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Monday


I'm sharing some details from my Casino Party today.  Come take a look!



This is my most asked about party. 
It seems that having a casino themed party is quite popular for those of us turning 30 or 40?
This party was for our married friends, Mike and Jen.
(Their birthdays are 6 days apart from each other.)
Giant cards were hung over the curtains.  I added the black letters and pinned lots of 40's everywhere.

I hung playing cards from the chandelier. 
I used an old deck that I didn't mind destroying with holes.


As the birthday
couple arrived,
I gave Mike a
crown to wear...
'King Mike'
and Jen
wore a tiara...
'Queen Jen'.




Picture Gallery!
Days before the party, I put together Mike and Jen's school pictures through the years.

Guests were told to bring an appetizer to share.  As the food arrived, we made tags.
I taped a playing card onto a toothpick, added a white printing label and provided the guests with a marker to label their contribution.
I made an ice ring with dice in it for the punch!
As the ice melted, the dice ended up in the bottom of the punch bowl.

After lots of visiting and eating, it was time to start the Bunco game.
Have you ever played Bunco?  Click here for directions.

4 people to each table.
I borrowed lots of card tables and covered each one in green felt for that 'casino' feel.

At each table we placed a white take out box that had the table's number and snacks.

(When playing Bunco, the goal is to roll the most 'points' to work up to the number 1 table.)
(Another goal is to have fun, visit and eat snacks!)

Table snacks included heart and spade shaped pretzels and these fun casino chocolates.
(Snacks were were purchased at Cost Plus.)

When someone rolls a 'Bunco'
 (all dice are the same and correspond with the number being played),
that person gets to wear the 'Bunco' hat.
Everyone WANTS a turn to wear the Bunco hat!

And when the game is done, we always have a
WINNER!!
Big Rolls for the Highest Roller
(Cinnabon gift certificate!  Get it?  Cinnamon ROLLS!)

and we also have a...
LOSER!
Don't worry, the loser gets a 'Boo' by prize.
Our party was in October, so we added a stuffed ghost to the bag of candy.
(Boo!  Get it?  'Boo'by prize?!  Never mind, guess you had to be there?)


 After a great game of Bunco,
King Mike and Queen Jen
opened a few presents.


Our friend, Mike has had an eye patch since age 4,
so when
I displayed the king card for Mike,
I had to add an appropriate eye patch.
 (Can you see it in the picture?)
And before anyone could leave, they had to have a piece of the yummy chocolate dice cake!
(Cake made by the 'super talented' Heidi.)

What a night!  Happy 40th Mike and Jen!



Don't forget to link up your Springtime Holiday Creations!






Linking up to: GingerSnapCrafts, UncommonlyYours,
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Thursday

I've been asked a few times to share my son's Army Party...
It took awhile to locate the pictures, and edit the fuzziness (it only helped a little),
but here you have...
An Army Party!

Side Note:  My son's fascination with having an Army Party
started with those little green soldier guys from Toy Story. 
Unbelievably, my 'amazing' mother-in-law had saved every
green army guy (plus vehicles) from AH's (Awesome Husband) childhood!
She brought them over and my kid thought he was in heaven! 


Right about this time is when my son also started begging to wear camouflage clothing,
drawing huge military battle scenes, picking up sticks and pretending they were guns...
What is a mother to do? 
Have an Army Party, of course!

Army Party Agenda
Gear is in place.


AH (Awesome Husband) played the role of Commander Dad.
He led the boys through some Army Drill Training.
Marching---Left, left, left, right, left...
Jumping jacks, push ups, sit ups...


 and lots of practice on the army crawl.

Good work, soldiers!
 We played a quick game of  'Pin the Badge on the soldier'. 


 Up next, Flight Assembly.

Using foam glider kits, the boys assembled and decorated their army jets.


Lots of test flights followed.


Only the brave and daring took part in the parachuting.
We brought in a ladder to help with take off.

I always love watching the creativity of the kids.
They took their parachute guy and rigged him up to their gliders for drop off.
(You know, stuff a mom can't even begin to imagine doing!)

And of course, the most anticipated activity of the afternoon!

Strategic Army Set-up and Battle.
The kids divided themselves into groups and set up their soldiers and tanks.
Then the battle started.
(This is where I'm really lost...
One by one they say what their soldier can do and how many guys he can take out.
The battle seems to go on forever!)

Time to eat!

I cut out camouflage shapes out of green felt for the place mats
and arranged a few of the tanks down the center of the table.

I found the tank cake idea online somewhere and made it in under an hour!

Another side note:  The entire family had come down with the stomach flu 2 days before this party...
My son looked around at our bare house the day before the guests were to arrive and asked if he really was going to have a party.  "Of course," I said.  "It will all get done." 
(I have never thrown a party together so quickly!  I made the cake 2 hours before the party started.)


Whew!  We did it!
Happy Birthday, Kid!


Don't forget to link up your Sprintime projects!








Linking up to: UncommonlyYours, GingerSnapCrafts,
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Wednesday

 
Another party to share with you.

It's a SNOW PARTY!

Here's the agenda.


Free play is first! 
Lots of balloons waiting to be played with, while the guests arrive.


Next up, Craft Time!


I ordered the beaded snowflake craft kits and the
snowflake headbands from Oriental Trading. 



Waded up paper snowballs were hidden around the house for the treasure hunt.
Each snowball was a different clue for the girls to find.
The final clue led them to the front porch where a 'cool' snack treasure was waiting for them.


Next game:  Dress the Snowkid!


Two teams were formed with a basket of snow clothes.
One girl from each team was the 'snowkid'.  I put a mask on the 'snowkid' so they couldn't see.
Each team tried to dress their 'snowkid' as fast as they could.
Of course, every girl wanted to have a turn being the 'snowkid'!


Next game:  Pin the Carrot on the Snowman.
I made a simple snowman on the wall out of paper.
Cut out some paper carrots and wrote the girl's names on them.


It always surprises me how much fun the kids have
playing this classic "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" game.


Snowball Fight!!
I divided the room into half with a piece of masking tape on the floor
and placed a blue bin on each side.
I divided the girls into two teams and gave them a stack of white paper.
Their job:  Don't cross the line while they crumple each sheet of paper into a snowball
and try to throw it into the other team's bin. 
(This is always a fun game as some try to be defenders of their own team's bin,
while others just crumple as fast as they can.)


Somewhere, somehow I have lost the snowman cake and dinner pictures...
I'll keep looking for them...

Here the girls are eating their 'treasure hunt' snack.


And sticking with the 'cold' theme...ice cream sandwiches for dessert.
I always love looking back at these parties...
This 'Snow Themed' party would be fun to have in the summer, too!

Did you miss any of the past parties I've been blogging?

 

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