Because we have watched the Ghostbusters at least twice a week for the past few weeks, I thought it would be a fun theme for Allison’s birthday party. Invitations were designed and handed out. I scoured the internet for fun game ideas and tried to decide how to decorate a cake.
We were able to buy some ghost Halloween decorations at clearance prices and decided to have a scavenger hunt. I told them about how they were Ghostbusters themselves and were on the hunt for the ghosts. Guess how many of the kindergartners had even heard of Ghostbusters. Yep. Just Allison. It didn’t seem to matter to those guys though. Finding the ghosts still sounded like fun. When someone found one, they brought it back for a prize. Everyone ended up with their very own Ghostbuster t-shirt (thank you plain white t-shirts and printable iron on transfers).
These came in handy for the next activity. Making slime. It seemed like a fun idea. I had plastic containers so they could take it home, t-shirts so their clothes would be protected, and lots of kids eager to see how cornstarch and a little water would turn into slime. Everything was going fine until the food coloring made an appearance. I’m sure parents were not only thrilled that their children would be bringing home slime, but they would also have stained hands for the next few days.
There were more games planned, but making slime turned into a big enough project on its own. Instead we finished off the party with presents and cake. Allison is the best present receiver I know. She oohs and ahs over each gift. When she gets to one she really likes she exclaims, “I have always wanted this!!! ever since I first saw it!”!
I wonder how many parents had to (had to? Got to is more like it!) watch Ghostbusters after Alli’s party.
How many of you love Calvin and Hobbes? There are certain things my kids do that will remind me of specific strips. I’m sure all parents who have read it feel this way. That Bill Waterson really knew what he was doing.
As I was uploading pictures from my camera to the computer, I realized that at some point over the weekend, Alli had borrowed my camera.
When Nathan and Zoey were younger, Greg and I would see something they did and call them Calvin to each other. With Allison, it’s like living with our own Calvin.
Usually I am slow when it comes to Halloween costumes. I wait just a little too long before asking what the kids want to be and then spend the night before Halloween (sometimes the minutes before it’s time to leave for whatever festivities there are planned) putting the finishing touches onto whatever costume has been chosen.
This year was a little different. Allison knew as soon as she saw the blue wig at Walmart just how she wanted to dress. Yellow rain jacket, swampers, green tights, striped shirt, pink skirt. If possible, a dragon fly barrette, button key and a seeing stone please.
After much searching, the yellow raincoat was found at Land’s End. A striped shirt was purchased from The Children’s Place (later we found two pink striped shirts in her dresser). Green tights were ordered and I turned one of her old dresses into a skirt. The only thing missing was some yellow wellies. Do you know how hard it is to find yellow rain boots? Ok, it’s not that hard if you don’t mind spending big money, but there is no way I’m spending over $100 on rain boots for my 5 year old. Instead we went back to the picture online of Coraline that was one of the favorites.
Pink and orange striped shirt? Check. Not one, but 3 pink striped shirts were found in Alli’s wardrobe.
Pink skirt? Check. Turned an old summer dress into a skirt with a bit of sewing and elastic.
Green tights? Check. Ordered online.
Low top pink converses? Check. This is Alli we are talking about, she has several pairs of pink shoes.
Denim jacket? Check. We found one in her closet that was pretty darn close.
Blue hair? A bright blue wig was close enough and is what started the whole thing anyway. We even found a dragonfly barrette.
As for the additional accessories? Polymer clay is some pretty awesome stuff. I had no idea you could make almost anything with it. After a couple of tries, a button key necklace and a seeing stone were created and met with approval. You can get a small peek of them in this picture. This was her special pose. Goofball.
Just so we don’t leave the other two out, both Nathan and Zoey decided at the last minute they really did want to dress up. Zoey got quite a few comments on her ninja star to the neck gore.
Nathan was just plain spooky looking.
Maybe next year we’ll have a big Halloween party so that everyone can wear costumes.
