Erik's birthday party

I did it, I planned a birthday party for Erik. There were a few moments when I wasn't sure it would come together, but I have to say, we had a wonderful birthday party.

Erik's 4th birthday party was a planets/science experiements party. Our first activity was coloring a page of planets, cutting them out, and pasting them on a poster board for a planets poster. Everyone was a little late, but the other boy who loves planets was the first to arrive, so he and Erik got started. Yuri and Erik spent a long time coloring and getting them all perfect. Erik was finishing up as Sid and family got there, which was good as Sid didn't really want to spend long on it at all.

Our next game was finding all the planets and tying them on to a piece of yarn (the planets were balloons, of course!). All the kids loved it, even the two who didn't know much about planets before (oh, by this time the last child, Teagan, had arrived). I told the kids what color of balloon to look for, they would find it, and we tied it onto their string. They were all pleased to take their planets home. We even did Xena, which made Yuri quite happy.

After the planets, we transitioned to "experiments". First up was the favorite of the day, and we ended up spending a long time on it. I gave each child a clear cup with water, and a package of markers. They got to dip the markers in the water, and observe the color changes. They then worked on mixing colors. Erik loved it, and he did as many as possible. He also really enjoyed setting them up in rows, so that he could practice multiplication at the same time (2 rows of 4 is 2x4 =8. 3 rows of 4 is... he got to 5 rows of 4 before we moved on.)

After we did that, we made playdough together--each child made a color. They enjoyed picking their colors, and mixing it all up. We were planning on using the playdough to mold around a plastic bottle, then making it a volcano with baking soda and vinegar. But by the time we finished playdough, we were ready for lunch. We did once "science with food" experiment by seeing what happened when we mixed pureed strawberries into plain white yogurt. They got to eat their results while we got the food ready.

My lack of planning really showed up in the food. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and I had made a pork roast that morning, so the adults had pork, on sandwiches if they wished. I didn't even have birthday napkins, but we all survived.

After lunch, Carl took the kids outside for one last experiment. It was a gorgeous, sunny, near-60-degrees day, and the kids enjoyed playing outside for awhile, too. We did exploding soda, this experiment from Steve Spangler Science. It worked really well, and the kids thought it was great. (a note from some of the dads--the remains in the bottle taste like toothpaste, not worth drinking!)

We then all came back inside for frost-your-own cupcakes. The kids enjoyed frosting and colored sugar sprinkles. At this point, Erik was really done, but we wanted to open the gifts, and since there were only three to open, he was able to hang in there for just a bit more.

And I actually ended up with much more planned than we had time to do. As 10 o'clock arrived and everyone was late, I started mentally eliminating experiments. When all the kids wanted to spend close to 40 minutes with markers and water, I cut out a few more things. We also wanted to leave time to play outside on such a beautiful day.

Oh, my non-planning comes into play at the end, as well. No organized goody bags from us, though I did have a few "mementos" for the kids. We had to put them in ziploc bags for them to take home, though! The kids got some glow-in-the-dark stars, a planets coloring book I printed from online, and a blank composition book to use as a science notebook and record their own experiments. They also took home their posters, their balloon solar systems, and their playdough.

We had 4 younger siblings here, as well; on their way out I realized that I may just invite these same four families when Anders turns 2 in March, as their birthdays are all between December and March.

So, I won't be making a career of party planning, but I know my son had fun. I know he enjoyed it. I know that too much more would have overwhelmed him--as it was, there were a few times when he needed to go take a break in his bedroom. And I know that it's not a competition of "who gives the best birthday party?" It was fun, yet casual--which fits our family perfectly.