Because Ethan's birthday is so close to Christmas, I have found that having his friend party at the beginning of December works out really well. Last year he decided to have a Lego Star Wars party and this year he wanted a Lego Indiana Jones party and so...I was all over the Internet planning and buying stuff for this party.
It all starts with the invitation. This year I opted to email out the invite to save on cost of printing and mailing. Ethan's teachers decided to send home a class list with addresses and emails on it which arrived at home just in time.
I gave myself two weeks to plan this party and that was in between all the photography sessions and editing I was doing for families preparing for their Christmas cards, so I needed quick and easy activities. I searched the Internet and couldn't really find too many "easy" ideas so I relied on my own awesomeness and came up with an "archeology scavenger hunt"
I explained to the boys that there were hidden artifacts all over the house and that they needed to solve the puzzle they are given to find them. Using a hieroglyphs font, I created a key and a clue to where they would be able to find their hidden artifact. I was a little worried that this particular activity would be a little too difficult for the age group, but with the help of a few adults and Malia, the boys were able to complete this activity with minimal problems. I was able to find these artifacts that came in small crate boxes on ebay for $8.99 shipped for 20 of them.
I was a little worried about the other activity I planned so I made some rules up that were surprisingly followed real well. I made these super awesome blow dart guns:
They were made out of 1/2" PVC pipe and patterned duct tape. I bought two 10' pieces of the pipe and had Patrick cut them down to one foot pieces. I covered them with the decorated duct tape and purchased Nerf darts that fit perfectly in them. The kids LOVED this activity and thought it was super awesome that they were able to bring their very own blow guns and dart home with them. The total cost for 20 guns was $16! That's 80 cents each!!!
The crowd was mixed with who knew about Indiana Jones and who didn't so I had to explain a little about Mr. Jones and why he wore a manpurse...errr, I mean a Satchel. This is the part that makes me REALLY feel awesome! I made all these satchels on a sewing machine...I know...shocker! I actually bought a really cheap sewing machine awhile back and busted it out to create these bad boys:
They aren't like "professional" or anything, but they were super cool and probably my most proud item from the party! I made 16 of them and the total cost of them was $11.20! That was 70 cents each!!!
I also searched and searched for fedora hats that I could justify spending the money on and found these:
They were a little bit more costly than I wanted but not by much. Total cost for hats was $25 but really check these boys out:
You get the awesomeness now don't you? Sadly, these boys are the only ones who I got a picture of. I was running around and hardly picked up my camera (insert sad face here).
I had these grand ideas for decorations, but decided that less is more (especially with my time constraint), so I let Ethan decorate some empty boxes that we displayed out on the porch. I purchased some snakes to use around the boxes and on the table too. Total cost for the snakes was $16.
After the activities, we had cake:
and then of course...PRESENTS!!!
Ethan created a "wish list" this year and everything he got from his guests was something that he wanted. The majority of the presents were Lego Star Wars items, but he also got a General Grevious talking mask and more art supplies and a "how to draw" book.
The party was pretty loud but very controlled. The boys were often found in Ethan's room playing with light sabers...the light sabers I made for his birthday last year actually. They turned on Spiderman and watched some of that and the best part of the party was after the presents were open. Ethan brought his big container of legos out to the living room and after opening up a lot of the new ones he got from the party, the boys sat quietly building legos. I couldn't believe how quiet it was in my house with 16 boys running around!
Here's just part of the mess I got to clean up that night:
But just look at that face on my boy...he had a blast! Happy Birthday Ethan!
Oh, I forgot...Total cost for this awesome party including dinner, cake, and a "treasure" from the treasure box...$156. A little over than what I wanted to spend, but I had 16 kids and that makes for about $10 per child. I don't think that is all too bad!
I've got to say that I think I enjoyed last year's Star Wars party a tad bit better except that the kids were a little different and I enjoyed these ones better. :) You can read my post about Ethan's Star Wars party from last year here.
I definitely took way better and more pictures!
Wow, this is totally rad! You did a great job, Rachael :) I'm impressed. Looks super fun. And way to go with the satchels!!
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