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Jill birthday is the official start of birthday season in our house. You would think that by the time she reaches the ripe old age of 17 we might be done with parties. I thought I might get off easy because we are having the girls parties up at Suncadia this year. Nope, Ellie informed me that we are NOT done with themed parties yet and to get on it. Oh.
I had been rolling around a theme in my head and slowly planning the party when, just a week before the event, inspiration struck. It was such an obvious fit that I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. A board game party!
For more than a year Jill has been obsessed with board games. Her best bud Colin introduced her to a ton of games and she has slowly been collecting them herself. Now THAT is a theme I could really get into!
Ellie and I took a trip to our local thrift store and for $11 we got five board games to use for decorations. Quiddler, Scrabble, Monopoly, Life and Parcheesi.
Here’s what we did:
Buntings from the cards and playing boards for decorations…
Signs from Scrabble and drink decorations from Monopoly…
We used what appeared to be a brand new Parcheesi board for a serving tray for the Domino brownies Ellie decorated.
We also set up game playing stations with snacks that went with them. There was Quiddler matched up with gummy letters.
Ticket to ride set up with Barnum’s animal crackers. (I couldn’t find the little box train cars that my kids loved when they were little. Apparently they are collector’s items now. I had to settle for a bag decorated like a train car. Drat!)
We also set up the card game Gub with gummy worms and Apples to Apples set up with…apples of course!
The party was a big hit. The kids had a great time. Some games were played, some swimming was done, lots of sweets were eaten and Mr. Fun came through with an awesome scavenger hunt.
This time it wasn’t clues that needed to be solved but tasks performed. Like they had to find a piano to play. (There are lots of musical kids in this group!) Or they had to interview the front gate attendant and find out their favorite color. It’s fun that they are at the age where they can and will do things AND enjoy them!
Opening gifts was hilarious. Somehow Jill and Henry have gotten into a habit of shopping for each other at the thrift store. The goal is to come up with the most outrageous gift. It’s a pretty funny idea! This year he got her a winking creamer, a solar suit and a dart board with Colin’s face in the middle. Laura was also clever because she knows how hard it is for Jill to be the center of attention…especially when opening gifts. So she gave her an iTunes card but it was packaged up in three beautiful boxes, one inside the other and perfectly wrapped. It took forever for Jill to open and we all got a good chuckle out of it!
Thanks for helping celebrate our girl!