Birthday Party

Matthew is turning 9.  His birthday is actually the 24th, but as the following weekend is Thanksgiving he got lucky and "turned" 9 a few days early.

The boys only get a party every other year.  Originally I had planned to do laser tag or something in which it is not at the house and someone else is in charge of the activities.  Finances this year prevented that from happening.  We discussed different party ideas and he decided on a Science party.  Oh boy!


Austin pre-party:

So, I went in search of inexpensive science projects we could do at the house.  There ended up being 14 children between 7 and 10 years of age (including my two).  Overall I think it was a success.  I know that Matthew had a good time, and as it was his birthday party I guess that is what matters.

I bought quite a few decor items during the Halloween clearances everywhere.  We created a "lab" in the garage using white plastic table cloths for the walls.  There was a microscope, some "potions", lab rats, two-headed snake, and other misc decorative items.

Our first experiment was the balloon and the candle.  I blew up a balloon and lit a candle.  Asked the kids what they thought would happen if I put the balloon over the candle.  The responses were interesting; shrivel up, pop, grow larger - the balloon popped.  Then I put some water in a balloon and blew it up and asked the same question with similar responses.  This time the balloon did not pop.

Next, we discovered a different way to blow up a balloon.  Using a water bottle, vinegar, and baking soda the balloon was placed on top and "blew up".

Then we played with soap.  I did not know this prior to the party, but Ivory soap is the only soap that will float.  They pump air into when making it so that it will not get lost in the bottom of the tub.  Then put it in the microwave and it gets really puffy, and really large.

We also made snow.  Living in Georgia we do not get much of that here.  This is the same kind they use at the southern ski areas.  It was fun to play with and all the kids got a bag to take home (sorry parents).

Then we made slime.  I should probably add that right before the party I realized that I had lost my instruction sheets.  This was about 5 minutes before the first arrival, so we "winged" it.  Considering this, the slime still came out pretty good.  The kids also got to take home a bag of this (again, sorry parents).

Of course, no Science party is complete without the Mentos and Coke geyser.  We had two bottles so twice as much fun.  Well, I should probably correct that as well.  Kids this age, especially bolstered by the excitement of several other children, are...crazy bold.  I was VERY clear in the instructions to sit back as I knew that parents would not really want to take home kids soaked with Diet Coke.  As soon as the first one went off, MY son followed by several others immediately ran under the stream.  Then they all fought over the bottle to see if it would shoot into their mouth.

After wrangling recovering the bottle and creating order again, we did the second bottle.  I must have been distracted as I made a major error. I forgot to put the pin in holding the mentos until I was ready.  As I was the one holding the bottle, it immediately began to gush on me.  The kids of course thought it was hilarious; this however did not stop them from rushing me to get this bottle to again see if they could get it to shoot into their mouth.

I dried off somewhat and we went inside for cake and ice cream.  We also had green punch with eyeballs in it, and eyeball cups to drink out of.  A few kids even ate the eyeballs; they reported that they did not taste like chicken.

This is Brandy, she lives across the street.  I have no idea what she was doing here.

Then Matthew opened his presents.  Lots of Science stuff.  He loved it.   I was cringing inside as I know that every day for the next month I will be peppered with different experiments.  I love my son, but I honestly do not really like the experiments.  At least not the ones that involve more than 2 or 3 steps.  Matthew however was in Science heaven.

Our tradition is that the birthday boy gets to pick where to eat and we go see a movie.  We ate pizza, no surprise there.  We did go see The Blind Side, a really good movie based on a true story (I love that kind).  Then, we came home and crashed.  It really was a wonderful day and we were blessed to have such wonderful friends.