The birthday party that (almost) wasn't. Take 2.

by Holly

Today I thought I would show you guys some of the activities we did for my son's 6th birthday (you can check out the decorations on Tuesdays post).  Now we don't have a pool, and his birthday is in the middle of summer, so I thought we would play some water games to keep the kids cool.

First off, we started with a small craft inside while we waited for people to arrive.

I found this in our local family magazine, and it was super simple.  The kids took a red, plastic cup and put masking tape around it to make the stripes.  We cut out windows from black construction paper and taped them on.  Then, they took a clear plastic cup (I cut them down a bit to fit over the bottom of the red cup) and covered the bottom with a black paper circle.  I went to the dollar store and found those little battery operated tea lights in a pack of 3 (very cost effective).  They turned on their tea light, put it on the red cup, and covered it with the clear cup.  Voila!  Instant lighthouse.  They turned out so cute and even became little night lights next to their beds that night.

Once everyone showed up, we started with some games...

Water balloons are always a classic!  The kids had a great time tossing them to each other, and then my husband started throwing them up in the air as high as he could to see if he could catch them on the way back down.  The kids thought it was hilarious every time they popped.

After the water balloons, we took them to the backyard where the "Kid Wash" was waiting...

 At first, they didn't quite know what to make of it, but then we turned it on...

And in no time, they were running through and getting drenched. The water sprayed down on them from the top, and squirted up at them from the sides. So fun!

The birthday boy!

After the kid wash, we ate dinner and got ready for the yummiest part of the party... DESSERT!

Now this is where you can laugh at me.  Yes, this was the dessert buffet for about 10 people.  I WAY over did it, but I had seen this on a similar party on hostess with the mostess (check out the crab shack themed kid party), and really wanted to do it.  Since I had all the goodies (despite the fact that the party was very downsized), I went for it.  It turned out great!  Here's some of the details...

Berry Jello with red swedish fish sticking out the top...

Vanilla cupcakes with toppers made from coordinating paper and some great Martha Stewart stickers I found at Michael's...

And a small ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins with some wooden sailboats that I painted from Michael's.

We also had oreo pops, yogurt pretzels, lifesavers, and sugar cookies in the shape of sailboats and anchors.  Phew!

And just as their sugar comas were setting in, we sent them home with these little goody bags...

I tried to cut the tops to look like waves, but they didn't quite look right.  Oh well.  Inside was a pack of lifesavers candy and a sailboat model kit from Michael's that they could paint and put together at home.

All in all, it was a great party.  And the birthday boy...

was ALL smiles.  That makes this momma happy, and makes all the hard work worth it!

Happy Thursday!