Monday, March 05, 2007

i wanna ROCK with you - the recap

jack ROCKED his 6th birthday with a playground party. we have a brand-spanking-new playground near school that features about 8 different climbing apparatus, so i took the ROCK-climbing wall theme and ran with it (special thanks to martha and kristi for some ROCK'n inspiration!)






the invites were printed on colored card stock, and tied to polished rocks with kitchen twine.









i made labels for water bottles out of the same card stock, featuring the slogans 'you ROCK,' 'ROCK on, and 'ROCK and roll.' i attached a bottle strap to each bottle (oriental trading) and this was not only great for drinking during the party, but a fun takeaway treat.


i couldn't bring myself to make a cake that looked like a rock (although, i did entertain some pretty far-out-there ideas!) in the end, we made dirt cake. ok, technically not cake, but it was super easy to make and super easy to serve at the playground. if you've never heard of it, it's pudding and cool whip folded together, layered with crushed oreo cookies. we threw in a few gummy worms and junior mints on top for 'rocks.' we set up an assembly line, and jack helped make each one, which was a special added bonus.


since it was at the playground, we didn't organize any activities (although we did bring a parachute, and had a few relay races.) we served pizza, and just let the kids have fun! for treats, we set up a trail mix station, where the kids got to mix their own combo of m & ms, raisins, peanuts and cheerios. they put their mix in ziploc sandwich baggies, which we then slipped into little mesh bags (again, oriental trading). we added a pre-packaged bag of 'magnetic rocks' and clipped the bag to each child with a caribiner.



it was fun for the kids, easy for the parents, and jack had a blast!! thanks for all of your birthday wishes!! now, we are waiting for loose tooth # 1 to fall out. jack has informed me that the tooth fairy now brings $1000 per tooth!! wow, i know we have inflation and all, but i think i remember getting a dime! what's the going rate?!?

12 comments:

carlo said...

WOW! Go Lelly! What a fun and easy (well you know what I mean) party.

I love the ideas you shared. Very cool. I may do this for our end of the year Brownie party. Hmmm, I really like it!

Soooooo, what was the final count of kids? Did parents who did not RSVP apologize?? :)

Well done.

Amy said...

Very cute party...love the sharing of those kinds of ideas. Jack was probably absolutely thrilled.

amy gretchen said...

The party looked like quite the success. Thanks for sharing your ideas. I'm always in the need.

Kelly said...

Cute! My Jack had a rock climbing party this year too, and we did a lot of the same things. The trail mix station, super cute!

$1,000! That Jack is a smart little mercernary! If any of my teeth get loose I'm moving in with you guys!

Allison said...

Sounds like a great party!

Don't tell my daughter about the increase for teeth...she just gets five bucks.

Thanks again for the great ideas.

everything pink! said...

such a great party. love the trail mix too.

Elizabeth said...

That sounds like a great party.
We are waiting for a first tooth to fall out over here also.

Unknown said...

That looks like a fantastic party! So glad he had so much fun.

Jill said...

Great party, it looks like just the right amount of parental involvement and playing.

Anonymous said...

What a fabulous party! I want you to plan my next birthday party! tee hee!

Lelly, you are a rockin' Mom!

Missy

Amanda said...

Ooh, I love it! Sounds like a great boy party. I am only experienced in throwing girl parties, so I will be saving this one up for when my son is older! Looks so fun!

michelle said...

$1000, huh? Whoa. It used to be $1 at our house, but it seems to have gone up to $2. (Used to be $2 for front teeth, but then we had to expand it for snaggleteeth, etc. Seems like everything is unusual now!)