Just the Five of Us: LEGO Mania

So, we hosted are first at-home party for friends. In the past, Jake's had his parties at bowling and Chuck E. Cheese during the day for his friends, and than at night at our house for family. Way too much. So this year, we asked him what he wanted:

I want my friends to come and play. All my friends from school!

Last Saturday, after weeks of prep and planning (that I think I enjoyed almost more than he did), our LEGO party took place--and went fabulously well.

The Guests
7 of Jake's friends: Jack, Noah, Thomas, Robert, Mitchell, Sam, and Stevie (for some of them, it was their first "get dropped off" party, and they all did fine)
Emma
Doug and I
Gram and Aunt Mag
Pappy
three parents and siblings

The Decor
All primary colors, of course. I made three signs--Welcome to Jake's Legoland for the front door, LEGO Factory for the playroom, and Snacks for the kitchen. Some streamers and balloons and the place actually looked festive (my mom said it was beautiful . . . not sure if I'd go that far, but they were cute). Note the studs on the letters so they look like LEGOs. I'm so clever.

We set up a work station in the playroom. Each place setting had a placemat with LEGO facts, the kid's name, and a tub of LEGOs for them to take home/build with. I also put out bins of LEGOs. The intent was for the kids to build with them. Four kids did: Jake, Emma, Stevie, and Jack. The others went through the toys in the playroom and went to town. But it was all good--whatever made them happy, really.

A little preparty LEGO play:

I also made nametags for the kids. Though I know them, not all the other adults did, and I thought it would be helpful if we could all call the kids by name. It was. Plus, it was another opportunity to make LEGO pictures. Jake even made one for Emma.

Jake also labeled all the LEGO hunt bags . . . and Emma even added some decorative scribbles to one of them, which--sadly--Jake did not appreciate.

The Games
I had more planned than we actually played, which was good. Most of the time, the kids were so happy playing, I just let them do pretty much whatever they wanted.

Pin the Stud on the LEGO. Using my Creative Memories Circle templates, some red cardstock, and posterboard, I made a LEGO that was missing a stud. Then I made a stud for each kid, putting their name on it. Blindfold, some spins, and the kids all got a kick out of who got the furthest from the LEGO. Winner got to be the leader for the LEGO hunt (I don't really do prizes).

LEGO hunt. The kids and I made 60 (yes, I counted) sculptures from groups of ten misc. LEGOs. Then my sister hid them and the kids went on the hunt. Jake was nice enough to share some of his with the kids who didn't find as many, and we all got a kick out of watching kids walk right past sculptures in plain view as they claimed they couldn't find any.

Guess the LEGOS. Filled a tub with 187 LEGOs and the closest guess one. With guesses like 1 million and 1 billion and 1 gazillion, Jack's guess of 100 was the closest, so he went home with the LEGOs.
Musical LEGOs. We never got to this one, but I made square LEGOs out of cardstock. I was going to put them on the floor and play musical chairs with them, but the kids were rammy enough so I didn't want to endanger anyone.
Soccer. While lunch was cooking, Doug led the kids in an impromptu game of soccer, which was really race around in a huge group around the yard and sometimes kick a ball forward. Fun stuff.

The Food.
Ellio's pizza with a pepperoni in the middle (to look like a LEGO, of course). Chips. Juice boxes (not enough--note to Doug . . . if you think one pack of juice boxes is going to be enough, it isn't.). Grapes. And the cake.

I'm pretty proud of the cake. Jake loved the colors of the icing, and when Emma saw it she said, "Ooooo! Look at what Mommy made! A cake! Can I have some????" It took Jake about six blows to get the candles out, and only about half the kids ate the cake, which surprised me. Emma had two pieces. She'd been waiting for cake all day and she asked Pappy for more, peeze and who could resist that, really?!?

The Presents
Before cake, my oh-so-gracious son proclaimed, I WANT TO OPEN SOME PRESENTS NOW!! CAN I? PLEASE? PLEASE? which was the start of what I'd like to refer to as Present Chaos 2005, during which kids yelled, OPEN MINE FIRST, we begged them to PLEASE MOVE BACK and SIT DOWN, and Emma cried because she wanted to play with everything. But, gift opening is supposed to be like that. And with the kids at the party acting at a level of goodness I didn't think was possible for that many 5-6 year olds, a little chaos for gifts was fine. Jake ended up with:

Star Wars light sabers. We have three now. Oh yeah.
Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I've heard of them but have no idea what to do with them. I have a feeling I'm going to learn.
Spiderman game.
Transformer. His favorite of the party--walked around shooting all of us with the little dart bomb things all evening.
Crayola color explosion. VERY cool.
Bunch of vehicles. Emma LOVED these.
Star Wars figures. Thankfully, his little buddy filled me in as to who they were. Gotta see the newer films!
Bunch of LEGO sets from parents and grandparents. Big ones. Ones that took hours to do. That Jake and I fought over who got to build what. That are on a shelf now because we can't bear to take them apart. Star Wars and the new Dino line were big hits.
Rescue Heroes bought with his birthday money. So cute to watch him shop!

Emma loved the light sabers.

The Little Ones
We had three younger siblings there, which was nice for Emma (though she spent most of her time trailing after Jake's very tolerant friends). I set them up with LEGO Duplo and MegaBlocks in the living room . . . and the toddlers played with LEGOs more than the big kids did!

The Fun
All came to an end promptly at 1:30. Not one child was late being picked up. And while we were all exhausted--except Jake--it was an amazing time. Jake's little friends are totally adorable and not as wild and crazy as I thought. They are kind to each other and actually talk through sharing and conflicts . . . kind of freaky, actually. I'm sure they're not always such angels, but as one of the other moms said to me, the party proved you could get them all together to play and live through it!

Overheard
I would eat my pizza for 1 billion bucks!
I'm afraid of my underwear!
You be Yoda and I'll be Darth Vader. (Jake's friend Sam to Emma as they fought with light sabers).

Fun times. And all for about 100.00--less than going to a destination . . . and I dare say, one of the best parties we've ever had!

And, if you're interested, LEGO facts from the sheets I sent home (all from the LEGO website):

The LEGO company refers to their products in several ways, such as LEGO, LEGO bricks, LEGO elements, LEGO pieces and LEGO toys. They never refer to them as "legos", although most other people do.

A 2 X 4 LEGO brick measures 16mm by 32mm by 9.6mm high.

Six 2 X 4 LEGO bricks of the same color can be combined in 102,981,500 different ways.

The distance from stud center to stud center is 8mm.

The height of a stud is 1.7mm.

The diameter of a LEGO stud is 5mm

The walls of LEGO bricks are 1.5mm thick, while the walls of the tubes are only .657mm thick.

"LEGO" is officially written in uppercase letters. The company asserts that to protect its brand name, the word LEGO must always be used as an adjective, as in "LEGO set," "LEGO products," "LEGO universe," and so forth.