Best Birthday Party

Musings on Life and Beauty

Earlier this week I blogged about my sweet 8 year old’s birthday party.  It was the most enjoyable party I’ve ever given,  so I thought I’d share what we did.  For any of you out there who have girls in the 8, 9 or even 10 year old range, I highly recommend it.  I don’t think that a girl needs to like dolls to enjoy this activity, either, although an affinity for American Girl dolls doesn’t hurt!


It’s the Samantha Mystery Party Game, made by American Girl.  It takes an American Girl character, surrounds her with friends and gives them a problem to solve.  The story is made into a script, and your daughter and her friends each take a role.  You assign them their part in their invitation so they can come to the party dressed as their character.


The game comes with 8 invitations, 8 role cards, 8 scripts, clues to hide and a parent’s guide that tells you everything you need to know and do in order for the mystery to play out.  From start to finish, it was simple and easy to do.  It took us only minutes to prepare the invitations.  All of the girls were so excited to come, and several of their moms commented to me on how curious their daughters (and sisters) were.


On the day of the party, I got the house and clues ready.  When all the girls arrived, I gave them simple instructions, passed out name tags (which also came with the supplies) and gave them each a script.  They spent the next hour reading, prompting each other and acting out the play.  I spent that entire hour with a big grin on my face as I watched these darling girls read their lines, trying to infuse them with the right emotion.  Most of them read their lines well, but occasionally when there was a new word or if someone was shaky they came to each other’s rescue in a way that made my heart swell with gratitude for the sweetness of 7 and 8 year old girls.


Most of the action took place around the dining room table, but some clues had to be found in other rooms.  One of the clues had a morse code message that they had to decipher.   The mystery took  about an hour to complete.  It was a huge success.  All of them had a great time and each of them asked if they could take their script home with them after the party.


Unfortunately, American Girl no longer makes these Mystery Party Games.  They were made in 2005.  I found mine on ebay.  A Mystery Party Game was also made for the American Girls Kit and Molly.  After reading the simple description of all three, we settled on Samantha and I’m happy with that choice.  It was perfect for an 8 year old girl’s birthday party.  I’m seriously considering purchasing a second one to save for a few years down the road.  After all, my 8 year old has three younger sisters!  My older two daughters were also talking about how much fun it would be to each invite a couple of friends over on a rainy day and solve one of the mysteries for fun.

And now, just because the sweetness of each little face bent over a script was too much for me, I’ll finish this post with a photo of each of our guests that day.




















Absolutely adorable!

Jennifer

2 comments

Birthday Girl

Musings on Life and Beauty



Somewhere in the craziness of the last two weeks I neglected to share photos from my daughter’s birthday.  It was an awesome day, complete with the very best birthday party ever.  (Thanks to half day school on Fridays, we managed to squeeze in a party with a few friends from school before Friday afternoon soccer games and the arrival of company.)


Her new favorite color is purple, and I scored these awesome sugar roses for $2.00 at a local candy outlet.


Sitting on green frosted cupcakes, they made a lovely centerpiece for the kitchen table.




Paper doilies from the dollar store under purple paper plates atop a vintage tablecloth completed the look.


Listening to little 7 and 8 year old girls talk is a happy thing.


The party ended, I cleaned the house for the second time that day, and we headed to other activities.   Later in the evening we celebrated as a family, sharing gifts…


dinner of her choice (with a visit from her Aunt and Uncle) and her birthday cake request:  pumpkin ice cream cake.


A great day for a very special little girl.

One comment

Random Thoughts on a Random Subject

Musings on Life and Beauty

As a mother who spends countless hours each year at soccer practices and games, I’m still amazed at how all of these child-focused activities take place in areas where there is no access to restrooms.  At the occasional park where there IS a restroom, I’m terribly suspicious of it.  I dread it every time, the child who needs to use the restroom (but who naturally waited to tell me until it was already a crisis) in the middle of a game. Yes, this is one of those silly things that makes me stress, especially with 5 daughters.

Imagine my surprise at my son’s  soccer games, to see a port-a-potty standing next to the entrance of the locked up school.


The Honey Bucket label made me laugh, so I had to take a picture.

It’s also a memory because my four year old insisted he didn’t need to use it when we left the game for our hour plus drive home.  A quarter of a mile down the road, however, he needed it.  We turned around to drive back, and naturally he didn’t make it.  Oh, the joys of little boys.

I both love and hate these Honey Buckets.  When there’s an emergency, they are most helpful.  I have my children use them.  But as for me, I can’t stand them.  Simply can’t.  Even as a child I had this horrible aversion to them.  I remember going camping with my family and using the bathroom at home just before we drove away.  I would then walk to the car thinking, “I won’t need to go again until we get home.”  And I didn’t.  Ever.  Still don’t.

I remember camping with my husband and children when I was 8 months pregnant.  When I had to climb out of the tent in the dead of night and find my way to the outhouse without my contacts in I almost got in the car instead to drive away.  (What was I thinking, agreeing to camp in the first place?)  There’s nothing like knowing the only option is an outhouse to cure me of the need to go at all.  They’re something that I can’t stand the sight of, and yet feel relived to spot.

How would I ever have survived a life without indoor plumbing?

I guess I would have made it just fine, not knowing any other option.

And for the record, I never thought I’d see a beautiful picture featuring port-a-potties, until my sister posted a rainbow on her blog a few weeks ago.  Proof positive that beauty lies hidden in unlikely places.  Check it out!

And that sums up my random thoughts on a random subject.  Yes, I know.  Totally random.  Oh well.

HH

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