Angry Birds and Eating Fried Worms

My baby boy turned 8 on Monday!

Wow, has the time flown by! I can't believe that my little boy, who was 6 weeks early, and only 4 pounds when we left the hospital, is now to my shoulders, and big enough to be out of a booster seat!

Sigh.

This year we had a very difficult time coming up with a Birthday Party idea. Parents who live in cold climates, and have kids with Winter Birthdays understand my dilema.

1) The weather in Maryland is soo unpredictable. For example, it flurried on Saturday morning, and we had 40 mph winds, plus 30 degree temperatures. On Sunday, it was 60 degrees and sunny!

2) When your child wants to invite more then 10 friends and you live in a modest house, that is going through a remodel due to the flooded basement....you don't want to have a party at home.

3) 8 years old, well that means that we have had to come up with 7 previous party ideas for places, and it's no fun duplicating a party.

Here's the rundown

Age 1- Pirate party at home (just family and close friends)

Age 2- Bob the Builder Party at a local Kids gym

Age 3- Curious George/Firetruck Party at a local volunteer Fire House (Very cool party)

Age 4- Indoor Treehouse and obstacle course at Athletic Center

Age 5- Indoor Bounce House Party

Age 6- Pirate Party at Indoor Swim Club

Age 7- Ice Skating Party at indoor ice rink

Age 8- ??? What to do??

E loves Angry Birds, so I was trying to come up with a theme related to them. Like what??

Well...there is a local up and coming business close to our home that hosts video game parties.

So, I asked what E thought of that idea..and it was quickly shot down. I was surprised by his reaction, but when he explained that he wanted all of his friends to be together, and not in separate cubbies playing individual games, I understood.

When I went to the video game center, they showed me another option for a party. They have a Private screening room! It's awesome! It's a room with speakers lining all of the walls, and three levels of chairs, all leather, some reclining.  The movie screen is an 133inch HD screen where you can play the movie of your choice.

So, what movie could keep 15 8 year old boys (3 girls) interested in a movie theater that 's not too babyish, but fun? I had no clue!!

So I searched a mom forum, and found out about a movie from 2006 (the kids would have been 2) called HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS

Angry Birds and FRIED WORMS...OMG, it was meant to be!!!

I repurposed an easle that I recently used at a bridal tea, and made it a Now showing board.

I decorated it with worm balloons that I found at party city, but I didn't get a picture prior to the kids deflating them.

I had all of the parents write down their names and provide cell #'s in case of an emergency,and told them to enjoy the next 2-1/2 hours...we'd see them when they came back!

I gave each of the kids a ticket stub and prior to them going into the theater I drew 5 tickets.

These are the 5 kids that would get to sit in the reclining chairs with E. I didn't want there to be any fighting, so I thought that this was the most fair way to do this.

I also gave each of the kids a glow bracelet and had them put them on. I instructed them that if they needed an adult during the movie, or needed to use the restroom, to raise their hand and someone would help them.

 (This was a pretty genius idea if I must say so!!)

Right before the movie started, I gave the kids a party horn, and told them that whenever they saw a worm or the word worm was shown, to blow their horms!! (This kept the movie interactive!!)

After the movie, we had popcorn, pizza, dirt cake, worm(jello) shots, giant marshmallows, licorice, gummy worms, spiral worm cheese doodles, worms(squirt cheese) on crackers, and a cake made by my neighbor!

Here's a glimpse of some of the party..

Notice that E and his daddy are wearing the same shirt!!

For goodie bags, I made Angry Birds and Pigs, thanks to this link that I found from The Party Animal.

I filled them with spiral straws from the dollar store, Angry Bird Gummie snacks from 5 Below, and a custom made cookie from my local bakery.

It was a fun and different party! And I've received messages form many of the parents about how much their kids liked it!!

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