I am breaking a big blogger rule right now. My son’s birthday party happened over a year ago and I’m just now sharing it with you. I hope you don’t mind, but I was just cruising through my photo library and discovered them again. It was something that came together easily and didn’t break the bank!
At the beginning of last year I started asking my son what he wanted to do for his 8th birthday party. We only have a friends party on even years and family parties on odd years. He instantly said he wanted a science party. He’s always been into inventing and science-y things so this was perfect for him!
I asked each mother to text me a picture of their child before the party so each of their access passes had their photo on it. SO FUN! The lanyard part was just made of up of plastic card holder, retractable clips (you can find them at The Dollar Store or in the office supply section at the grocery store) and just blue ribbon.
Of course I used my chalkboard as party of the decor. Since it was a science party I wanted to incorporate the periodic table somehow. It happened that we could spell Liam’s name using to of the elements!
He wanted chocolate cupcakes with blue frosting instead of a cake. I was happy with that and had no problems whipping up a batch!
I picked up some green fruit punch in the juice isle and just added dry ice for a cool effect. We only added a little at a time because if you add too much, it can shatter glass. Luckily it didn’t!
As for our food spread I served Pigs In A Blanket, chips, grapes, strawberries, blueberries and various candies that color coordinated. It was fun to shop for!
Once everyone arrived we did color explosion experiments. Every “scientist” had their own aluminum tray filled with 5 clear cups (both can be purchased at The Dollar Store). We originally were going to do this outside, but it was too windy!
Beforehand I put a few drops of food coloring into the bottom of the cup. Then I covered it up with 3 TBSP of baking soda. Then I poured in white vinegar as the child stirred the cup. It bubbles up and surprised the kids. Then we “experiment” what would happen if you added more baking soda. They seemed to like the activity!
Then of course we played with dry ice! It wasn’t an experiment, but it sure was a blast! Of course none of the kids touched the ice, but played with the “smoke”. I think my husband had more fun with it than the kids!
We had more activity because who doesn’t love watching a homemade geyser!
The birthday boy had fun setting up the old Mentos in Diet Coke experiment. We recreated it twice because once just isn’t enough!
The kids came inside for lunch and created food molecules with toothpicks, fruit and marshmallows.
Liam made his birthday wish and shared his cupcakes with his friends. I was trying to hold back his little brother before he blew out his candles first.
I’m a big believer in party favors as a way to say thank you to your guests. I put together these little kits for each kid that included A water bottle (Formula) with a Kool-Aid singles attached. A note pad with a marker attached, rainbow sour strips (because it matched the party colors), 2 sponge capsules (H2O Experiment), Tic Tacs (Genius Pills), Magnifying glass purchased here, and Skittles (Protons, Neutrons and Electrons) in a little petri dish purchased here. Everything was placed in a plastic caddy I found at the $pot at Target.
Some of his friends still have their science caddies and play with them!
While we waited for parents to show up, we pulled out silly string and let the kids loose in the front yard.
After everyone left the birthday boy proclaimed it was the best birthday ever! I’ll admit that it turned out pretty fabulous without going over the top or spending all of my money!
