Our party guests were greeted by a bunch of balloons on our porch and this balloon spider I made on the front door. His party was at 1:00. The high for the day was 95 degrees. It was a hot day, but the slight breeze made it feel comfortable. We invited 22 adults and 13 kids, knowing that at least half would not be able to attend. 9 adults and 4 kids actually came, which was the perfect amount.
Connor and Jason love to watch the show Wipe Out on TV, which has an obstacle course. So, I created an obstacle course for Connor's party. It starts with hopping on the hippity hop around cones, run through a ball pit, crawl through a tunnel, make 2 baskets with balls, jump through 3 hula hoops with only 1 foot in each hoop, hurdle a pool noodle, walk the balance beam, army crawl under 2 pool noodles, do a full circle on the sit-n-spin and finish with putting a plastic golf ball onto a green.
to start the party off everyone made a spider hat. I cut all the shapes out the night before. The kids got to choose how many eyes their spider had, what color the eyes were and how many legs their spider had. From left: Ava, Nina, Connor and Max
Connor's adorable spider hat with multi colored eyes. Jason in the background grilling up the hamburgers and hot dogs. He gets it easy.. I only give him 2 jobs for the party each year: grill the meat and video tape. He almost forgot to video tape the party this year. I had to remind him while we were playing the games. Gish, what does he think he's a party guest that gets to sit back and relax?!? LOL
Lunch (everything made from scratch): hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit- watermelon, blueberries, grapes, pasta salad, potato salad, chips, sugar cookies, and a cooler filled with cold water, flavored water, juice and kool-aid. The potato salad was a new recipe this year. 2000 people on the Internet said this was the best potato salad ever. OMG I could have eaten the entire tub of potato salad myself! It was amazing! Unfortunately all my guests thought the same thing so I didn't have hardly any left after the party... and the teeny tiny amount I did have left I had to fight Jason for. The fruit was also a big hit. Especially with the heat. That made a nice refreshing treat to snack on. There wasn't any left.
the kids were very excited to go swimming in the pool... so they jumped in after lunch.
Jason and Tony found out just how far the squirt guns can reach
Connor, Ava and Nina playing with the squirt guns in the pool
Max got a squirt gun and with the help of grandma, Vicki attacked the kids in the pool
but the kids in the pool were well armed with squirt guns and an endless supply of refillable water
the adults chillen in the shade on the patio
Max's mom, Wei Wei joined the battle field. She brought the garden hose to the water fight!
Jon and Vicki
All 4 kids having a great time in the pool. Nina, Ava, Connor and Max
Next up was the obstacle course. Nina wanted to try it first. Hippity Hopping around the cones
crawling through the tunnel
walking the balance beam
army crawling under the pool noodles
crawling under the table
Connor went next... through the tunnel
throwing balls into the tub to make a basket
jumping hoop to hoop with only one foot in each hoop. Nina finishing the course in the background with the putting green. Connor decided to skip the rest of the course and join Nina over at the slip-n-slide after this.
Ava maneuvering around the cones on the hippity hop. Max is still enjoying the swimming pool in the background with Vicki.
crawling through the tunnel
army crawling under the pool noodles
spinning on the sit-n-spin
putting a plastic golf ball into the putting green
Slip-n-slide time. Up first Nina
Ava
Connor ran around the slip-n-slide and through the water, but never did slide down the strip. The water was freezing cold. The girls didn't mind though. Nina and Ava loved the slip-n-slide. They both went down the slip-n-slide continuously for a long time.
Nina and Connor petting Buster, my parents dog.
Hit the spider with a water balloon! After the slip-n-slide Olesya and I quickly filled up a bucket full of water balloons for the game. The kids had a blast throwing water balloons at the spider picture I drew. Connor thought he needed to get a little bit closer in order to hit the spider.
Pin the spider on the web. Up first was Connor. After blind folding each child I would give them a gentle 2 turns and then point them in the direction of the web.
Connor
Nina
Ava
Max
Cake! Connor's spider cake
(Connor drank some red vita-water the night before and the dye stained his upper lip.. at least that's what we originally thought. After a closer inspection of his upper lip it actually looks like he gave himself a hickey instead. I think he suctioned the water bottle to his upper lip)
His big smile while we sang the Happy Birthday song
the wind kept blowing the candles out, so Olesya and Tony used paper plates to block the wind long enough for Connor to make a wish and blow the candles out.
