Welcome to Jack's Lego Birthday Party

When Jack asked for a Lego birthday party I envisioned a nice room at a Lego store somewhere...with the employees taking care of everything.  A little googling revealed the only Lego party place is 30 minutes away and apparently, unless you are a Disney, Nickelodeon or some other licensed character...party decorations are not so readily available.  YIKES!  This is my long way of telling you we got roped into a homemade birthday party this year.  And like most things...I got just a little carried away.  I mean once you figure out how to make Lego bumps in Photoshop the world is your oyster!

Welcome to Jack's Lego Birthday Party.  Come on in and build some fun!

Invitations
Jack invited his entire preschool class and a few neighbors.  As he loves Lego minifigures (he sleeps with them...just saying!)  They featured a prominent role on the invitation.  Gary did an excellent job, didn't he!?!

RSVPs
Around Wednesday the week of the party a full-fledged panic settled in as only three children RSVP'd yes.  By Thursday we had nine.  The way of the world. 

On Wednesday, we contemplated cancelling.  I gave Jack the choice of the party or going to actual LEGOLAND in Florida instead.  He said, "I still want the party.  Maybe it will be better with less kids, Mom.  Could be really fun!"  I love my boy! 

The Decorations
We learned a few things in the process of creating our own decorations:
1.  It is actually cheaper to just buy the dang party in the box.  hmph.
2.  Michael's is an amazing store.  Who knew the world of crafts could be so alluring!  I mean did you know they sell over a gazillion devices just to cut a hole out of a piece of paper?
3.  Glue has come along way since my messy crafty youth...just saying...no wonder Jack's craft projects look like Picasso's work compared to mine from the same age.  Kids have it so easy today ;)

Lego boxes greeted guests--on front stoop.  One child thought they were Jack's gifts and wanted muchly to open them for Jack!

Happy Birthday Jack--banner made with felt, Lego font at 500pt, and handy dandy yellow highlighter!

Welcome sign and little touch of Jack's Lego creations.

Another banner in the kitchen.  Lego men!  The kids enjoyed picking out their favorite ones.  Jack chose the NINJA, HAZ MAT guy, and VIKING (who he is convinced is a knight.)

Blew up some Lego pictures and made into posters

Isn't this LEGO street sign cute!  Will find a permanent home in Jack's room, I am sure!

A "little" help from the little ones...

The table...let's take a closer look at that center piece...

How many Lego's did it take Gary to build this?  More importantly, how long did it take him.  Isn't it cool!

This was my little surprise.  After all were asleep I made this!  I glued Lego's onto a wooden frame and the picture was made with the iPad Lego photo app.  Told you I got my crafty on!

The Cast of Characters

Jack...the Birthday Boy!

Carter...the sweet one.  He even wore a LEGO shirt to Jack's LEGO party!

Landon...the CHEATER!  Ha...his own mom heckled him during the games as he kept finding "creative" ways to win!  He is so adorable and really sweet!

Truman...the silly one! 

Ezra...who ate three pieces of my homemade Lego pizza; a Lego man sandwich; entire bunch of grapes and the largest piece of cake I have ever seen a five-year old eat.  I love this kid!

Thomas...who panted every time he ate the pepperoni pizza declaring it HOT!  Only to add "I like it spicy!" in a menacing voice.

Reese...the good sport!  The only girl from Jack's class to come.  Lego's skew a bit to the xy chromosome...apparently ;)

Lego Guy...the silent one...always lurking wherever we went...just don't trust a guy with                          drawn on eyebrows...

The Food
Just add round circles to anything and voila...

The drink station...we labeled the water bottles and dressed up the milk and juice boxes with Lego wraps made from construction paper!

Close up of the cute water label!

The spread...fruit kabobs and grapes, these ridiculous cute Lego crackers made with three crackers piled high with cream cheese as filling and round cheddar circles on top; Lego pizza with mini pepperonis (not shown), cheddar popcorn for color, and mini men sandwiches.

Here's the LEGO men sandwiches.  Made from a cookie cutter we had sun butter/jelly on wheat and pimento cheese on raisin bread.  Just like Bronwyn's not a single pimento cheese remained!  I made cupcake toppers (pdf from Simone on etsy) into sandwich toppers for a little punch!

For fun...LEGO candy in a homemade Lego box (never made a box out of construction paper before).  The candy tastes like a sweet tart and literally stacks.  It was a BIG HIT...with the kids stacking at the table and each mom asking me where to buy it!

Can you stand it?  LEGO Men pops?  I made the pops and Gary decorated them.  Do you see our family there?  Dad, Mom and pirate Jack...(umm..where's Bronwyn, Dad?)

A few more...can you find Harry Potter.  Carter loved him and took him home!  All the kids picked their favorite.  Jack ate Daddy...good grief!

And the cake.  BEAUTIFUL!  The only thing DEFINITELY not homemade...thank you Tasty Pasty...it was as delicious as it was stunning!  The children were hysterical as they were all VERY particular over what color LEGO slice they got!

Bronwyn said YUMMY!!!

The Party Games

Kids started with some free play in the family room.

Then they moved on to build models.

 And here is video of the LEGO games that were hysterical...to say the least!

 

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Party Favors

The Party Favor bags turned out super cute.  Just bags from Michael's, then taped 1.5 inch circles cut from card stock and taped on for a 3-D LEGO BUMP look.  Thank you hang tags tied on each.

In the bag, we included a customized colouring book for Lego printables.  The cover said Jack's 5th Birthday Party!  Thanks for Building a Lot of Fun With Me!  We made Lego-shaped crayons and packaged with a Crayon tag (just to make sure!), a ring made by gluing a pink Lego block with some decorative pegs onto an adjustable ring (for the girls), and a Lego favor pack to build either a truck or plane!  Fun ,right?!?

The Birthday Boy
He really got it this year.  The whole hub-bub about your birthday.  He didn't just enjoy...he anticipated his enjoyment and relished in it the whole day.  Weeks in advance he began asking questions--some a bit telling--like, "Can one get a time out on his birthday?"  "Can I do anything I want on my birthday." 

He grew a few opinions in the process too...requesting (or some may call it demanding) a welcome display and sign by the front door, and that everyone had to wear red, blue, green or yellow to the party.  He want the latter on the invite...check for yourself--he doesn't *always* get his way.  Good grief.

My favorite moment was last night...Gary and I were busy transforming the house into LEGOLAND. I was a bit bleary eyed and hyped up on caffeine (think Herman Cain's infamous Campaign Manager's smoking ad)--and I hear screaming from his bedroom at exactly 2AM.  I raced upstairs prepared to comfort my son from a nightmare...as I entered the room a nearly five-year old boy was sitting up in bed with the eyes of a boy on Christmas morning screaming, "Is it morning yet?  Is it?  Is it time for my birthday party."  Looks like his sixth year on earth will be no different then the five previous ones, "Go to sleep, Jack!"

He was a perfect gentleman at his party...though the moment the door closed behind the last guest he had his first gift ripped open quicker than green grass through a goose.  He went to bed tonight professing it as the best party EVER...then mumbling something about doing it all over again on his ACTUAL birthday.  Good grief.