Brady's Birthday Party

We go to Utah every other year for New Year's and this was our year to stay home.  Since Brady's birthday is December 31, he had a family party with all his cousins last year.  So this year we gave him his first birthday party with friends.  He was lucky to have two cousins here as well.

We decided on a Toy Story theme, and we used some toys he got for Christmas as decorations.

Supposed to be an alien cake...whatever, I tried

As the kids arrived, Brady practiced being the host by opening the door, asking them to take off their shoes, taking their coats, directing them where to put their gifts, and leading them to the first activity - Toy Story coloring pages.  He still needs some work, but he tried.  He's my little host in training.  I think it's an important skill to have because everyone likes a good host, right?

The first game they played was Hot Potato Head.

Brooke was quickly overwhelmed by all the kids. (Actually, we all were to different extremes.)  She quickly went upstairs to get her blanket and doll from her crib.  My mom flew in that morning, so the timing was perfect for her to help with the party.  Brooke sure appreciated her comforting arms.

I didn't intend for there to be so many kids!  Brady invited 4 friends from church, 4 from the neighborhood, 3 from school, and his 2 cousins.  I figured it being the holidays, probably half would be able to come.  Wrong!  We ended up with 11 kids, mostly boys, which makes for a lot of running through the house and wrestling.  Cory said never again.  We'll see about that.

We played Pin the Tail on Bullseye, which is self-explanatory.

The next game was a 4-step challenge.  (We obviously watch too much Survivor.)  We called it Potato Head Racing.  We had 4 Mr. Potato Heads with 7 parts each.  Four kids at a time assembled them and the winner of each round got to compete in the championship round.  The championship round consisted of three girls.  If that's not a statement about girls and their fine motor skills, I don't know what is.

The kids then enjoyed some Pizza Planet pizza.

Next we played a game that seemed cool when I thought of it, but I later regretted.  We called it Shoot Woody.  We sat Woody on Bullseye on a bar stool.  Each kid got a chance to knock him off with one round of bullets from Brady's Nerf guns.  Sadly, the girls and the three 3-year-old boys could not pull the trigger hard enough to get the bullets out.  Then all the kids were being "helpful" by retrieving the bullets.  Unfortunately, they kept running in front of the gun and risked being hit in the head.  Let's just say, with all the already-existing chaos, that was not the best idea.  This would be a good game for a few 6- or 7-year old boys, but most of these guys were too young.

Finally it was time to sing Happy Birthday and eat cupcakes.

Brady opened his birthday presents, and he was so excited about all the fun toys he got.  The last game we played was The Claw Game.  In October, Brady and I went through all the toys and got rid of those that were just taking up space in preparation for the kids' birthdays and Christmas.  We kept all the small toys (like those from Chuck E. Cheese and McDonald's Happy Meals, a.k.a. junk toys) in a bag with this game in mind.  So for The Claw Game we put those toys in a 2-gallon bucket.  Each kid got tongs and a blindfold and grabbed a toy or two with "the claw". (Remember, the aliens were chosen by "the claw" in the original Toy Story movie.)  They got to take home a couple of those toys and a party favor.  Now their parents have to deal with them.  Haha.  I see no problem recycling junk toys if you can do it creatively.

That night before bed Brady thanked me for his party without prompting.  He is such a sweetheart and I was happy to do it for him.  At least I know it won't be every year, and now I know to invite fewer kids.