Monster Party!

This year for Jacob's birthday we decided to have a MONSTER party!

I had so much fun planning for the party, and I love how it turned out. First, I made the invitations:

Then I made some really cool envelopes to put them in. I made them out of felt and googly eyes and they were so easy and fun!

We even had monster bags for his friends to take home from the party, and monster mouths to use in our "photo booth".

We had a very busy day on Saturday! First thing in the morning we went to the nursery to get my plants for Mother's Day. Then we came home and got ready to go to the soccer game. I ended up going late to Jacob's soccer game so I could finish frosting the cupcakes! Then we came home and got the back porch set up for the party. Joe even moved the grill into the shed so I could set up my "stick the eye on the monster" game. As you can see, I had two little monsters to help me!

They also helped me test out the monster smiles.

We were ready in time for the party to start, which was a good thing because some of the guests were actually a bit early! That never happens, right?

I have finally gotten the knack for kid's parties. You just hang loose and play the games whenever the kids are ready for something new to do. One of the first games we played was "I have a little monster and he won't bite you".

This one kept them entertained for a while. Then they went and played in the sandbox. After a while they were ready for another game, so we played Monster stomp! The object was to keep your balloon safe while trying to pop all the other balloons. It was a pretty fun game.

And of course we played "stick the eye on the monster". We ended up with a pretty funny looking monster by the end!

We also had some fun Monster races. Grandma Heiner bought us two sets of these cool monster feet, which are like stilts. So each kid got to use then to race each other. Jacob was pretty good at it!

I tried to tell the kids that it was easier to use the feet with shoes on, but they had all taken their shoes off to play in the sand. Oh well! It was still fun!

After all the fun and games, it was time for presents!

Jacob got some really fun gifts from his friends, including Legos, action figures, bubble blowers, and a lawn rocket. So fun! After the presents I actually got the kids to sit down for some fun monster photos!

Micah, Alyssa, Kyle, Shaelynn, Jacob, Stephen (Ephraim and Nathan are off the R edge)

I even got some fun pictures of Jacob's friends with their monster smiles on. They were all willing as long as I let them see the picture after I took it! Here are my favorites:

Kyle (above) and his sister Shaelynn (below)

Stephen (above) and Alyssa (below)

Jacob invited four boys and two girls to his party, but his friend Katelynn could not come. So Kyle's sister ended up staying so Alyssa wouldn't be "boy-trapped". Since Shaelynn is Ephraim's friend, it worked out pretty well.

Next we had yummy monster cupcakes!

I love the way they turned out, with the cool sucker-and-gummy-ring eyes. The kids loved them too!

Jacob had a great birthday party! I can't believe that my little boy is six already! Wow!

After the party we went to the ward BBQ. The food was great and it was a lot of fun.Then we went home and had baths and put the kids to bed. By the time we were done with everything, my mom and I ended up going to Walmart at 10 pm to get some supplies she needed! Phew! What a fun and busy day!