celebrating samuel's 8th year with friends

This was Samuel's first friend party.  We have always had so much family around, that the family party has always been so big and he has never asked for one.  And let's be honest, a big group of boys the day after Halloween... I was waiting until Samuel asked for a party.  And this year he did.  

We started off the party with giant bubbles.  I thought of it when Samuel wanted a "Mega Party" where everything was going to be huge.  But then he changed his mind and wanted a Beyblade party.  The bubble idea stayed, though.  As each friend showed up, we gave them a giant bubble wand.  And we did bubbles until everyone showed up.  If you haven't seen these, they are super easy to make and totally worth it.  I kinda used these instructions and cut the length of the cord and sticks in half since they were for kids.

And the bubble solution was:

2 quarts water

1/3 c. dawn dish soap

3 T. glycerin

The results were amazing.  But maybe not for everyone.  Birthday boy spent most of the time doing cartwheels, using the sticks as drumsticks, and asking when we got to play with Beyblades.  

 The giant bubbles were awesome...

 And we didn't want to stop...

But we did...

I set up three Beyblade stations, the Octagon, the dome, and the ice arena.  Karl made the octagon and I stuck the bowl of water in the freezer after seeing the idea online.  

 Next was pizza and a veggies.  Karl set them up to look like Beyblades.  

 Then cake and icecream...

and let me tell you how icecream cups are the way to go when it comes to getting icecream to a ton of people all at once.

A few of the people that love Samuel...

...and a few more. 

I had the fixed lens on the camera and it was impossible to fit everyone in one shot.  And did you know 8ish year old boys move around a lot?  That makes impossible to get photos of them all.

And even though it's blurry, I still can't resist posting one of this guy...

 You wouldn't believe how much thought I put into these goodie bags.  I know that the last thing these kids needed was more candy and plastic stuff that was going to break.  So, we sent them home with their bubble wands, some bubble solution, a punch balloon, and a pack of sugarfree gum.  

The important thing was that Samuel felt sufficiently celebrated.  

And did he ever.