When I asked Henry what kind of birthday he wanted this year, he promptly replied "a war guys party." Of course you do. The boys affectionately call their army men "war guys" so an army man party it was.
We kept it small and just invited four other families. Of course when you run in Catholic circles such as ours four families equals seventeen kids so the party wasn't what you'd call cozy, or manageable, or calm......
I was pretty excited that I found these gummy army men for the cake but Henry almost cried when he saw them. Maybe my take on his sprinkle cake wasn't sprinkly enough for him? Or maybe he just hates gummy army men?
It's the children's gratitude that makes these parties so worthwhile.
Well, there's still the internet. You appreciate my efforts, right?
I wasn't sure what to do exactly for a war guys party but I found an idea for a capture the flag type game on a woman's blog who is clearly much better at throwing amazing vintage war parties than I am. I scaled it way down and made two teams--the good guys and the bad guys. The bad guys had captured twenty-five army men and were holding them hostage in their fort. It was the good guys job to rescue them and the bad guys job to stop them at all costs. Each team was provided with marshmallows dipped in flour to use as weapons and then the chaos began.
If you were wounded in battle you had to report to the medic who promptly bandaged you up and sent you back out into the fray.
The whole thing devolved pretty quickly into a giant marshmallow fight but I think the kids had fun anyway. And also ate a few really questionable marshmallows.
The only other thing Henry specifically requested was a giant homemade blue pinata, you know, no big deal.
It was filled with lolly pops and army men....which was also a disappointment to the birthday boy. Apparently my candy to toy ratio was way off. In my defense this was a nut free birthday so my candy options were more limited than usual.
He got over it.
All in all it was a pretty successful and very tiring party. And also I can't believe this little man is already five.
