Messy Birthday Party

Here are some glimpses of Matthew's Messy Birthday Party...and a super short summary. I'm too busy lately to spend much time on blog posts. So. Here's quick the run-down:

We invited his entire class at school and church, so we were swarmed with 25 guests. I've never had this many kids at a party, but it worked out well since we have plenty of space for them to spread out and play. Only half of the children participated in the games because so many children just wanted to pet goats in the pasture, play with chickens, or climb trees. I was content to let the kids play wherever their hearts desired, since most of them don't live on farms. I think it's so nourishing to the soul to play with animals or climb trees, and the kids had a great time.

Instead of birthday cake, we have cupcakes and let the kids decorate the frosting however they wished, encouraging messy artistry with a variety of sprinkles and toppings.  We also served Worms'N Dirt cups, which I think I could eat all day if given the chance. I have a serious weak spot for Oreos!  Nathan cooked spiral-sliced hot dogs for lunch, which look pretty crazy and are super fun to eat.

We had several games and stations for kids to experience.

Our giant pan of Ooblek Slime was a huge hit. Just mix cornstarch, water, and food coloring (and I'm seriously too lazy today to look up the actual recipe right now....) until it makes a slimy mess. It's so fun to play with since the ooblek is both a solid and a liquid. I think we used 3 or 4 boxes of cornstarch, and the kids just loved playing all afternoon at this station.

The most popular activity was shaving cream on the trampoline. The kids were laughing the whole time. They had so much fun getting messy, and they were surprisingly silly with this activity. Everyone had a good time, and this activity is definitely a keeper for future parties. The kids entertained themselves for ages, which let me off the hostessing hook a bit! 

We also had silly relay races with cooked (and heavily-oiled) spaghetti noodles. I had two giant pans of noodles at the starting line, and teams had to pass the slimy noodles from person to person to reach the finish line. A large pot waited at the finish line to see which team collected the most noodles at the end. It was an absolute mess, and the chickens were very happy to help 'clean up' any stray noodles on the ground. 

I also had a three-person slip'n slide set up on the lawn. When guests were too sticky or messy, they'd take a dive down the slip'n slide ride to clean off a bit before heading back to the messy fun. 

Canvases were lined up outside for kids to create messy abstract art. Children dipped cooked noodles into paint and threw the colored noodles onto the canvas to create designs. 

We also staged a flour fight. We filled large socks with flour and tied a knot on the end. Children would run around swinging theses socks and blast opponents with clouds of white flour. We also armed kids with spray bottles filled with water-based paint to spray on each other. (Don't worry, the guests all wore old clothing to the party and the parents knew we'd be getting paint on everything!)

The toddlers really loved the spray bottles as well. They were so cute, spraying the plants, the balloons, and the sidewalks. 

Nathan pushed kids really high on the tire swing while some guests tried to hit the riders with flour socks. It was a great way to end the party as guests slowly disappeared to head home with goody bags.