Jumpin' with Jammy: How to throw a trampoline birthday party

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Last year I went all out for 3Po's and Jammy's 8th birthday parties.  Each of them had themed parties at home, and I sweated over every detail, from the decor to the games to the cake to the food -- and since they held separate birthday parties for the first time ever, I did it all twice.  This year, for their 9th birthday, 3Po and Jammy once again asked for separate parties, but this year I decided to give myself a break and outsource their parties to a local party place, so all I'd have to do was bring the birthday cake.

Of course, it didn't actually work out out that way.  Jammy decided on a party at a trampoline park, and I couldn't help it -- I had to do everything I could to fit a theme.


Invitations
I didn't bother with paper invites; Evite is so much more convenient for me and for Jammy's guests, plus it saves paper!  But I did customize the invite to include a photo collage of Jammy jumping, on trampolines, on a harness, into the water.  I used the header "Jumpin' Jellybeans, Jammy is 9!", because what would a themed party be without a catchy title, right?




Party Favors
Jammy's initial choice for his party was a science party at a nearby tech museum, so I had already planned to fill test tubes with jellybeans as party favors.  But it didn't work out, and once he decided on the trampoline party, it was too late to cancel my huge plastic test tube order from Amazon.  I didn't want to waste them, so I filled the test tubes with jellybeans anyway, and told Jammy they were Jumping Beans.  Phew, thanks to a bit of creative rebranding, the theme stayed intact!  I also decided to hand out packs of AirHead candies to reinforce the trampoline/jumping theme.



Birthday Cake
This year Jammy wanted a chocolate chip cookie cake like they sell at Mrs. Fields -- but since we were already splurging on the party, I decided to make my own.  It was so easy to make (the instructions are on my chocolate chip cookie cake post) it was just as yummy as the Mrs. Fields version, and it cost a fraction of the Mrs. Fields' version!  I also made a trampoline cake topper out of rice krispy treats (the frame) and fruit roll-ups (the bouncy surface and the covering for the frame).  I didn't have time to buy gummy bears to jump on the trampoline, so I used one of the boys' Lego minifigures instead.  The minifig is a gold-medal gymnast, one of a limited minifig series sold by Lego especially for the London 2012 Olympic games.



Activities
This, of course, was the easiest part!  The trampoline park  took care of everything, so I didn't have to do a thing.  Okay, I actually did prepare a couple of activities in case the kids got bored of jumping around.  I mean, who can jump around for two hours straight, right?  Actually, 3Po and Jammy and all their friends can, that's who!  My origami folding projects and drinking straw/Q-tip blowgun game (which is pretty cool, actually) never even made it out of my basket.  Boredom was the last thing I had to worry about:

The trampoline park -- it's called Rockin' Jump -- had a huge trampoline area, divided into sections so that kids could bounce side by side without affecting each other's bouncing.  The trampoline sections around the edges have sides that slope upwards so kids can literally bounce off the walls.



Another set of trampolines in a separate area was set up as a dodgeball court. The dodgeball court had two Rockin Jump staff members supervising dodgeball games. There was another party going on at the same time as ours, and it was open jump time, so any kid could join in, but there were many times when it was just Jammy and his guests playing dodgeball.  They had so much fun, I lost count of how many dodgeball games they played.



Another area had three trampolines with a huge foam pit at one end.  Kids would line up at the other end, with each trampoline forming a lane, and would take turns running or bouncing down the "runway" and hurtling themselves off the edge and into the foam pit.  They could jump in, do twists in the air, do somersaults or whatever they wanted.




The foam pit was really deep, so no one got hurt.  The child in the pit had to climb out before the next one in line could start -- but Jammy told me it was really tempting to keep everyone waiting while he wallowed in all that foam (maybe a part of him still remembers those ball pits from his preschool days).



Yet another trampoline area had two basketball hoops at one end. The hoops weren't quite regulation height so even little boys could take advantage of the trampoline surface and make a few slam dunks!


Speaking of slam dunks, that's the perfect phrase to describe how Jammy's party went.  All the kids enjoyed themselves, and I'm sure their parents loved the fact that they were all worn out at the end.  I felt like jumping for joy at the sight of Jammy's happy face -- but I think we've done enough jumping for the weekend.

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Hangin' with 3Po: How to throw a Rock Climbing Birthday Party

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What's harder than climbing a mountain?  How about planning two boys' birthday parties in a single weekend?  Jammy had his 9th birthday party on Friday, and 3Po had his on Sunday, but it wasn't as tiring as it sounds, because I outsourced the location and activities to a trampoline park (for Jammy) and a rock climbing gym (for 3Po).  Just like the twins themselves, the two parties had striking similarities --  the celebrants, most of the guests (and therefore the presents), the birthday cake -- but each one was different, and special in their own way.  Here's how we celebrated 3Po's birthday:



Invitations
I found a photo of 3Po at the top of a free-climb wall, taken last summer at a playground in Wales, and used it to create a custom invitation on Evite.  I decided against paper invitations, since Evite is so much more convenient (and cheaper!) than printing and mailing out paper invitations.



