Surprise!

I love the banner I made using a Lego font I found for free on the internet.

 

 

We did surprise him too. There were times when I was a little doubtful that we’d be able to pull Joel’s Lego-themed affair off--he is just way too smart and nosy for his own good sometimes--but the whole thing was a smash hit. I have a few small things that I wish I had done differently or planned better, (Like why do I always think about videoing things after the fact? Instead I have a couple of kind of blurry pictures that don’t adequately capture the moment) but overall I was really pleased with how everything worked out. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my friends Stacy and Wayland who saved the day by going out and getting another cake, more plates and more forks after we had a few additional guests show up. They also took Joel out to lunch to get him out of the house for the surprise and Stacy made Joel a special Lego-themed birthday cake that I thought was darling.

Lego cake!

I know she felt rushed for time, but I thought she did a fabulous job decorating the cake with real Legos including this cute little Mini-fig artist. Look! Even the tip of his paintbrush is green as if he had just finished painting the number ten. So cute!

Kids all getting ready for the big surprise.

SURPRISE!

One of my favorite things was when Joel pulled up. All the kids were so excited they were all running around looking for places to hide (which we have very few of in our little town home). Most of them ended up just laying on the floor and jumping up when he came in the house.

Joel taking it all in and looking pretty pleased surrounded by friends and family.

Joel trying to decide on a name for the Lego creation that everyone built together.

 My favorite thing about this picture is Danny off to the right. He dressed himself again.

Once Joel was at the party we played a few games. We had one where the first person took a Lego and then passed it and the next person added another Lego and so on until every kid had a chance to add a Lego to the creation (kind of like that game where everyone has to make up one sentence of a story). We also did a Lego-drop where they had to try to hold a Lego on their nose and drop it into a mason jar; a guess-how-many-Legos-in-the-jar contest; a tallest tower contest to see who could build the tallest Lego tower in one minute and a Lego scavenger hunt. That was my favorite. I had a big long list of stuff to look for and we just dumped out all our Legos on the floor and everyone had a certain amount of time to try to find the item--a purple Lego, a Lego helmet, a Lego based on a movie character, a Lego window or door, etc. The person with the most items at the end won.

Opening presents

Tasting the frosting

Singing "Happy Birthday!"

Blowing out candles

After the games we opened presents then had cake and ice cream. The kids ate outside since there weren't enough seats at the table with our extra guests. It was good though because there was the inevitable spilled Kool-aid and dumped over cake and I didn't have to clean it up.

One of my least favorite things was when one of the kids told me I needed to make more Kool-aid and add more powder this time because the last batch was watery. :-/  Despite the watery Kool-aid, we all had a lot of fun. I was especially grateful for the help of the adults who came and stuck around. I don't know how I would have done it without the extra hands.

I had little boys in and out of my house all day--not just at the party. Last night I counted them all up before I went to bed and there had been a total of nineteen little boys (and one little girl) in my house at some point during the day. I was really happy today to be able to just laze around and not do much. Danny's birthday is next up and Nate's is just a week and a half after that. Then I'll be able to breathe a sigh of relief since birthday season will be over until the end of November.

We have not done a lot of birthday parties in my kids' lives. I feel like I'm still learning some things about how to do it but I felt that overall it was successful. And because I had fun with the little details I have to share pictures of those things as well:

Favor bags: the front was a Lego brick and the tag was a Lego guy head.

This is the loot that was inside each bag.

These little color-able notes were in each bag as well.

The candy bricks were my favorite part of the goody bags. They were very cool.

I had veggie cups with ranch dip available but didn't have any takers. My kids love vegetables but apparently they are the only ones who do. We ended up eating these with our dinner.

I stuck with simple decorations--primary colors, some balloons, and of course, LEGOS!

A close up of the "Surprise" banner. It makes me happy.

 

This was the invitation I made using my mad photo-shop skillz.

More balloons. The Party City people lied. They said the extremes in temperature from the store to the outside wouldn't affect the balloons. They looked at me like I was crazy when I asked them if it would.  However you'll notice this bunch of balloons doesn't have a green one. It did, but it shrunk down to nearly nothing and lost it's floatability before the party ever started. Meh.

My boys and some of the neighbors stuck around after the party to play. Legos are almost like magic. I hear very little fighting when my kids are playing with them. They generally are just using their brains to create and have a good time.

I don't know if I'm just a little insecure or what but I was afraid that no one would come; that everyone would forget or something. Maybe it's because I've forgotten plenty of parties myself through the years. Maybe it's because I know how busy people are. Or maybe it's just because I personally don't even like birthday parties that much. Whatever it is, it makes me feel loved to know that people remember, take time out of their busy schedules to help us celebrate, to haul their kids to my house and then come back again to pick them up and to just generally make the occasion special for my kid. Thanks for coming, friends. Thanks for making it a great day! I promise we'll get a real thank you note in the mail soon! ;)