This year, the girls chose a vacation for their birthday instead of a big birthday party like they’ve had in previous years. Grouchy Husband and I still wanted them to have a small celebration with their friends so we hosted a small party at his hot dog shop. I love birthdays (especially my own), so even though it was going to be small, I wanted it to be so much fun. After hours of Internet searching, I put together a list of games that looked like fun and games I loved to play growing up.
First game was called “Junk in the Trunk”. Everyone puts on a belt that had an empty tissue box filled with ping pong balls strapped to it. Princess’ team were the Big Kids. Baby’s team were the Little Kids. The team that shook all their ping pong balls out of the tissue box hole first won.
The kids had a blast shaking, jumping, dancing their ping pong balls out.
Next game, balloon darts. I taped balloons to poster board and taped a tack behind each balloon. Big Kid and Little Kid teams were given bean bags to throw at the balloons and push them to the tacks. Whoever popped all the balloons on their board won.
This game was crazy fun! The kids got really into it and were throwing the bean bags so hard.
It ended up being a tie because the last 6 balloons were taking a very long time to pop.
The cotton ball and spoon game was an oldie but a goodie. With a spoon in their mouths, kids had to scoop cotton balls from one bowl and walk it to another bowl. If they dropped the ball, they had to start all over.
The licorice and marshmallow game is one of my favorites. I played it at almost all of my birthday parties growing up. I hung a marshmallow on the bottom of a licorice string. Without hands, the kids had to eat from the top of the licorice to the marshmallow.
This game has no age limits. Big Kids and Little Kids had equal amounts of fun.
Princess lost her front tooth a few days before the party. Some say this was an advantage.
Last game was a memory game. I brought out a tray of things and named them all for everyone. After a couple of minutes, I hid the tray of things and the kids have to write down what they remember. This game was messed up because I had a separate tray for the Little Kids and handouts with pictures so they just had to circle the things they remembered because they can’t spell but I left home in a rush and forgot it all. Oh well, thankfully the fun of the previous games hid this mistake.
After the games, the kids put their hot dog orders in.
The macaroni and cheese hot dog was the favorite. It usually is.
The kids ate picnic style.
The party was totally chaotic and crazy but I think everyone had a good time.
The overflow of parents stayed outside where it was quiet. Yes, that is Grouchy Husband out there also…
The girls had so much fun with their friends, it was worth the crazy hour and a half.
Happy 5th and 8th Birthdays girls! Mama loves you always xo