Makena's 6th Birthday Party

I can't believe I'm blogging about Makena's 6th birthday party. It seems like I was rocking her in my arms last week. My kids are growing up way too fast for my taste and I'm not sure what to do about it. And they want to grow up.....that's the bad thing. And I remember that feeling. But I would be happy to have them stay little forever.

Anyway, Makena turned 6 on January 19th. And we had her party the weekend before. She had been talking about having a "Minute to Win it" party for about a year. (Minute to Win it is a game show that occasionally comes on NBC that Makena really likes.) I wasn't sure how to organize a big group of kids so we enlisted the help of Mary Mollitt of Mary Time Programs. We had been to Mary Time Music at the Childrens Museum and to one of her parties last summer where I picked up her card. She came up with some really fun games for the kids. And most importantly, Makena was thrilled with the party. It was just what she wanted.

Here is the awesome cake that Mrs. Lindsay made. It was chocolate, of course.

We ended up having the party at noon for a couple of reasons. And since it was right at lunch time we started the party with pizza, breadsticks and fruit. Once everyone had a full belly it was time to play games. The kids did some games all together and then they broke into smaller groups to do the other games in stations. Makena liked it because it was "just like going to centers in school." The next couple of pictures are from one of the first games they did. There were jelly beans and M&M's in baby food jars and the kids got to guess the amount inside. It was fun watching them guess.

I definitely don't have as many pictures as I would like. Between helping Mary get ready, helping with games and greeting folks as they arrived I know I missed some photo opportunities. We also had a little girl who got sick during the party who we were trying to help. She had been dropped off so we had to call her mom while we tried to comfort her. Bless her heart she ended up having a ruptured ear drum. We felt terrible for her!

The next game involved filling buckets with water using a sponge. Before going to the bucket the kids had to put their head on the bat and spin around a few times (I can't remember the exact # of times!). The kids all thought it was funny.

I think this is Carly...

Here is the birthday girl...

This was one of Makena's favorite games. They had tied doughnuts onto strings and had them hanging from a pole. The kids had 2 minutes (we thought one more minute was needed) to eat the doughnut off of the string with their hands behind their back. When the time was up they got to finish their doughnut if they hadn't already. Makena and Megan had glaze on their ears and in their hair. But they loved it! I think I may have heard the most giggles during this game.

The next game was called the "chocolate unicorn." The kids had one minute to balance 3 Hostess snack cakes on their head. It was pretty tricky but the kids had fun trying.

Makena got it on the second attempt!

The next game is called "junk in the trunk." This is one of the games they do on the show. Makena and Megan really liked it. We had to do it again when we came home from the party. You fill an empty Kleenex box with ping-pong balls and tie the box around your waist. Then you have a minute to shake them out. It involves a lot of jumping and dancing around so you'll understand why the next pictures are blurry. :)

With this game, Mary stood up 5 pieces of chalk kind of like bowling pins. Then the kids shot a marble through a pool noodle to try to knock the chalk over. It sounds hard but most of the kids were able to do it pretty easily. This was another game we had to play again when we got home from the party.

There were some games I didn't get pictures of. There was one where the kids had to use tweezers to put skittles into jars. And one where they used a pizza box to fan an Easter egg out to a line and back again. They also got to pop bubble wrap and bounce balls into buckets.

After having fun playing all of the games it was time for cake!

It was a bit chaotic at times just because we had so many kids there. But it was exactly what Makena wanted. We got to keep most of the stuff from the games and I'm sure the kids will have us playing them for years to come. I still can't believe Makena is 6!