Happy Birthday Seth!

Seth is 8 years old today!  He had a fun birthday party last Saturday.  He wanted it to be a science themed party, but he wanted the details (including his gift) to be a surprise!  He said that he wanted a surprise, but not a girl toy.  It was a little bit frustrating trying to figure out what he wanted, but I am glad that he feels content with what he has and doesn't feel like he NEEDS something. 

 

The weather was beautiful for a November in Utah until the day before his party.  It snowed all day long and Saturday was a super cold day (high of 34 degrees!)  We were going to do a Mentos/Diet Cola bomb, but it was way too cold and snowy to venture outside for the party.  (We could have done it, but I didn't want to deal with all of the wet shoes in the house afterward!)

 

I haven't done a themed party in a long time.  I know that the kids really just don't understand the amount of work that goes into the decorations and events, but it was good for me to do at least one fun party for Seth before he gets too old for themes! 

For the lab coats: I bought white t-shirts and cut them down the front (size boys xl) no sew and simple! 

Name tags: I wrote "Dr. Seth" and on the bottom it said, "Now let us pause for a moment of science"

Lab glasses: sunglasses from the party department at Walmart.  I punched out the lenses, cut off the silly stickers on the sides and wrapped tape around the middle. 

I didn't get a picture of the decontamination station, but I cut two plastic table cloths into long strips and hung them on the ceiling next to the bathroom.

 

 

The first thing we did was make pizzas.  Each scientist got to put on his own toppings.

 

Then they helped me blow up some balloons with vinegar and baking soda.  We used the vinegar/baking soda trick again with food coloring on spoons to help determine groups for the rest of the party.

 

The green group went to the dry ice bubbles first.  My friend Shelley has a cool machine that makes fun bubbles.  This was definitely the hit of the party!  Thank you so much for helping out with the party Shelley! (A big thanks to your grandpa for making the machine!)

 

 

When the bubbles pop the mist that was trapped in the bubble is left and it is a lot of fun!

  

 

It was even "cool" enough for the big boys to play with it!

 

Jane had a blast running around to the different stations.  Her favorite was the dry ice bubbles!

 

We had a container with dry ice, water and soap.  It produced tiny bubbles that they could play with.  It was the same concept as the big bubble machine, but on smaller (and not as impressive) scale!

 

 

You can see the yellow and green decontamination station in the upper left side of this picture!

 

While waiting for their turn to play with the dry ice bubbles, the kids played with magnets, a reflection table,  and flashlights with water balls.  After they had their turns with the games, they ate lunch.  Daniel was hard at work in the kitchen getting the pizza ready. 

 

 

 



Seth requested brownies for his cake. 

 

 

Jane playing with the water balls in a test tube.

The kids played with balloons.  They got them to float in the air above the fan.  I put a hex bolt in some of the balloons.  If you spin the bolt around inside of the balloon, it will make a fun sound.  The boys loved making the noises (I planned this for the last thing to do before going home!) We sent the boys home with a kit to make snow at home and a set of rattling magnets. 

 

The experimenting didn't end when the party ended!  We played around with the water balls, we held lights to them, bounced them, smashed them, froze them! These are little balls that you can get in the floral department for floral arrangements.  They absorb water  and grow bigger.  They look a lot like bath beads.  I dumped them into one large container after the party, and the next day the colors had all blended together!  Instead of yellow, red, orange and green balls we had brown! 

Seth Paul and Mark playing with the tornado machine that was a birthday gift from Carson.  I decided to give Seth a plasma ball, he was surprised and loves it!

Having Daniel take over kitchen duties was a ton of help!  This isn't the best picture of him, but I wanted to show that he was there!  Daniel even wore the glasses! 

The party was a great success! 

 

Happy birthday Seth!  I'm glad that you had such a fun day! 

 

Now I need to figure out what to surprise him with for Christmas!