Ok, seriously, this was my FAVORITE birthday party I’ve ever done. I don’t take any credit (well, maybe a smidge) for it because I got all of the ideas off of Pinterest. What on earth did we do before Pinterest?I just can’t believe my sweet, adorable, batsh@t crazy Sophie Monster is three. That little kid is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me & it blows my mind that I’ve already had three years of my life being blessed with her in it. Everyone seems to have had just as good a time as I did at the party, even the anal retentive munchkins like Sam eventually got up the nerve to get dirty, even if it was in her own pretty pink way…Of course the star of this party is the activities. We had silly string out the wazoo, a rainbow spaghetti station, shaving cream slide, princess mud tea party, DIY slime table & an area to decorate the messy shirts I had for each of the kids.Even the cake was the epitome of chaos.
That Oby from Bim’s cakes never disappoints! I swear I could ask her to make a skyscraper cake with King Kong on top that was neon green with glittered balloons & she would figure out a way to make it just as lovely as it is delicious. This cake was blue velvet on the inside with a layer of something sinfully good in the middle. I’m not sure if it was cream cheese or buttercream but let’s just say every adult was more than happy to finish their kid’s plate in addition to their own. It’s kind of funny that Sophie’s party was the day before the first day of school as I’m sure every kid that attended had turquoise poop the next day. Since they all go to the same little preschool I’m sure some teacher was scratching their head! Heeheeheee! *For you new or soon to be mom’s FYI, blue or green frosting makes bright green poop a day later, don’t scramble to call the pediatrician like most of us have done, just remember this post & think back to what they ate. You’re welcome.*
Here are a few quick tips in case you decide you’d like to throw a messy party for your awesomely crazy kid!
- Don’t have it at your house unless you are indeed insane. Book a pavillion at a local park or have it on the lawn area at your local pool or rec center like we did. You might be surprised about getting permission, when I called the manager of the pool his only reaction was, “Don’t kill the grass & I don’t care what you do.” AWESOME. In my opinion it is a must to have a location that has running water. We had a sprinkler kids could run through as well as a dedicated ‘hose down’ area. The invitation to the party also recommended parents bring a change of clothes.
- Silly String…oh what to say about silly string. I bought this case of it (Case of Silly String) & honestly it was THE hit of the party. The kids (and a few adults, you know who you are) went BUH-NANANS sneak attacking everyone & just covering eachother with the stuff. The clean up in the grass, not so fun, in fact it was pretty much impossible but the concrete area wasn’t too bad. We let it dry and then P hosed it into a giant ball. In the future I would suggest having a dedicated silly string area that perhaps consisted of a giant tarp. The rule would be go crazy, have fun, just keep it on the tarp. We did have some issues with silly string attacks while kid’s were eating pizza. That wasn’t so awesome.
- As for the princess mud tea party I thought, quite naively, that it would be simple. Dirt, tea set, glitter. Done. Nope. Apparently you can’t just go buy a bag of dirt. Potting soils have fertilizers in them & backfilling dirt only comes by the truckload according to my local home store. We settled on three bags of play sand and with a good amount of water we eventually got nice, packing mud. What really makes this activity special however is to get yourself a pack of condiment bottles & cut the tips off so you have a nice big hole & fill them with glitter. (I bought this giant bottle & it was perfect) The kids had a ball decorating their mud creations & the sparkle gave it a little something special. I also bought two of these tea sets & after the party took them home for our sand box)
- The DIY slime deserves a video of it’s own, this stuff was awesome but I really think a video tutorial would be best…look for that later this week! (we made a borax free version by the way)
- I was a little on the fence about making the kid’s messy party shirt coverups but they turned out to be a fabulous idea. The kids had a blast decorating them & they made for much easier kid clean-up not to mention it was a neat souvenir for the party. I bought boys undershirts in various sizes & the night before the party used puffy paint to write “So & So (hearts) Messy” You know what I mean… I also stamped polka dots around the area to add a little design, I’m pretty sure I used the lid of a stool softener bottle as the stamper. Aren’t you so happy I told you that? For the decorating station I set up a large vinyl tablecloth & 6 of these spray bottles all around it. Each one had about 10% washable tempura paint & 90% water in them. I doubt the colors will stay through washings, which is a shame because some of those kids made some darn cute tie dye looking shirts, but I wasn’t about to let a bunch of pre-schoolers run wild with fabric paint. BAD IDEA.
- Finally the shaving cream slide, oh what awesome pics this made! I brought our backyard slide from home (we’ve had this folding slide & it’s lasted years, love that thing) & I bought a cheapie baby pool for the base. If I had to do it again however I would have used an inflatable baby pool, I’m a little worried the hard plastic might have bruised some bums. Although you wouldn’t have known it by the kids, each one went down a good 20 times. I used the cheapest foam shaving cream I could find & I believe we went through 15 bottles. I had a babysitter that I paid to help at the party work the slide, we put about 4″ of water in the bottom & then before each kid slid down she covered the slide with cream. Honestly, if my butt wasn’t wider than that slide I would have absolutely tried this, it was hard to hold back.
That about covers it! It’s hard to tell at 3 whether or not this will be something Soph remembers down the line but I have a feeling she gets that this super crazy day was made special just for her. We all love that kid so much & I’m glad she got an over the top celebration to show it!
Kristi
Oh my! That looks like it would be so much fun for the kids, but I kind of cringe when I see the pictures 🙂 How fun.
Laura
You totally get the Coolest-Mom-I-Know* award! This party looks like it was so much fun. Happy Birthday, Sophie!
*by “know,” I mean I’ve been following your blog for atleast the last 3 years, and I think I started following sometime durring your pregnancy with Sophie, so I feel like I know you! Non-creeper over here.. 😉
Natasha
Hahaha, isn’t it crazy how much time has passed?! I’m so happy you’ve been around and a virtual ‘friend’ the past 3 years, even if we haven’t ever met in person it still feels pretty cool! (:
Leigh Anne
How fun! I bet the kids said it was the best party ever!! Love the shaving cream pics 🙂
stephanie
i kinda wish i was there (in a non creepy way) because everything sounds like it was so much fun.
and i just burst out laughing at “if my butt wasn’t wider than that thing…”
Happy Birthday Sophie!
Erika
Happy 3rd Birthday, Sophie! This looks amazing and such a great idea for a birthday theme! I need to remember this when I’m planning my son’s next birthday party- although 2 might be too young to get systematically messy so ill for sure wait til he turns 3! Thanks so sharing. All the girls looked like they had a blast! Oh, and thanks for the poop tip- who you have thunk it 🙂
Tyler
best.party.ever!! ill have to remember this for my daughter!!! happy birthday!
Andrea
I was just wondering if there was any issue with the shaving cream getting in their eyes?
Natasha
Surprisingly no! We did keep a hose on hand though for rinsing faces if necessary…
Amber
Um. ..This is brilliant! Now if only I didn’t have two winter babies.
Meghann
This is AWESOME! I am using this as my inspiration for my daughters 3rd birthday party! I am wondering how exactly you set everything up? Did you have the stations labeled? Were the children allowedto wander freely from station to station or did you start with the t-shirts and then direct them elsewhere? How long did you allow the free play??? I cannot wait to do this!! Great ideas!!
Natasha
I actually had each stationed labeled with a sign & a stake in the ground, the kids could roam freely & I hired two of our babysitters to each man two stations & help out the kids as needed. It worked out great! Most of the stations require little to no adult supervision so it really was fine, parents who also stuck around helped out with their kids as needed. I totally recommend it, my favorite party by far!!
Meghann
Thanks! Last question…do u have the recipe for the slime you made???