A Bug Party

I am so-o-o behind for posts. . .a big while back, my son had a birthday. And for the first time ever, we had a "friends" birthday party for him. I've resisted it for this long, but now that he is in school and is surrounded by all of his friends, it was about time!

E didn't want to have any cake. His excuse was "no one wants to eat cake or cupcakes at parties anyway. They just want the party food." I guess that is a birthday in the eyes of this particular kid. My daughter would live off of cake and cupcakes!!! So we compromised and had party food AND decorated cookies in place of the cake. The kiddos loved it! (And it took up a good bunch of time--and not so much prep for me!)

The "craft" I had planned was taken from these sites (Site 1 & Site 2). I used them as ideas and made my own patterns and ideas for these pencil toppers.

I think they are pretty cute. No one made the caterpillar or butterfly. (The one with wings is a dragonfly)

We took a walk in a nearby creek to look for bugs (and run around and skip rocks and look for hiding spots and have races and on and on and on!), played hiding games with plastic critters, and just played. (That is really all the boys want to do anyway!) Another great idea I found was a beehive pinata. (My hint or change for this idea would be to use a white paper bag or lunch sac as the pouch holding the candy and treats. . .and to make a few of them! Good decorations and good fun!)

Other ideas I thought of was making thumbprint pictures of bugs or origami bugs that hopped on their own. I was vetoed. My hubby said boys just want to play. That is all they want to do. So, the party came. The party went. Guess what? My hubby was right. Even the eating wasn't the biggest hit. All they wanted to do was play! (I guess that is when I have to kick the teacher-side of me out, and just let them play! Hee-hee!)

Here are the treats we made for the family party.(I don't claim to be a cake or cookie decorator by any means, as you can well see!) Our little barbecue party got rained out, so we went to a local restaurant instead. Again. . .this turned out to be his "cake." None of the kids were disappointed!

And here is my birthday boy--relaxing after making some cookies with me--before his birthday. (Can you believe that all the photos of him on his b-day didn't turn out! Oh well. . .there is always next year!)