Party Favors
There are lots of good options for rock climbing-themed party favors:  bouncy "rocks", small bags of rocks or gemstones, rock candy, water bottles with carabiner clips, the list goes on.  3Po's goody bags were pretty simple:  a pack of Pop Rocks and a Rocky Road candy bar.




Birthday Cake
Like his brother, 3Po wanted a chocolate chip cookie cake.  To decorate the cake, I made a rock climbing wall out of rice krispies, and stuck in M&M pieces and Wilton candy melts to make hand and foot holds.  Once again, our 2012 Olympic Lego minifigures made an appearance as gravity-defying rock climbers (with the help of a few strategically placed toothpicks!).




Activities
Our main party activity was Scrabble and Go Fish... NOT!  As soon as each kid arrived, the instructors suited them up with climbing harnesses, climbing shoes and safety instructions.  Everyone was literally climbing the walls in their eagerness to get started.  Alfie and I were taught how to belay the kids 30 minutes before the party so we could help out.  There were only 2 instructors and 18 kids, so 2 extra adult belayers meant the kids didn't have to wait too long for a grown-up to belay them while they climbed the walls.  While waiting for a grown-up, the kids were allowed to free-climb the walls up to a certain height (marked clearly with a red line), and they were allowed to run around and play upstairs in the free climb room, so no one had to sit out any of the fun.




Once the kids had gotten the hang (get it, hang?!) of climbing, the instructors organized a couple of games.  While everyone else was in the party room having snacks and cake, they hid some pennies in the free climb room, and the kids had to climb around and search around for the pennies.  They also had a Lava Wall game, where the kids were challenged to climb across the whole room without falling onto the red mattresses below (the "lava").  Finally, the kids went back to the main climbing wall and lined up for a turn on the rope swing.  A huge rope was suspended from the ceiling and the instructors swung each kid, one by one, and had them let go and flop onto a huge mattress.




A rock climbing party does have its challenges, because it requires specific physical skills, and every child is different. Some kids had already done rock climbing before; for others, it was their first time.  Some kids are natural born monkeys, and will clamber around without hesitation, while others are more timid, or uncomfortable with heights, or not as physical.  Alfie and I were gently encouraging; we were able to get several of the first-timers get out of their comfort zone and successfully reach the top of the wall, and it was wonderful to see them light up with that sense of achievement.  Some never made it to the top, and one or two didn't even want to try, so we didn't pressure them.  That's where the challenging part comes in:  boys will be boys, and I did have to remind some of the monkey-boys that it was okay if some of their friends didn't want to climb.



Fortunately, 3Po and his friends are good kids at heart, and there was a lot of ground-level fun (games of tag, mattress jumping and so on), so the non-climbers didn't feel left out.  I also prepared a couple of party games so everyone could have a bit of fun, whether they scaled the walls or not.  I filled a small jar with pebbles and asked each boy to guess how many pebbles were in the jar.  The winner (his guess was short by just 1 pebble!) won a rock candy lollipop.  We also had a marshmallow building challenge, which turned out to be a huge hit.




The boys formed teams of two, and were given a paper plate and 20 mini marshmallows.  I let them use as many toothpicks as they needed to build a structure (I called it a "mountain" to stay consistent with the rock climbing theme!).  I gave them a 5-minute time limit, and the tallest structure that could stay standing was the winner.  It was a great exercise in structural engineering, as the boys quickly realized that a tiny base with a tall antenna would quickly topple over!


Snacks
I had originally intended to go with the tried-and-true party staple, cheese pizza, but I realized I'd either have to get it delivered ($$) or leave the party midway to pick it up (too stressful), or figure out some way to keep it warm (too complicated).  I went for easy-peasy fruit kabobs (grapes and pineapples), sausages and cheese cubes on a stick, and popcorn.  I did feel the yearning to come up with some rock-climbing themed snacks, but after hosting two birthday parties in three days, the thought of preparing muffins that looked like pebbles or pizza boulders made me want to weep.  I decided to keep things simple, and consoled myself with my awesome rice krispy wall.



Besides, the kids didn't mind.  They gobbled up the food without caring that it had nothing to do with rocks.  The whole themed party business is usually a parent's hang-up (get it?  haha)  anyway.   3Po and his pals certainly didn't need rock-shaped muffins to have a rockin' time (I'm killing it with the rock climbing puns!)

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Valentine's Day Printables: You Rock!

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Valentine's Day is not a crafty holiday for me.  I have never been a fan of handcrafting dozens of valentines for my kids' classmates. It just seems like too much effort (times 3 kids!) for something that just gets thrown away.  My idea of crafty valentines is buying a $3 pack of Hershey's kisses, a pack of $3 drugstore valentine cards, and taping the kisses to the envelopes.

