Wilbur's 10th Birthday pARTy: The Fun!

After the cake...

and treats...

and activities...

Wilbur opened his presents.

He received a huge assortment of art supplies,

including watercolors,

a sketch kit, clay, paints and brushes,

and a book on how to draw birds.

His birding buddies gave him a Webkinz and a plush toy owl.

He found some money in a card, too,

which he used to buy more Webkinz

and a pottery wheel (grumble, grumble, grrr).

However, the best part of all...

was the good time he had...

with his sweet (and sometimes funny) friends!

Happy early birthday, Wilbur!

I hope you enjoyed your pARTy!

Wilbur's 10th Birthday pARTy: The Activities

I set up three activity stations for the pARTy.

At the first station,

the kids "painted" a jello still life.

I found the instructions and printables

 at Little Birdie Secrets.

I printed a copy of an example still life

and wrote instructions for the activity below the picture.

On the table,

I placed the printouts, instructions, markers, 

bowls of glue with paintbrushes,

and bowls of jello powder in assorted flavors.

The kids colored the bowl section of the printout with the markers

then painted the glue onto each piece of fruit,

adding the jello powder like glitter.

At the second station, I placed

a printout of a Seurat piece along with

dot markers and newsprint

for making Pointillism pieces.

The kids were very creative

and used the points of color

to make boats, trees, animals,

and an assortment of other great work.

 

At the third station,

I set up Wilbur's new art easel...

which he had opened the night before...

along with two canvases and plenty of tempera paint.

Wilbur had painted the backgrounds,

a sky scene and an ocean scene,

the night before.

His friends added birds and fish,

giving him two priceless pieces of art!

Wilbur's friends gave their best effort...

and the results...

were stunning!

Wilbur's 10th Birthday pARTy: The Treats

I made two treats for the pARTy.

First, I divided two containers of

white frosting into seven serving containers.

I tinted each a different color

using Wilton's icing colorant.

Next, I cut the contents of one package of

chocolate Twizzlers in half.

Then I cut each piece in half,

stopping about 1/3 of the way up the length.

I finished each "paint brush"

by cutting each half in half.

Then I dipped each brush in a single color of frosting

and arranged them on a serving tray.

For his cake,

I mixed two batches of cake mix

and baked each in a 9 x 11" pan.

After the individual cakes cooled,

I trimmed the sides to make straight edges

and flipped the two cakes onto the serving tray

side-by-side.

I cut the curves into the cake with a serated knife

and used a biscuit cutter to make the "thumb hole".

I frosted with white frosting and

used a large spoon to swirl

the colored frosting in

one dollop at a time.

The Party Table

A Happy Birthday Boy!

Wilbur's 10th Birthday pARTy: Invitations

Wilbur will turn ten in November, but it never works out for us to have a party that month.  The weather is too unpredictable to go outdoors, and we have no room in our house for a party.  We don't even have a good place for guests to park.

... unless they like to live on the wild side and park on a street where cars travel at 50 + miles per hour.  Nothing like a rousing game of Extreme Frogger to get a party started right.

Plus November is smack-dab in the middle of the holiday season and a variety of sports seasons.  Finding a Saturday that the majority of his friends could attend a party is nearly impossible.  We've tried having a weekday party, but then Michael has to take off from work, and because he teaches at the same school as Michael, my dad can't take the same day off to be there.  So we decided to forego decorum and hold the party three months early.

I think even Emily Post would agree it was a necessary move.

In July, Wilbur and I worked together to make these party invitations.

I cut the palette shape from white card stock.  I did not use a pattern but instead folded each sheet in half horizontally and cut so that the bottom half was rounded and the top had a dip in the center.  Then I folded the right 1/3 and cut a small semi-circle.  When the fold was opened, a complete, circular hole was in the "thumb spot".  This created two invitations in one cut.

We also cut ovals from card stock of varied colors and attached them to the palettes with rubber cement.  After writing "You're invited to a pARTy!" on the front center of each invitation, Wilbur attached a paper paint brush he had cut from construction paper.

I printed the party date, location, and other specifics on regular white copy paper, cut to fit, and attached one to the back of each invitation with rubber cement.  To make it a true "pARTy", I suggested that invitees brings art supplies as their gifts, stating also that any gift would be appreciated. 

The invitations had that not-quite-perfect, hand-made quality, but the response I received was all positive.  The moms thought they were darling (their words, not mine), and the kids were excited and anxious to find out what would happen at a pARTy!

Come back soon for more about Wilbur's pARTy!
Dawn