.. only 8 of his very nearest and dearest friends (4 couldn't make it.. I was not sad) who all think farts are endless fun.

Invitation template I found online, re-edited at picmonkey.com and printed out at my local Walmart as 4x6 'photos'
Those photos became the invites and only 50 cents each!

The blank invite, if you need it :)

Different invitation photo, blank, from Delia Creates

Decorations:  

This sign greeted our guests.  The idea was off of Pinterest and
I added the stormtrooper to 'make sure only invited guests can come inside' ;)

I took most of my decoration printables from Delia Creates where I used the idea of the Lego wall collage and also the plates.   There was another Lego birthday banner and cut outs I used but I can't find that link so I won't include it.

Printed out this giant sign to "legoland" in the basement.
I kept this to put in his bedroom later.

We also had about 100 helium balloons all over the ceiling in the basement of Legoland with some cut outs of Lego faces on the walls.  Yeah... should have taken a picture of that.

+ Persnickety Prints for their Lego printable party package.

Activities:  

I set up the Lego table downstairs so the kids were making things, and I attempted to have a Lego Race Car building contest.  We were GOING to race them and the winners would take home some posters I printed out from the Lego City website.  That did NOT work out because off-brand Lego is the WORST and no one could figure it out, and it wouldn't lock in properly.. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO BUY IT.  So, I decided to take an extra Lego set I bought on sale and have the boys put it together and choose two kids I felt 'co-operated' the best in the building process would take home the posters I printed out.

Lego Colouring pages and Poster printables on the Lego City website.

I also made a colouring book as a party favour for our goodie bags that said "thanks for coming to my party" with guys like this.

And the favour bags of course I didn't take ANY photos of but the idea was my own.. I bought yellow bags and drew a unique Lego face onto all of them.  I think they were pretty darn good, too.

There's also a Ninjago colouring page here.

Food:

I attempted to make a Jello mould so that some Lego candy looked 'stuck' inside, but, as I thought, the candy will melt.  Might not be a pretty Pinterest picture but the kids will basically love it anyway even if it looks totally horrific when you try to cut it.  I just told them they could eat the pieces and, bam, magic.  I also put the candy in the goodie bags, you can buy them at Bulk Barn they are awesome.

via MoneyWiseMoms

I was unsure if the kids appreciated my making and not buying their Birthday cakes last year.  My husband was not so subtle in trying to let me off the hook 'with everything I was doing' aka it sucked last year... but I had seen a great idea and felt it was my moment to test it out.

Meet the Lego Bricks Cake!

You just bake a sheet cake and cut into sections and frost... EASY ENOUGH FOR ME.  You might want to freeze it beforehand so you don't get all the crumbs like I did.  For the Lego bumps I cut marshmallows in half and put them on a section of lollipop stick to frost and place on top.  I frankly used way too much gel colouring on the blue and red 'aka purple'.. resulting in 2 kids looking like they had mouth sores.   So... don't do that?

As you can see the reaction on their little faces you'd think I made a miracle appear.  TEN boys completely focused and silent for about 8 whole minutes observing and eating this cake.

There are some unbelievable Lego cakes out there, not including professional ones like I bought for Ethan's 5th birthday:

But this little-cake-that-could was just as mind-blowing to these kids.. and I love that.  One boy even burst out with "this is the best party EVER!!!"  I was like wow thanks dude, I bet you say that to all the parties but I really needed that after 3 weeks of putting this stuff together.  I sacrificed showering for this party for goodness sakes!



Of course my own kid just sat there with a low-key grin of 'hey thanks'
....all blue in the mouth and adorable.

Pin in it

I used to joke that I hoped every couple would have a really 'Pinteresting' wedding, and refused to get an account on the aforementioned website Pinterest ( no link since you may have heard of it! ) just because I thought it was so ridiculous.  I say this having just mentioned my website is pinned all the time for my fun fail superhero party last year.  But still, I thought: I do have the ability to just remember things.. idea boards are for crazy ladies or maybe hippies with too many magazines.

