Party!

We had my daughter's ninth birthday party today.

We played Stick the Nose on the Alien:

I painted this alien myself (and whom I secretly named "Henry"). I painted noses on a separate piece of cardstock paper, cut them out and laminated them. I placed pieces of double sided tape on the backs of each. I found a really cool bandana at Michael's, decorated with stars and moons, and used this as a blindfold. I tied the bandana around each child's head, covering their eyes, spun them around 10 times (overkill, I know, but they didn't seem to mind), guided them towards Henry on whom they stuck the noses. I wish I had picture of Henry after the game! My children, interestingly enough, placed both of their noses on Henry's left hand. There was a nose on Henry's lip, another on his middle eye, one on his neck, one that found its way way over Henry's far right eye. The winning nose was placed almost perfectly where it should have been, right on top of his lip. I seriously think that she studied Henry because she felt her way to that spot. Smart Girl (it wasn't my daughter)!

We also played "Comets". I cut out a 3 foot circle from a cardboard box that we had in the garage. I painted 5 rings on it. I made "comets" using styrofoam balls and old tights that didn't fit my daughter anymore. I placed the circle on the floor and gave each of the children 3 comets. The object of the game was to throw at least one of your comets in the center of the circle. Three of the children got pretty darn close and they each received a prize.

I had two activities for them related to space. The first activity involved decorating star cookies. I baked star shaped sugar cookies last night. I supplied decorating gels (tubes of decorating frosting mixed with edible sparkles) and pareils. I allowed them to take as many cookies as they wanted to decorate.
The second activity was painting Meteorite rocks. My children and I had a couple of rock collecting trips, which they thoroughly enjoyed. The only problem was that I had to remind them the rocks were not for them to keep - ha! We took home the rocks, washed them, and brought them to the party in buckets. I bought 5 tubes of glow in the dark paint and several vials of neon paint. I supplied brushes and instructed them to paint whatever they wanted. All of the children enjoyed these activities (based on the length of time that they spent on their chosen activity) and it was interesting to see that each of the girls preferred one over the other. The boys (my daughter's best friend and my son) were the only ones that wanted to do both. My daughter, of course, had her Buggi dance on her rock while she painted it.

If I had to do it over, I wouldn't change a thing. I feel very, very fortunate that I was able to find a venue that was affordable, close by, clean, and available. It had just enough space for all of the kids and parents that joined us today. My friends helped me and my husband decorate and set up the room, and clean up afterwards. Best of all, my daughter had a great time with her friends and the party was uniquely hers.