But the adorable images of artsy, craftsy Valentines on Pinterest have been calling to me -- and since I had about a dozen leftover Rocky Road miniature bars from 3Po's birthday party (he had a rock climbing birthday party -- get it, Rocky Road?), I decided to give them away as valentines rather than gobble it all myself.




I created a printable tag that you can cut out, fold in half, and staple to a clear cellophane bag.



One side says "Happy Valentine's Day! You Rock!", and the flip side has a "To/From" tag so kids can write their name and the name of the child they're giving it to.


I added arrows to camouflage the staples; if you position your stapler carefully over the arrow, the staple should be hidden on both sides.




You can give out Pop Rocks instead of Rocky Road bars, but the Pop Rocks need a bigger bag, and a wider tag.  I've made sheets of these tags in two sizes -- the small one can be used for cellophane bags approximately 2.75 inches (7 cm) wide, and the large one can be used for cellophane bags that are about 4 inches (10 cm) wide.  I also made You Rock tags in case you want to hand out rock candy lollipops; just punch a hole in the tags and tie the tags to the lollipop with a red ribbon.



All the printables are below.  These valentines are really easy to assemble.  They don't require any gluing, drawing or anything crafty -- but they're still Pinterest-worthy!


Foldover tags for small cellophane bags:

Foldover tags for medium cellophane bags
All-purpose gift tags

You can download all sizes in a single PDF file below:
Valentine Printables: You Rock by

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Valentine's Day Printables: Yoda One For Me

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In a recent Silicon Valley Mamas article, my friend Robyn writes of a recent DIY Valentine backlash.  I'll admit, I've noticed it too -- which makes it even weirder that I'm going in completely the opposite direction.  Since The Pea was in kindergarten, I've been content to buy cheapo $3-for-24 Valentine cards from Target or Walgreens, but this year I just couldn't resist trying a few of the DIY ideas I've seen on Pinterest.  Yesterday I made some You Rock Valentines with some leftover candy from 3Po's party, and today I made some Yoda Valentines.


3Po loves Yoda, and he chose this one on Pinterest.  It's really more of an assemble-it-yourself rather than a do-it-yourself kind of Valentine:  Just print and cut out the cards, cut two slits above and below Yoda's hands, slip in a Pixy Stix rod (you can also use a glow stick or a pencil if you don't want to give out candy), and tape the back to secure.  It's almost as easy as buying the valentines at the drugstore!

Here is an image file that you can download and print:


You can get up to 8 of these cards on an 8.5"x11" sheet of paper or cardstock (sturdier paper is better).  Below is a PDF document that you can download from my Scribd account:

Valentine Printables: Yoda One for Me by

May the Force be with you!

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Lunchtime love

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Cream cheese sandwich, cherry tomatoes, strawberries

Last week just flew by!  What with coordinating Valentine's Day parties, crafting Valentines, supervising the arduous process of thank-you-note writing for the boys' birthday presents, helping The Pea choose her electives for next year, signing the kids up for summer camp, getting two root canals and catching a cold, I totally forgot to put up my weekly lunch post.   I really enjoyed putting together the kids' Valentine's Day lunches -- I did the whole cutesy red hearts theme -- and I just had to show the photo off today.  Not that any of my other lunches are packed with any less love!




 Cheese quesadilla, green salad with ranch dressing, blueberries

 Almond butter on whole wheat, dried mangoes, strawberries

 Veggie corn dog, dried apple chips, mozarella and prosciutto roll, rice krispy treat


Bruschetta with olives and tomato sauce, strawberries

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Cherry Berry Treat From Kraft

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What You Need


16

medium strawberries

4

squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Make It

WASH strawberries and dry thoroughly. (Do not remove stems.)

PLACE chocolate in top of double boiler or in bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Heat until chocolate is almost melted, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

DIP bottom half of each strawberry into chocolate. Place on wax paper-covered tray. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm. Store in refrigerator.

Kraft Kitchens Tips


Make Ahead

Strawberries can be dipped up to 6 hours before serving.

Creamy Resteraunt Style Tortellini From Kraft

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What You Need


2

pkg. (9 oz. each) refrigerated cheese tortellini

1

cup milk

4

oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed

6

Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided

1/4

tsp. black pepper

1

pkg. (6 oz.) baby spinach leaves

1

cup quartered cherry tomatoes

Make It

COOK pasta as directed on package, omitting salt.

MEANWHILE, cook milk and cream cheese in large skillet on medium heat 5 min. or until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) Parmesan and pepper. Add spinach; mix well.

DRAIN pasta. Add to spinach mixture; mix lightly. Top with tomatoes and remaining Parmesan.

Kraft Kitchens Tips


Serving Suggestion

Serve this delicious dish with a crisp, mixed green salad for a simple, yet sophisticated, meal.

Special Extra

For a change of pace, add 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper and the zest of 1 lemon to sauce with the Parmesan and black pepper.

Special Extra

Prepare using PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread.