Jansen's Birthday Party

Jansen has been very excited to turn 7. He waited patiently while Natalie celebrated her birthday and had her party...and his turn finally came. My kids are pretty indecisive and unrealistic when it comes to choosing party themes, so I basically suggested/persuaded Jansen to have a "science" party. 

He chose an Oreo Brownie Trifle for his party dessert. The leftovers are sitting in the fridge tempting me each time I open the door. Problem is, it's even better a day or two later.

We started the party by making bracelets with beads that turn color in the sun. As they put the beads on, I told them a change would take place when we went outside in the sun. They made guesses about what would happen to the clear beads.

Here is the crew. It makes me a little sad to think that in maybe a year or so Jansen probably won't want girls at his party. For now, they are some of his favorite friends. 

We did a few activities here at the table like make instant snow, grow "marbles" in water, and experiment with waterproof sand. Those little condiment cups were AWESOME. I used probably 80 of them for different things during the party. 

Great friends sporting their safety glasses.

Dr. Nye wowed the kids with "elephant toothpaste." 

And with slime...

We even set a dollar bill on fire, but it didn't burn! :) I only trusted my husband enough to use a one dollar bill on this one. We talked for a little while beforehand about NEVER using matches or lighters by yourself at home. Just had to include that bit for any of the parents of children who came to the party who may read this. 

This one is called "magic milk paint."

We sat down for a little while and built structures using toothpicks and marshmallows.

Somebody was having just as much fun as the kids.

We headed outside after that for the Mentos geyser!

It was awesome.

We finished up with trifle and opening presents. This picture reminds me that I need to ask Jansen what he wished for. Or does that make it not come true?

Emmy slept through all the partying, but I took her for a few rides on the party decorations to make up for it.

I have a love/hate relationship with parties. They are a lot of work, but this one was really fun and definitely worth it. If anyone wants info or details about the experiments just let me know in the comments and I'll get the links, etc to you.