19 Days Later

About two weeks ago, I got frustrated by the video I tried to put together to document Adam's birthday party.  I convinced myself I'd try again someday, then I'd post it on the blog.

I did not try again someday.

So here is the birthday blog, sans really awesome video.  Grrr...

FAMILY PARTY complete with KINECTIMALS cake and cupcakes:

I wasn't quite sure what I'd use for the whiskers, but then Kirk suggested poured sugar, like they do on those fancy cake shows.  I looked up directions online and thought, "Hey, it's worth a shot."  I burned the sugar slightly, so they ended up spaghetti colored, but the edible whiskers were a huge hit.

The family party was fun, but Adam couldn't wait for his MINUTE TO WIN IT friend party.

High from my whiskered success, I thought I'd carry forward my new technique and make "Minute to Win It" design shaped candies for the top of the cupcakes.

Dying the boiled sugar blue was fun.  Making the molds from PlayDoh was okay.  Sadly, the finished result was not quite as precise as I'd hoped, and we had to rinse the rings before putting them on the cupcakes because they tasted like PlayDoh.  Oh well.  Five year olds will eat anything.

We enjoyed our 3 1/2 hours with six little boys who did a great job of being competitive without being mean. We held six challenges, during which each winner got to choose a prize, and then - as long as one kid passed the challenge - all participants got to choose a prize.  The format worked well, and we didn't have tears from anyone older than three.  (It was a little difficult for Alex to keep up with big brother and his big friends.)

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is my botched attempt at video awesomeness.  The plan was to make a 1 minute video with 1.5 second clips of each kid attempting each challenge.  I was then going to set it all to the music of the 60 second countdown on Minute to Win It.  Youtube didn't cooperate, and the best I could do was these three separate clips with no cool music.  Please do watch them, though.  It took forever.








As for the whole home-party thing, it was a huge hit, and I'm sure we'll do it again some year.