That was until my best friend Andrea just got engaged over the weekend.  Um.. YAY!  So whilst I save up for my flight to visit the west coast in 2013, I am already afraid that I've gone past some sort of point ( or pin ) of no return.  This happened yesterday night where I found myself literally describing Time as 'at this point in my Pinning' 

That sure escalated quickly.   Anyhow... great ideas though, so I'll share.

Andrea's Wedding Board

follow the wedding board

I also pinned stuff for Ethan's Lego Party happening this Saturday on there, let's see how that turns out.  Go ahead and follow me but I can't promise you it won't eventually lead you to a board just for sweaters.

Baby, where’d you get your crazy from?

Happy New Year, everyone.  From the moms who find me through 'pinning' Superhero Parties on Pinterest.. to those who should be ashamed of what they Googled to get here!  I hope it's been a good start to your 2013.

This year finds me already smack in the middle of needing to put away Christmas things and planning my oldest sons 7th birthday bash.  He is a spoiled one, that one, a little dictator prince.  After having just last year sworn off doing an at home birthday party EVER AGAIN.. he requests a home birthday party but with more guests!  We had to prune this list down to TWELVE of his closest friends (not even including my own three boys).  Just note that anyone you happen to run into at Walmart two weeks before the party will also be added by your son on the spot.  So, thus starts the never-ending winterfest of crazy that December kicks starts at my house... and I say, challenge accepted.  I'll see that Superhero party: fun fail last year.. and raise you a Lego Party: the reckoning.  In fact if you search 'fun fail' in Pinterest you will find my site pretty fast, and that's so appropriate to me in general.  But that's not what I am sharing with you today.  I am here in the spirit of a fresh new year by airing my grievances that will later be very informative if my kids ever want to know where they got their crazy from.  Answer: you got it from yo mamma!

Things that bother me WAY more than they should, in no particular order:

1.
Gifting my grandparents a Keurig coffee machine, with all the extras, to have them tell me it's too complicated to use as a second machine and though they did not even take it out of the BOX.  What they would like it to be exchanged for? ANOTHER REGULAR DRIP MACHINE.. step-wise it's actually far more complicated than using the Keurig.

I know they say you should never expect a pear tree to bear apples, but, really.

2.
When I get things gifted to me that actually make no sense.  Like my mother buying my ice skates this year, and a half size too small.  I've been a 7.5 shoe for roughly the last 15 years. Probably the last time I also went ice skating.

3.
Neighbours who build a fence between our properties yet constantly come over to 'my side' to blow leaves up my lawn and scalp 'my side' of the grass.  No idea why there's even a fence there, then!  It's not even a privacy fence it's just a stupid iron divider.

4.
Other Moms, at times, if anyone suggests that if I mention in a relevant discussion that I had my three babies 'naturally' .. aka the only experience I have to draw from.. I am being judgemental to moms who do not deliver their babies that way.  Not sure when this happened in the Mom-culture but it's REALLY ANNOYING.   There is no best way to have a baby!!  If there was I expect to see an awards ceremony somewhere, and diamond tiaras.  So. many. tiaras.  Not that I'd get one, just putting it out there.

5.
Nail polish.  It simply will chip the second you finish it, and then I look like a crack addict for a week, yet I don't stop using it.  If I spend $15 on a nail polish I like isn't there some kind of formula they can use to have that not happen?? The whole purpose is to stay on! It makes no sense!!

6.
Hummer Trucks/SUVs.  Seriously really bother me.. there is nowhere in suburbia that is acceptable to me to own and drive one.  Regardless of how much I love some people on this earth, if they ever purchased a Hummer I am not really sure our relationship would ever be the same.

7.
Dreamcatchers as a car mirror charm.  DO YOU EXPECT TO FALL ASLEEP?



 OK I feel better now.  Ready for this year to deliver some fun, can't wait!