Recap of Birthdays Past

Birthday season is rapidly approaching at our house.  5 of the 8 of us have birthday's within a couple weeks of each other.  When Cheyenne was just little, Bill and I decided not to do a big birthday party for the kid's every year - what can I say, we're cheap. :)  So we do a party when they turn 6 - now in school and they finally have friends to invite, and when they turn 8, 12, and 16 - those are all big years to us.  So lucky for us, no parties to plan this year.  While I do enjoy all the party planning and the idea of having a party, I tend to stress out a little the day of the party - it's all too crazy and chaotic. lol So I'll share a recap of parties we've done in the past and those my awesome sister, Leslie, who is the party queen, has shared with us.  Click on the links to see more of each party.

Army Party
For Billy's 8th birthday we had so much fun with an Army Party.  I think this was the only time Bill actually got involved much - and I think he had as much fun as the boys.  I still, a year later, have one of the boys who every time he sees me says, "That was the funnest party ever!"

Invitation:

As they arrived, I gave them all dog tags I'd made them and let them fold/decorate/fly their own paper airplanes, while waiting for everyone to get here.  Then we moved on to a little calisthenics "Simon Says".  We set up a nerf gun shooting range upstairs in our bonus room, which was a huge hit!  They even shot at a few stuffed animals with target vests on them.  The last activity was a scavenger hunt "rescue mission" to find bags of army men for each of them.

Shooting range

 Carnival Party
Since this was the Triplets birthday party, I had to make it fun for both boys and girls and enough to keep 20 kids entertained.  Yes, we invited the whole kindergarten class.  Luckily only about half came, and we actually had as many helpers as we did kids. :)

Invitation:

As the kids arrived we gave them paper bags to decorate with markers and lots of stickers.  This is what they put their candy in from the pinata and we had carnival bags of popcorn and a few other things we added. We had 8 or 9 different stations set up and split the kids up into groups to rotate through them.  We had face painting, a milk can toss, a fish pond game, dropping clothes pins into jars, scoop the ducks blindfolded, a football toss through a hoop, golf putting, a bean bag toss, and then a photo booth of sorts.  This was so much fun!  I highly recommend getting lots of helpers.  We had enough help that I was able to just walk around and heard kids and take lots of pictures.  It was great!  We ended with a couple of group games and a pinata that would not break! lol  Another great tip, with the possibility of that many kids I split all the candy up into snack size bags and wrote their names on each bag.  That way everyone got plenty of candy and they didn't kill each other to get it. :)

Lego Party
We did just basic party games - pin the door on the lego house, drop the lego into a jar, and a couple others.  I know there are a million lego party ideas out there, so I'll just share the best part of ours.  We gave the kids each a little lego vehicle set like this:
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They each built one and then we raced them over and over again.  They also took the cars home as their favor (along with some candy.) The boys had a blast! 

Cooking/Pizza Party
This was back before I blogged at all, actually before I'd even heard of blogs, but it was really fun so I'll share it now.  For Natalie's 7th birthday she wanted a cooking party.  We had the girls bring an apron, or we had a few for those that didn't.  While they arrived they decorated bands that we made into chef hats (stapled tissue paper inside.)  Then they made their own pizzas.  We gave them the dough and let them roll it out, and top it with whatever kinds of toppings they wanted.  While the pizzas cooked, the girls went outside and played.  Then they ate the pizza for lunch, opened presents, and that was about it.  A little more prep work making the dough and stuff, but probably the easiest party I've done.

Wow, how these girls have changed in 7 years! :)

Now for Leslie's amazingness:
Angry Birds Party
Go click on the link.  Leslie gives great details of her super fun party.  Every time my kids see these pictures they say with a big sigh, "I wish we could live by Aunt Leslie and go to their parties."  My favorite part is the larger than life Angry Birds game.

The kids threw balls with angry bird faces on them at the tower of boxes.  It was my brother's job to restack it each time. lol

And aren't these the coolest?! My boys would LOVE these for their backpacks.  Leslie made one of these for each of the kids.

Disney Cars Party
Leslie floors me with her artistic ability.  I have trouble with stick people.  Check out the cars she made out of cardboard boxes.

The kids got to race IN the boxes!

Where the Wild Things Are

This was such a fun idea.  She even let the kids have a wild rumpus!  However, the best part is her decorations.  They are amazing!!!  Are those pictures the cutest things or what?!  Go check out the cupcakes she made, too.



Well, I hope that gives you some ideas for your next birthday party and makes planning that perfect party just a little easier.  Leslie is also entering her month of birthdays as well (all three of her boys have birthdays within weeks of each other), so hopefully she'll be back soon with more great birthday ideas.