So I have a party rep to maintain, right? Or not. I don't know if Shadow sucked all the life out of me this summer, but I just couldn't gear up for B's party. Around June, I got the idea to have a Wipeout party - like the ABC show where everyone ends up in muddy water. But I struggled with when to throw the party. October seemed a bit late and undependable to do anything with water. Mid September was an option, but I if I invited kids from B's class, it might not have left enough time to issue the invite. Then, as luck would have it, I kind of screwed myself by inaction. If we were going to really Wipeout it up, I had to make stuff and really plan. Sooooo.......... I thought I would make it easier and rent a blow-up slide - something I could wet or dry. And then I saw it.
Yes, that would make my life easier. I added in a snow cone, cotton candy and popcorn machine. Lemonade and water. A hot pink dinosaur theme (egads!) from the birthday girl, a simple invite (The photo above with the pertinent info) a date that Lee could come and we were set to go! (OK, I did have adult food, and beer and a secret plan for chili afterward with Marci's margaritas.) Oh, oh oh, I did have help the day of the event. Jordan came and surprised B. She, Jeana and Lee and Dick brought the cake and helped with all the fun food. And my friend Beth came and took pictures and wrangled kids OUT of the house. I know my friend Robin did stuff too, I just can't remember right now!
Hot Pink and Dinos, and B had a dragon shirt. That's my girl with the varied interests.
I ordered this dinosaur from Amazon. My plan was to put it on the cake table. Do I need to read the description just a little bit better or what? I opened the box, and it kept unfolding, and unfolding and my lungs started to hurt just looking at it. I handed it to Mike and asked if he could use the compressor to inflate it. That is Larkin.
B had a very specific description for her cake (down to the pink lava and the color of the dinosaurs). She told Lee who had her friend draw up the cutest card. Lee then took the card to the cake place and they reproduced it. Lee hated the cake. It was supposed to be a sheet cake with a smaller volcano. B LOVED it. Lee also hated trying to cut the cake. Let this be a warning. Volcano shaped cakes = hard to cut.
This little one had fun too. It was a little hard to convince her it wasn't
her birthday too. Charley already thinks she is 5........
As my sister would say, B was in hog heaven.
I thought the jumpy thing would be the main attraction. Yeah, sugar was the main thing.
A lot of kids went home blue.
B was pretty good letting Charley share in all the festivities. She even let her help with the candles. This is a funny story I want to remember - as soon as I lit the candles, B needed a potty break. Yeah, we blew them out and re-lit them when she came back.
Notice B's blue mouth.
There's me in the background. Very hard to pick pictures when I know that I don't want to be in any and my sister doesn't want to be in any.
Afterward everyone went home, we had some of Mike's chili and Marci's margaritas. Dorota braved the party even though she was having neck surgery the next day. Cathie P. came even though she babysat her grandkids all weekend. (I have a picture of Cathie P., but I bet, she like me and my sister, really don't want our photo on the blog.)
After we ate something, B opened her presents.
Torin got B a bat house. She had trouble opening the box, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out arrowheads. Good, prepared friends are hard to come by.
B even let Charley help out.
Despite the fact that we asked kids to bring donations to H.E.L.P. (Homes for Endangered and Lost Pets - where we adopted Scoopsy Baby, the cat) instead of gifts, some of her friends brought gifts and some brought both gifts and donations.
We had an awesome day for a birthday bash. The weather was perfect, there were tons of people (like so many) and most importantly, my almost 6 year old had a great time.
