originally published by emphelan
Birthday parties on the homestead never have to be boring events. With three friendly boys, we are always getting invitations to the town kids parties. The host usually has those ginormous blow up slides or moonwalks, or they have parties in restaurants or stores that cater to such events. I say bah humbug to all that. If you have the money and it is what your child really wants, than it’s all good. But the town kids seem to get a real kick out of a little party on the prairie.
The first step in planing a party is asking your child. I know this seems like common sense, but you would be surprised at how many parents don’t actually do this. Your child will give you a slew of odd sounding themes. Take one and run.
We have decorated the house to look like we were under the sea, in a snow storm, and tracking dinosaurs. Some paper, scissors, crayons and tape can go a long way. Using things you already have on hand to entertain, isn’t just frugal, it is brilliant. For my middle son’s last birthday we had a cowboy theme, horse rides, bb gun shoot out, campfire food and chicken races. The races were a huge hit. I gave each child a hen, some where freaked out at first, but soon got over that, and lined them up. Then I would stand about 10 feet from them and yelled go. The first kid with the hen to go past me would win. This was the best free entertainment that I or any of the other adults have ever witnessed. The kids and their birds were running all over the yard, just trying to get to me.
One year my oldest wanted a Fear Factor style party. ( I would love to show you photos, but as I am no longer a paid member of Flickr, I can’t retrieve them) I had all the boys gagging or throwing up. And yes, that did make me rather proud. Here is what I wrote about that on a personal journal.
“I set a plate in front of them, placing their hands in the “food”. I told them that it was worms in dirt. As soon as I yelled go! The boys started shoveling the worms in their mouths. A moment later one of the boys had to go throw up. 2 boys gave up and the 4th had so much in his mouth the he couldn’t chew. We told the 4th that he won because he was the only one not to spit it out. He was relived when I told him that he could spit it out now. {The worms in dirt was really Ramen noodles, chopped walnuts and maple syrup}”
“Next we tied their hands behind their backs. I brought out the chicken poop. Using only their faces, they had to dig through the poop and find the worm. One child said no, he wasn’t going to do it. My son had a hard time at it. But one child {the one that threw up first} dug in and found that worm. {he wanted to win}. There was a lot of gagging and almost vomits with that one, and all it was, was cottage cheese, capers and a gummy worm. We kept their hands tied as I brought out the goats brains. One boy informed us that it was scrambled eggs. I said it looks like that, doesn’t it? On your marks, get set, go! The boy that said it was scrambled eggs, took one bite, and threw up. The boy that threw up in the first game, threw up again. Another boy gagged, and my son took little bites. He won that round. {It was scrambled eggs, peanut butter and maple syrup} The last of the food games was warm buffalo urine. {Apple Juice}”
The frog theme is one that we seem to do most often. My middle son adores frogs. We hunt them, we hop like them, we eat flies (candy)
It’s the cakes that tend to give us the most trouble. Luckily I can bake and my husband isn’t a bad drawer.
A Child’s party on a homestead (weather urban or rural) can be frugal but full of fun. Remember;
1 ask the child
2 negotiate with said child if they want something slightly unreasonable
3 check the pantry for ways to gross out the children or just to entertain them
4 use what you have on hand to decorate and create (we have had the party guests help us create and decorate in the past)
5 enjoy your kid and his/her friends
There have been some themes in the past that I had to modify to fit the above. Costume parties, haunted houses, and pizza parties were the results.
And just because your a grown up doesn’t mean you can’t throw yourself one of these theme parties. You should see what we do for my husband’s day.
Your description of your children’s parties sound similar to my memories of my childhood birthdays. I loved themes and games that could let me run with an idea and just imagine. Lots more fun I think than a more “fancy” party that has to be to a certain external standard. (Not that I am saying parties that differ are necessarily that way, but just trying to reference those that are, in their way). Your frog cake is most impressive. I was laughing aloud at the description of the party, worms, the children’s interpretation of the food, it sounds like a great time was had by all. I don’t have children, but your post certainly touched a chord with me all the same.
I take it you didn’t have to clean up the puke? Eeee, I wouldn’t have liked that at all. I can take pee and poop, but vomit is just something I cannot stomach.
Frog Cake is cute.
I love your ideas! They are very reminiscent of my childhood. My mother would bend over backwards creatively to create the perfect and most fun party she could. One year I wanted a summer party because my birthday is in Dec and I was always envious of my friends who had water themed birthdays. I loved my parties and for the life of me I cant remember ever having as much fun at my friends ‘go to the mall’ parties or go to a movie and restaurant birthdays. I actually just threw a theme party for my husband who just turned 26, it was a 6 year old themed party and we played pin the tail on the donkey, we had a bowling tournament on the Wii and I gave out party favors and decorated with streamers. Everyone had a blast, including my husband!
I’ve been meaning to comment on this post forever… Will you be shipping a frog cake my way in August?
Ahhh my mom made a frog cake JUST like that one when I was a kid in the 70s! I still have a pic, I should scan and show you, the similarity is almost eerie!