Hunter requested a "Ninjago" party. That's Lego for ninja. He wanted to invite his entire class but we limited it to 10 kids because we also had our four kids and three other friend's kids coming, not to mention 11 adults. Twenty eight people is enough.
He also requested a scavenger hunt "like we did for the Scooby
party." So after I spent hours leading up to the party devising the
hunt with rhyming clues and hidden homemade weapons (thanks Dad!) I thought I
was pretty well-prepared. That was until 15 minutes before the guests had
arrived I still had a major component missing to the hunt and was frantically
trying to finish, along with much help from my in-laws, and friends, Sara and
Keem. We were trying to make four balloons (wrapped in crepe paper) to
resemble the ninjago ninjas...Kai (red), Jay (blue), Cole (black), and Zane
(white). What a nightmare! I finally finished one and it was
wrapped with so much crepe paper that it sunk to the ground despite being
filled with helium. I needed them to float! They were marking key
locations to where games were to be held. John came up with the idea to
float another balloon higher and tape it with a string to the top of the ninja
balloon to pull it up higher. It worked! First one done so I ran
out and hung it in the yard. Bing bong. First guests arrive.
Sent them to the backyard where much jumping in the bounce house ensued.
Meanwhile, Laura & Dean are wrapping more balloons. Bing bong.
More guests. And more guests. And more, well, you get the
idea. And as I was bringing yet another
kid to the backyard I hear someone say, "uh oh. Mrs. Collins, that
balloon string just broke and it floated away." I looked over and of
course, it was the ninja balloon that I had just spent half an hour
making. Gone with the wind. It was tied to the climbing cube in the
backyard and a neighborhood kid named Alex knocked it with his foot, the string
broke and away it went. I just about cried but I tried my best to hold it
together to finish this scavenger because that is what my birthday boy
wanted! About 20 minutes into the party the ninja balloons were all done
and hanging and we started the hunt.
Phew!
I asked Hunter to divide the kids into two teams. Big mistake.
Too much arguing about who was on which team so I took over and numbered them
off fair and square. I read the intro to the scavenger which was a short
story about how evil Lord Garmadon had taken the ninja weapons and they had to
perform a series of tests to find them. Hunter
read, "To receive the first clue a ninja must try to defeat the evil
balloon placed underneath Kai." The kids ran off to the red ninja
balloon where they played their first game. This involved kids spinning
around, putting on ninja headbands, spinning again and striking their best
ninja pose. They were going to have to pop a balloon instead of striking
the pose but I had forgotten to have a bunch of balloons blown up at the site
so I changed the game last second. This game
would've gone better had all the kids been good at tying their own headbands on
and had I not split them into teams. I heard a lot of yelling from kids
telling Hunter he wasn't going fast enough and Hunter yelling at me to tell
them it wasn't a race. Mental note...seven year olds do not do well with
competition! We eventually all donned our headbands and moved on. The next clue read, "To find the next clue a ninja must play a star-throwing game that is right next to Jay. The kids ran to the blue ninja balloon where they each received a large paper origami ninja star that they had to throw through a hoop. This was meant to be done in two teams but I learned my lesson and had them all just try it once so as to not invoke anymore arguing and yelling. This was a BIG HIT! They loved the stars and kept asking if they could keep them and take them home. Their eyes lit up with I told them of course they could.
I randomly picked someone to read the next clue, "The next clue will be
given once you prove you can train. The
test you will take is located by Zane."
Off we all went to the white ninja balloon whereby the kids were put
into two teams (agh!) and they tried to pass a fortune cookie placed on a
spatula to the next kid waiting a few feet away without dropping it. This actually worked pretty well and arguing
was kept to a minimum. Almost done! "A ninja you've succeeded to meet your
goal. The weapons you'll find once
you've located Cole." Finally, we
all ran to the black ninja balloon where John had hidden his homemade ninja
weapons underneath the big bush in the front yard. The kids looked around to find the weapons and
once they were located had a blast acting like ninjas with them.
I kept the food very easy this year.
My mother-in-law made a jell-o using the colors of the party (red,
black, white and blue) as well as a large fruit platter. We ordered Rosati's pizza. I made some rice crispy sushi rolls and chocolate
dipped fortune cookies. Hunter wrapped
water bottles with Ninja labels. And we
all threw together a spinach, pecan, dried cranberry, pear salad with a blue
cheese vinaigrette (obviously for the adults...and any adventurous kids) at the
last minute (thanks Laura and Keem!).
Hunter opened his presents and we ended the party with cake! Watching Hunter while we all sang to him was
my most favorite part of the day. He
looked so happy and I could tell he felt very special. Just after we served cake it started raining
so all the kids panicked and ran inside.
I sent them down to the basement while the adults scrambled to get
everything (presents, cameras, valuables) inside. Just as soon as we had it all cleaned up, the
rain stopped so I sent everyone back outside.
At least the yard was mostly cleaned up!
But the basement (where the kids were sent) was another story...I didn't
find that mess until much later!
Shortly after the rain showers the parents arrived and Hunter passed out the
goody bags (Chinese takeout boxes filled with tootsie pops wrapped like ninjas,
fortune cookies and another smaller origami ninja star.) All in all it was a three hour party and a
success. Afterwards I asked Hunter to
tell me what his favorite part was and he said, "the presents!" And then he offered his least favorite part...the
scavenger hunt (the part that took me the longest to make and caused me the
most stress). Another lesson learned...Let's bowl!
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