So we recruited 10 of Trey’s closest friends (and a few relatives and assorted parents) for an awesome army-themed birthday party. I don’t have time now to post pictures, but rest assured, it was one great party.
I didn’t make the invitations this year, just used simple store-bought ones. While not as cute, they were just as effective…and were able to be mailed with 2 weeks to spare! We told the boys to wear their camo, and they did. It was so cute seeing how they were dressed. As they arrived, we had planned for an arrival activity but they preferred to go hang out in Trey’s room or the playroom. Once most of the boys were there, we had them decorate paper airplanes (having printed 4 different patterns on nice cardstock from a paper airplane website) in camouflage, of course, then we went outside and had a paper airplane flying contest. While they worked, we decorated the recruits with army helmets, dogtags, and tattoos of stripes and tanks. A few of the airplanes flew too well – they ended up going over the fence into our neighbor’s yard.
Then it was time for the obstacle course. We lined the recruits up by the fence while Drill Sergeant Matt outlined the protocol for the drill. They had to climb up the incline ladder, scoot down the ladder on the other side, run through the swings (which were swinging, thanks to Reuben), climb up the rock wall, go down the ladder, climb up the rope ladder, slide down the slide, belly crawl under the trampoline, run through the playhouse, jump 3 times on the mini-trampoline and run back to the fence. Jon reverted back to his military training and barked lots of encouraging words to our boys. They had a GREAT time. Then, we broke out the marshmallow blaster for some “enemy stealth.” Matt had set up Trey’s cub scout tent in the back yard and staked squares of bubble wrap all around it. The boys had to run through the “minefield” without stepping on any mines (bubble wrap), run up to the tent, shoot the marshmallow blaster 3 times into it and then run back and give the blaster to the next person in line. That was hilarious!
Then we played “live grenade” (hot potato). We used a tape of the Donut Man – “God’s Army” as our background music and it was hilarious. When Matt stopped the music he would shout, “BOOM!” The boys thought that was great.
After that it was time for cake which we served with leftover fruit salad from bunco last night and small cans of root beer. I made a really amazing Tank cake for the kids and a second small cake for the grownups. It looked super and tasted just as good. The boys ran off some of the sugar while the adults visited, then Trey opened presents. When he was finished, we decorated our new recruits with medals for bravery, courage, and strength to get through their “basic training.” The boys had a great time and we did too!