The 8th Birthday Party that Rocked the Hill

Several of you have either a) flat out asked me to tell you more about my stepdaughter's natural disaster-themed birthday party or b) have appeared so perplexed by the concept that I thought I would share with you all the gloriously chaotic details of the 8th Birthday Party that Rocked the Hill.

Ok...so the blog title I provided probably TOTALLY oversells the party that was, but it seemed a fitting and fun way to get your attention.

For the record, it was discussed several times over the past weekend by the adults of the party as to whether or not WE had theme parties as kids. I cannot remember my 8th birthday party, much less if it had an actual theme tied to it. I think that as long as I got my beloved Carvel ice cream cake, I was pretty happy with whatever else transpired. So, when did kids' birthday parties start to take on such a high level of experiential expectation?

Anyway...I digress. As I have mentioned in the past, my stepdaughter is not your average Beiber-loving, Barbie-playing, run-of-the-mill kid. Yes...she does love Beiber and she does have a Barbie, but she has got some unique ideas that she pulls out of who-knows-where. God love her...I wish I had half the imagination she has (which gets me thinking...did I once have that imagination...and it got lost in the world of grown-up-hood? Hmph.)

So...when asked what she wanted the theme of her party to be...naturally...NATURALLY...she says "Natural Disasters". Of course. And, to give credit where credit is due...her mom and grandma came up with all the amazingly disastrous ideas. Here they are:

• Volcano cake (YUM and pretty cool...center filled with dry ice and marshmallow cream for smoke and bubble effects)
• "Mudslide" aka chocolate fountain (which was a COMPLETE MESS)
• Tsunami relay, which consisted of a large bucket of water with miniature policeman and firefighters floating around. Teams had to run to the bucket and use a makeshift fishing rod to fish the little peeps out.
• Earthquake board. This was a slab of wood placed on top of a 2x4 (it was probably more complicated than that, but that is as far as my non-engineering brain can comprehend) that the kids had to balance on. The idea was for them to work together to get the board balanced. Fun stuff.
• "River crossing". This was actually an adult team-building activity. The kids were supposed to use makeshift rafts to get all of them across the river without falling in or losing a raft. DISASTROUS. I still can't figure out what the appropriate strategy is. I guess my team would be SOL or "up the creek" if they had me to depend on here!
• Hurricane kits. In lieu of gifts (something else I never imagined as an 8 year-old), the kids donated towels, soap, toothbrushes, nail clippers, combs and band-aids and as a final activity put together hurricane kits for charity. Pretty dern cool.

When all was said and done....the adults were exhausted and the kids had a blast. The well-planned out games mostly fell flat and the kids managed to create their own fun games instead. Moral of the story...give the kids the tools to create their own natural disasters and they will have the time of their life. Sit back, relax and watch the hurricane unfold. Perhaps sip on your own vodka-fied mudslide beverage while you watch. Oh and don't eat from the kids' "mudslide"...I can only imagine the recycled double-dipping, finger-licking germs that developed in that mess.

Thanks be to God...we survived.