Me and Jason with the birthday boy.
Connor chose a cupcake and cake pop for his desert, but being that he's not a big desert person.. he gave the cupcake a few licks (he did not want to bite the cake part) and that was it. He never did touch the cake pop or his actual birthday cake. I totally forgot about the huge container of ice cream and otter pops sitting in my freezer... oops.
Wei Wei and Maddux
Ava and Nina
Staci and Grandpa
everyone enjoying desert. Connor drinking probably his 3rd juice pouch. Luckily it's 100% fruit juice with no high fructose corn syrup. I think Connor had to take about 3-4 potty breaks during his party since he drank so much juice and water. At least he's good at staying hydrated. When all the kids were swimming in the pool, Connor jumped out of the pool and ran for the house for a potty break and decided to drop his shorts and pee in the grass off the patio. One of the fantastic tricks he's learned from his father. A benefit to being a boy. He knows that he can only do that in our backyard, but we neglected to teach him that it's only okay to pee in our backyard when nobody else is there. Ooops! Oh well, everyone got a good laugh out of it.
Max is 3 months older than Connor and they always go back and forth on who is taller. At Max's party 3 month ago Max was quit a bit taller than Connor, but now they look pretty much the exact same height.
present time
After Connor opened each gift he would ask me who it was from and would give them a big hug and a "thank you."
He was so excited to play with his new toys... a screw gun and truck you take apart and put back together- Staci and Tony. A spiderman that shoots webs- Wei Wei, Travis, Max and Maddux. A remote control gorilla that roars and moves- Jon and Vicki. A battery operated squirt gun, spiderman punching bag and spiderman blow up gloves- Olesya, Ava and Nina. 8 Vtech Vmotion video games- Grandma and Grandpa. A Vtech Vmotion game system (which was suppose to arrive by his party on Saturday, but was late) and 4 more Vtech Vmotion games, several more toy spiders, dinosaurs and snakes, balloon air missile rockets, and some twisty balloons with air pump to make balloon animals- mom and dad.
Tony and Staci
Olesya, Nina and Ava
Grandpa and Nana
After 4 hours of fun, most of our party guests left at 5:00. Jon, Vicki, Wei Wei, Travis, Max and Maddux stayed until 7:00. Max and Connor had a blast playing outside and then downstairs in Connor's play room. I love planning and organizing Connor's party's. But I have to say I'm always so busy during the party that I never get a chance to sit down and relax... so, it felt nice to sit down and actually visit with Wei Wei, Travis, Jon and Vicki.
my adorable birthday boy! I love you so much Connor!!! You are definitely worth months of party planning, shopping, organizing, and baking! Connor picks the theme for all his parties. After all it's HIS birthday party. He decided on "Spiders" as his theme around January. I attempted to track down some kid appropriate Spider decorations for his party, but unfortunately all I found was either geared towards Halloween, scary or itsey bitsey spider. So, I made my own party invitations, decorated the food table and front door with balloon spiders I created, scattered some of Connor's favorite plastic spiders for decorations, drew and colored a spider to throw water balloons at, drew a spider web for pin the spider on the web game, drew a spider on a purple shirt for Connor to wear for his party (although he didn't wear it very long since the kids decided to jump in the pool right after lunch), cut out all the pieces for the kids to make their own spider hats... I had also planned on making a spider craft out of black paper plates, googly eyes, red paint and pipe cleaner and another craft where the kids use string and plates with hole punches around the edges to make a spider web. We didn't get around to doing those crafts though since the kids were having too much fun with everything else.
Connor and Max
Connor and Max going through the obstacle course together.. inside the hula hoops. Goofy boys! they were laughing so hard. The balance beam
hurdle
through the ball pit
through the hippity hop course
Wei Wei, Travis, Maddux, Max, Vicki, Jon (and Connor.. their adopted family member)
Jason, Connor and I
Every year I make a gift bag for the kids to take home and enjoy... this year the bag included: a bendy twisty snake, a squishy spider toy, a glow in the dark spider (which was also used for the Pin the Spider on the Web game), a black spider ring and a lolly pop. The kids got to choose the color of snake and spider that they wanted.
After everyone left Jason and I went to work picking everything up. Connor helped us clean up and then once the house and yard were put back to normal.. Connor played with his new screw gun. It has forward, reverse and 3 attachments. Looks like I have 2 handy men in my house now!
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