Party Planning

This entire week has been spent working towards my son's upcoming Dragons and Knights birthday party. In my "spare" time.

The invites are out - impressive enough to make some parents "ooh and aah" over them, but real easy to produce! :) Most of the party food and stuff is bought as of yesterday afternoon. Last night I spent an hour turning sour-lemon ball-type sweets into "dragon eyeballs" with white, red and black food paint. Today the major house-clean-up starts (it appears all 21 little Knights may have to party indoors, as there's a gigantic cold front on the way just in time for the party). I also have to print out dragon labels to close little brown bags that will contain sweets and cheap toys as prizes for the dragon/knight-related games, and take-home goodies.

So what's on the menu? Dragon eyeballs (see above), dragon scales and spit (Doritos with avo dip), dragon breath (candyfloss) and dragon poop (granola mixed with melted choc and made into little mounds, interspersed with choc-coated-biscuit balls). And a castle cake. It's going to be mid-afternoon so I'm not over-catering, something I tend to do every year.

We'll be playing: jousting (aim your sword at a ballon, run full speed at it and try pop it), dragon-knock (catties and ping-pong balls used to try knock over a dragon cut-out), fire-breathing (I've got a few chilies handy - the kid to finish the most without dying gets a prize), put-out-the-dragon (squirt water from a syringe toward the "mouth" of a dragon where a candle is burning and see who can put it out at the furthest distance). May have a few sword-fights too, but wouldn't want to send the young men home in tears... :)

I've set a time-limit of an hour for the party, though those who live nearby will probably hang around for a while after, or arrive way too early.

I'm looking forward to it! But am really going to need that day off on Monday. There's nothing like 21 11-year-olds to wear one out.