Drop Off Birthday Parties ROCK!

Jack turned eight last week. I asked him about a month ago what he wanted to do for his birthday. He wanted to go to Disneyland. As much as I love Disneyland, I had no desire to walk around the lovely park 8 months pregnant. So I suggested that we have an "almost sleepover party." Many people thought that this sounded even crazier than going to Disneyland. The party was on a Friday night from 3:30pm - 10pm. We had a total of 10 boys including my three. The parents dropped them off for six and a half hours. You are thinking this sounds like torture. It was fabulous. I never want to have parents come to a birthday party again. That does not sound very nice, but I have to tell you that this party was fun and -EASY! The kids entertain each other and I could focus on them because I wasn't entertaining their parents. Here is how the night went- 

1) Jason and I drove them over to Buff Buddies in La Canada. They played dodge ball, and ran around and got sweaty for an hour. (The purpose was to wear them out a bit) 

2) We picked up the pizza on the way home and  served it with chips, grapes and carrots for dinner. They were so happy, all around a big table and ate everything up, even the carrots.  I served soda. We only had one spill! Not too shabby.

3) We played games- I've got pictures below

Silly String War!!!!!!!!!! Here is my nephew Chase.

And here is Luke...... this was of course played in the driveway. Then Jason had this brilliant idea of having them try to make a big ball out of the string on the driveway. They loved it and picked up the mess!
The next game required bowls, whipped cream (buy 3 cans for 10 kids) and bubble gum. The kids had to put their arms behind their backs, put their faces in a bowl of whipped cream and try to find the gum with their mouths. The first one to blow a bubble won. I had picked up some prizes from Big Lots. Here is what Jack looked like after the game. He loved it.
Next Game- Easter Egg hunt, but with candy filled basketball and baseball shaped eggs. The key to this game was that the "eggs" were hidden outside in the dark. I bought some flashlights at Big Lots for $2 each with working batteries for each child and wrote their names on them. These were their party favors. My nephews hid the eggs for me- such good little helpers. You can see Weston in the bottom picture hiding them. My sister came up with the brilliant idea of writing the boys' names on the eggs so the game would not be over in 2 seconds. They had to find the 7 eggs with their names on them. They were not allowed to tell when they found someone else's egg. There were also two "Special Prize Eggs" to find. If they found a prize egg, they got to pick a prize. They were so cute walking around the yard with their flashlights searching for their eggs. Here is Ty with his bag, flashlight and egg below.

After the games, the kids came in and we sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JACK! The boys got to make their own sundae's to have with their cake. Then, Jack opened his presents. The kids loved watching him because it doesn't happen at many birthday parties anymore.

It was now 8:30pm. On the invitation, I had suggested they bring a blanket and pillow. The kids got their stuff and found a comfy spot in front of the TV. We then put on the movie, Kung Fu Panda in surround sound and turned off the lights. They were so good. They sat and laughed hysterically throughout the whole movie. Jason and I cleaned up everything and I sat at my computer answering e-mails while the kids watched. Only a few moved to come ask for a drink. It was great. The movie ended right at 10pm and the parents showed up to pick them up. Perfecto! 

So for those of you with little ones who are exhausted after your three or four-year old's party, just know that someday, your kids will get bigger,the drop- off party will be an option and you will see that it wasn't the kids that made the party so exhausting after all!