Pumpkins

I know it is nowhere near Halloween, but I've been going through some old pictures and I came across some of my favourite pumpkins I have made in the past. I used to attempt carving, but I'm not the greatest and I lack the quality carving tools. I find that for me painting is so much fun and has so many possibilities.
Here are some of my past creations:

Mike Wazowski! Acrylic paint worked quite well (just keep it out of the rain), and I used felt to make the arms, legs and horns.

A minion. I used tuna cans for the goggles, and jabbed some wire into the top for hair.

Harry Potter and Voldemort.

A not-so-creepy spider.

Black cat on a fence.


The kids definitely love painting pumpkins. One of the benefits of painting is that the pumpkins last longer. Although you can finish with a varnish or other protective coating, it's still wise to keep them away from water!
My husband always goes the carving route. I am also a fan of that. Do what you love, I say! Whatever you choose, have fun making it a family activity!

Igloos

If you don't have enough snow for an igloo made out of snow, here's a great backup option:
MARSHMALLOW IGLOOS!

First, find a bowl. We used glass ones. I don't know if it would be any different using a plastic bowl. Go ahead and give it a try!

Using icing (I made buttercream because it's my favourite), attach the marshmallows to the outside of the bowl. Don't forget to make an entrance!

And just like that, you have your own mini igloo.

Monkey Time!

If you have a monkey lover, then do I have a party for you!

Game ideas (I wish I had taken more pictures of some of these because they were really funny to watch):

1. Bananas on a string.
    It's like donuts on a string, but replace those donuts with bananas.

2. Obstacle course and hanging competitions.
    On warm weather days we go outside for the obstacle course, but when it's chilly we take to the basement. You can do anything for an obstacle course using pillows, cushions, ladders...basically whatever you have on hand.
    We happen to have monkey bars in our basement so we had two kids face off to see who could hold on longer. We also had a rope hanging up so we timed them to see who could hold onto the rope the longest.

3. Animal charades.
   I have a bunch of little pictures of animals that I put in an envelope. Have a kid take one out and act it out. Simple. You can use whatever pictures you have, use a bag with toy animals, or just have the kid come up with an idea for an animal to act out.

4. Sock wars.
    Divide the kids into two teams. Make sure you have an area that has a divider so there are two equal sides. You give each team a bunch of socks. The object is for them to throw the socks onto the opposite side. They can only throw one sock at a time (it's not fair if they grab a pile and throw them all over at once, and it's not nearly as fun!) Whoever ends up with the most socks on their side when time runs out is the losing team.

5.  Monkey Tail Balloon Roundup
     I bought a bunch of leis from the store (although you could easily hang belts or other long objects from their waists to make tails). I cut each lei so that it would come down like a tail. Using these "tails" the kids had to move a bunch of balloons into another room. They couldn't use their hands or feet, only tails. It was pretty entertaining. The leis were pretty light so it took a lot of effort for the kids to move the balloons, so I'd recommend trying something with a bit more weight if you're able.

6. Monkey piñata!

Two balloons for this crazy monkey! I used felt for the arms, legs and tail.

Cake time:
My daughter has a stuffed animal named Oo Oo who she adores. She's had him since she was a baby. She insisted on an "Oo Oo" cake. Rather than get crazy trying to shape a monkey out of cake, I decided to draw him on with icing:

When she was really little, and before the time of birthday parties, I did make her some Oo Oo cupcakes for her birthday:

I used chocolate chips for the eyes and blue candy melts for the muzzle and ears.

Animal-themed birthday parties are really great because you can make games around the characteristics of the animals themselves. Plus, you don't have to worry about the party guests not understanding the theme (like if it's based around a show or character they may not be familiar with).
We had a great time monkeying around with this party!

The Naked Egg Experiment

The naked egg experiment is a fun and easy little experiment to do and it actually works. I've had some really cool sounding experiments that were complete flops in practice, so I get excited about the ones that are hugely successful.
All you need are eggs and vinegar. Easy!
You pour some vinegar in a tall glass or jar. Add the egg and then watch. After a week the shell will have disappeared, leaving a translucent egg. It's pretty cool and rubbery and slightly bouncy. The kids had fun bouncing the eggs on the table (don't bounce from too high up or they'll break!).
Here are some before and after pictures:

If you want some more detailed instructions and some scientific explanations about what is going on with your egg, check out this link here.

https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/naked-egg-experiment/

Steve Spangler does a lot of cool science stuff. I highly recommend checking out more of his videos.

Have an "egg"cellent time with this one!

Pokémon!

This party was soooo much fun to plan. I think it was one of my favourites! My kids had gone through a Pokémon phase so that was what warranted a Pokémon birthday party. Sure. No problem. I got this.

The first thing I did was print out Team Rocket's little motto they always say:
To protect the world from devastation!
To unite all peoples within our nation!
To denounce the evils of truth and love!
To extend our reach to the stars above!
Jessie!
James!
Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!
Surrender now, or prepare to fight!

I strategically took out various nouns and verbs and turned it into a little Mad Lib. As the guests arrived I asked them to tell me words that would fill in the blanks. They had no idea what they were doing, which made it even better. Once everyone had arrived, my husband and I performed their mottos with their word choices. The kids loved this! I'm definitely going to pull this activity out again in the future.

More game ideas:
1. Pokémon Catch - This is the basic idea of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". I printed off pictures of random Pokémon characters, mounted them on card stock, and arranged them on the wall. Then I printed off enough pictures of Poké Balls so that each kid got one. While they were blindfolded they had to try to "catch" a Pokémon by sticking their ball on top of it. The Pokémon was then theirs to keep. I was amazed at how much they wanted those paper Pokémon!

2. Find the Pokémon - I arranged the kids into two teams. I then hid a bunch of tiny Pokémon toys in another room. One team then went in to see how fast they could find all of the Pokémon. After their turn, I hid them again and the other team went. The faster team won.

3. Forks and Mitts - This is a game from my childhood. You wrap a present in many, many, many layers of newspaper and tissue paper and whatever other kind of paper you want. Then you sit the kids in a circle. One by one they put on oven mitts and, using only forks, they have to tear away as much paper as they can within a certain amount of time.

 
4. We did an obstacle course, which is now a staple in our birthday parties. Kids love running around doing random obstacles!

5. Instead of one large piñata as I had done for previous parties, I decided to make some mini piñatas instead, in the form of Poké Balls. I papier mâchéd water balloons. I left a hole in the top of half of them so that when they dried I could put a prize in. Once the prize was in I sealed up the hole with more papier mâché. Add some paint and it's a Poké Ball. The ones that didn't have a prize inside were for the kids to take home. I figured some of them might not want to break their Poké Ball and I was right. We took them outside and they got to throw them around on the driveway until they smashed open to reveal the prize.

 We finished off with some fantastic Pikachu cupcakes. I really enjoyed coming up with these little guys. Aren't they cute?

They were super easy too. Yellow buttercream for the base, upside down chocolate chips for eyes, red icing for the cheeks. I used my Starburst trick for the ears (I have explained this a little more in detail in a previous birthday party post), then dipped them in melted chocolate chips. I also used a toothpick to put the nose and mouth details on using the same melted chocolate. I didn't feel like dirtying another cake decorating bag;)

It was a fun party and everyone went home with a lot of energy and smiles on their faces. Success!