Party Time

Although our family celebrated Jackson turning 8 on his actual birthday, his party, with friends, was this weekend. He was very selective and only wanted to invite four of his closest friends from school. He took invitations to school on Monday, and by Friday night I had not gotten a single R.S.V.P.  Jackson was worried that no one was able to come or his friends forgot to show the invitation to their parents. Only one guest ended up attending, but It was his very best friend, John. They started laughing and having fun the second he got here. I don't think Jackson even cared that no one else was able to come. Actually a  bit excited that the two boys had a chance to earn double the prizes from the games. (Ashleigh was happy that she could play too and get a goody bag.)

They played the 'fruit loop' game first. Where they race to eat fruit loops off a string, without using their hands.

 Next was the 'cotton ball' game, which is a family favorite of party games. The object is to move as many cotton balls as possible from one bowl to another, using a spoon, while blindfolded. It's much harder than it sounds and usually there's only a few cotton balls that end up in the second bowl. The best part comes from the other people watching. All the spectators Ohh and Awe about how many cotton balls they have actually moved and make it sound as if theres a huge amount collected. When the player takes off the blindfold there are usually only a few cotton balls in the bowl.

Jackson won 1st with the fruit loop game and John got 2nd. Ashleigh got 1st with the cotton ball game, so they all got to pick prizes. We had them wrapped so they got to pick one. They were all wooden animals (snake, lizard, crocodile, and scorpion) that came with paint and a brush. (One of Jackson's favorite craft store projects).

Next was food & gifts. The request for the party was pizza & cupcakes...and the chocolate fountain. We had marshmallows, pretzels and strawberries to dip in the fountain (which is always a hit). The cupcakes were vanilla with vanilla frosting and with a wide variety of sprinkles on hand, Jackson wanted each person to be able to decorate their own.

Jackson was excited to get a Nerf gun from John. It was identical to one Jerrick & Sierra had given him for Christmas. Now he can have Nerf wars and it be a fair battle. After eating, I put on the tattoos they got in their goody bags. Then they painted the wooden animals and played games on the trampoline until it was time to leave.