Last Minute Birthday Party

Going out of the country for month, right around Spud's birthday, hindered party preparations quite a bit. So there really weren't many. We booked our favourite kids' art studio, thankfully they had room for us with very little notice (see also our Egyptian themed party and Paint Splatter party).

The kids learned about masking and got to do some paint splatter.

Next they made polymer clay, yoda-like creatures.

These are ready for baking ...

Once they are baked, they will get attached to the painting! Voila! Mixed media space project.

 Hubs and Spud also made some mighty fine cupcakes ... with black icing!

And Hubs practiced his balloon making skills ...

Happy 7th Birthday Spud. We are very proud of you.

Kids' Clay Sphinx Project

I could not resist posting the fruits of Spud's 6 year Egyptian Themed Party. These adorable sphinxes are hot out of the oven from 4 Cats Art Studio. The kids worked so hard on them and have been excitedly awaiting their arrival.

And Spud's little guy has come in handy already. On a windy patio day, he made an excellent paper weight.

Birthday Party: Egyptian Theme

SPUD TURNS SIX AND THERE IS SOME TREASURE TO BE HAD

The INVITE
Yup, that's Spud in robber garb, inviting his wee friends to raid tombs and build Ancient Egyptian stuff with clay.

Note I took a few liberties on some of the hieroglyphics; balloons, the number 6, a birthday cake. Hee.


Let's Make a MINI CLAY SPHINX
We booked the party at a local kids art studio and they led the kids in each making a clay sphinx.

The studio is going to fire them and we can pick them up in a few weeks. Can't wait!

UPDATE
Photos of all the little fired sphinxes are up!

Desert and Water Colour Inspired TABLE SETTING
Golden, sandy coloured tablecloth and water blue napkins. Some of the cups were blue and some jewel encrusted [re-purposed from a pirate theme]. Spud's Playmobil Sphinx and loot bag containers as a centrepiece.

Happy Birthday BANNER
For the banner I alternated the backgrounds between papyrus, water, and an Egyptian stripe motif [I photographed the black and gold stripes on Hubs headdress modeled below] on triangles. We cut out each one, punched two holes on the top, and simply strung them on some twine.

Treasure Birthday CUPCAKES
Each of the wee guests' blue or beige [water and sand coloured] cupcake had a shiny new quarter hidden in them. We slit a hole on the side of the cupcake paper, at the bottom, and inserted a quarter that was wrapped in a small square of wax paper.

Nile Water PUNCH
Organic Pomegranate Blueberry juice with raspberry sorbet added.

Treasure-themed LOOT BAGS
1. Candy Bag. Each child took a turn raiding the pyramid.

· chocolate gold coins
· gold chocolate ball
· silver heart chocolate candies
· gold and deep blue MMs [found at bulk candy shop]
· candy ring [not shown here]
· gummy snake protecting the loot

2. Treasure Bag

[Spud worked very hard drawing the Nile on his little tomb container here. At some point he declared "I've just about finished colouring the longest river in the world!". [He started to complain about having a sore hand from colouring so much and Hubs stepped in to finish it up.]

Spud and I took some books out of the library that taught us a bunch about hieroglyphics in a kid friendly way. We shared the task of decorating the treasure bags, each one totally unique.

· Glow in the dark bracelet
· Gold bead necklace
· Play snake
· Craft gems
· Egyptian play figures


Personalized THANK YOU CARDS
I took notes of what Spud said when he opened each present and added a quote to each thank you card.

OTHER PARTY RELATED POSTS
· Party food idea for a Paint Splatter Party
· Jungle Party inspired by Curious George
· Indiana Jones Party activities and food
· Robot Party Activity: Control Panel Craft

Our Egyptology

Two more sleeps until Spud's buddy birthday party. This year's theme: Ancient Egypt. It all started when his great aunt gave him some of the new Playmobil Egypt set for Christmas.
Check out this little animation.



He quickly became smitten with the idea of discovering hidden treasures and thwarting robbers trying to steal them. This led to this year's theme and I thought, also a great opportunity to learn more about Egypt in the weeks leading up to the big day. First we went to the library to learn about hieroglyphics. Here's a sneak peak of our work on the goodie bags.





You might notice that we took some liberties with the hieroglyphics, adding some of our own, like the birthday cake! We also found this great book filled with all sorts of Egypt themed activities.



We had fun making papyrus boats out of bendy straws.





MATERIALS
· 16 bendy straws
· tape
· twine/string
And a few nights ago, Hubs showed us a documentary about the Nile which inspired Spud's work here ...



"Hey, look Mama, I'm almost finished colouring in the longest river in the WORLD!"

Our little guy is 5!

Officially. Wow. There's no denying it anymore. The candles are blown out and everyone has gone home.

It was a super fun day for us and we are grateful to have so many great friends and neighbours to help us celebrate.

Highlights for me ...

The weather! That's some blue sky that we haven't seen in these parts since the 90s. Well, it feels that way.

And we totally lucked out and booked this space ... for free!

Oh, and that we got to spring M-O from storage for a bit. I kind of missed him.

Battling, voice-activated robots ...

Hubs' cake skills

And the wee bots crafting, the robot snacks, and cyber juice.

Turtle spotting was a bonus!

All-in-all. A great day for us.

RELATED POSTS
Party favours
Robot Party Song List
Our Little Guy is 5!
Robot Picnic Cups
Robot Picnic Invite

OTHER PARTY LINKS
Jungle Party
Jackson Pollock Party
Indiana Jones Party