real party: 'disgusting' pajama birthday party

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I love kids and their ideas. My son is particularly creative when coming up with party themes that are outside the box. For his sixth birthday, he requested a 'disgusting' party where his friends would come wearing their pajamas. We had a lot of fun brainstorming the things we could do and ended up with a grossly perfect list of activities. Each child at the party had a turn to receive a clue and lead the party to a new 'disgusting' challenge. The challenges included: musical tooting chairs, eyeball slinging (sticky ones that stuck to the side of our house), mystery box (filled with slimy noodles/'brains'), excavation of snakes and spiders from green jello (using chopsticks), silly string fight, a pinata full of 'disgusting' candy, and was capped off with a treasure hunt where they found their party favors. The kids dined on slug pancakes, eyeball ice cube water, 'vomit' colored milk, 'bug' yogurt and fruit, of course. The cake looked like a pile of dung- with a fly on top. We sent them home tired and with a box of Booger gummies! My six year-old was thrilled. 

40th birthday

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Adult parties tend to be not nearly as thought-out as the kiddie fare (perhaps a less appreciative audience?), but this 40th birthday bash is an exception. Katy threw her music-loving, basketball-playing, 40 year-old husband one heck of a birthday party back in November. A couple of snaps above. 

What she did:

-collected 40 images and created 4 posters- one for each decade of his life- to hang up around the living room.

-had former students (from their teaching stint in the Caribbean) film groups of their classmates wishing him a happy birthday. They emailed the videos, which she put together into a movie...which she surprised him with and played at the party.

-because so many of his friends now live in other cities, she asked everyone who couldn't come to the party to send an email with a personal message and photos, which she compiled into a big album.

-those who were at the party signed sheets of paper fitted to the album size, that were later included in the back of the album.

-for each guest in attendance, she made a 2 cd mix of his favorite 40 songs (the 'top 40')- 20 slow and 20 fast- which were given out at the end of the night.

-at the end of the night, everyone moved into the basement (where his turntables are set up) and he DJ'ed!

I love the thought and care that was put into this party! For more pictures, go to Katy's flickr set here.

paris candy shop birthday

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Annmarie of near-Boston, Massachusetts sent me this adorable 'Parisian Candy Shop' party for her daughter Lucy's 4th birthday. Everything is just as I imagine a little girl would dream of...pink, fluffy, light-goodness. 

The cake is a masterpiece (Annmarie was inspired by this one); and the paper cones the girls used for treats are a favorite of mine as well. I bet those little ones were on quite a sugar high...