Ethans BIG 5

Happy Birthday to my Little Man! Ethan's 5th birthday came so soon, I keep questioning if 5 years has really flown this fast. We had a great day - Ethan woke up to a balloon attack in his room & a big pancake breakfast complete with candles.

Since Ethan has been a bit Indiana Jones crazy the last few weeks (after receiving the Wii Lego Indiana Jones game as a bribe at Tyler's wedding) we decided to throw him a big Indiana Jones & the Temple of Balloons bash. With 16 kids & 14 adults invited, it was destined to be a mad free-for-all & we were a bit nervous about how it would turn out, but thankfully the guests that made it were our very favorites & we had a great time. I give thanks & credit to sippycupsareforchardonnay.blogspot.com for the fantastic ideas for the party & to thecakestandblog.blogspot.com for the cake.

I think when I learn to split myself in two, I am going into the cake decorating business... I had SO much fun making Ethan's cake, it took about 3 hours & I loved every minute. I would have loved to use fondant, but the stuff tastes like nasty candy corn & who wants a cake that tastes like leftover melted Halloween candy? So frosting was the ingredient of choice for me on this one. The vines & leaves were sculpted from marzipan (yum!), rocks out of M&Ms & of course the Lego cameos -thanks Ethan for letting me "borrow" your Indiana Jones & bad guys for the decor, it was a wrench getting them out of his hands for a few hours, but I think he liked how they made his cake special.

The party was Indiana Jones & the Temple of Balloons, so we thought a true IJ treasure hunt was in order. Pretending the kids were after the evil "Belloq" & his soldiers who stole the treasure, we had the kids follow clues to get to the next part of the adventure. So first, the kids had to wrap each other up as mummies to find the next clue. Ethan especially loved breaking out of his wraps at the end!

Next the kids had to crawl through the "Tunnel of Terror" which was filled with spiders, crawly bugs & vines to find the clue at the other end of the tunnel. Lots of squeals & screams of course!

After that, they followed the bad guys to the "desert" where the next clue was buried in the sand with lots of gold & silver coins & bouncy balls - which the kids got to keep as they figured out the next clue. The little girls - Aubrey & Dorothy especially loved digging in the sand.

Following the bad guys across the rickety bridge was treacherous, as they were chased by a giant "boulder" (thank you yoga ball!) that almost knocked them off. Then on to the Snake Pit, where they had to swing across the giant boa & the little rattlesnakes that were hiding in the grass. Good thing no one was bitten....

A sneaky monkey stole the next clue, so the little Indianas had to shoot it with darts (straws & Q-tips) to get it to drop the clue. They were all surprisingly good shots, & I apologize in advance for all the parents who have to endure being darted by q-tip shooting kids in the next few weeks!

Next was the Gross-Out Banquet (from the 2nd movie). They had to reach into beetles (nuts), monkey brains (jello) & squiggly worms (spaghetti) to find the sticky clue inside, which told the last directions for finding the treasure.

As you can see, the real adventure was making their way through our wonderfully overgrown backyard to find the treasure box. Then of course, the free-for-all for the melting chocolate gold inside!

So all-in-all, a complete & wonderful success for our little family - hosting our first big party was great fun. We loved sharing Ethan's special day with our best friends & family. Thanks to all who came to watch the delightfully fun madness! Happy birthday to my most special Little Star, I love you & can't wait to see what year #5 brings for you!