Judy Moody Way Not Boring Birthday Party

My Judy Moody fan decided to fill me in the week before her birthday that she changed her mind from her previous party plans wanted to have a Judy Moody Birthday party.

Lucky this mom works GREAT under pressure, and with no other Judy Moody Party Plans to be found, I went to work!

Her cake is nothing Judy specific but was something she had picked out months ago when she saw it on Pinterest. It is just a box of cake mix in two round pans. Stacked up with a container of frosting surrounded by Kit-Cat and topped with M&M's it looked fabulous and tasted fabulous as well. I loved it because you don't have to have Cake Boss frosting skills to make an awesome looking cake.

She of course wore her Judy Moody Outfit. Her aunt Lara made her the shirt for Christmas using freezer paper stenciling, and I made her the Tiger Pants.

We started at the house right after school on a Friday. After playing a few games of whole house hide and seek while waiting for everyone to arrive we got out the cake and did the traditional happy birthday song.

If you look closely you will see one of her gifts as the centerpiece.

 A Venus fly trap kit!

Judy Moody Fact: Judy Moody has a pet Venus fly trap named Jaws.

Here is my minimal Judy Moody Decorating.

I didn't decorate much at home because you will see...

 the party does not stay at home.

But to have something for decorations, I hung these printable Judy Moody character stamps, I printed off the Judy Moody Website, from the light fixture above the table.

The party really centered around this.

A Judy Moody Video Scavenger Hunt!

Way Not-Boring Video Thrill Points Checklist

So it is pretty much a video scavenger hunt, but with a Judy Moody Theme.

I made up a checklist with thrill points very similar to the one Judy made in the movie Judy Moody and the Not-Bummer Summer.

As the kids completed each item on the checklist I videotaped them in action. I also didn't tell them where we were going. They had to brainstorm ways to complete the tasks themselves. I did however guide that a bit with prompting questions but I let them discover the destinations themselves. So it was always a surprise where we were headed.

As a party thank you I plan on putting a whole DVD together of the challenges and a video of them performing each thrill points challenge.

The challenges were as follows.

Thrill Points Check List Item Number One

Eat a piece of birthday cake without using your hands.

10pts

Talk about fun! What kid wouldn't LOVE to try this. Making a mess is totally OK!

And we had a few messy faces that is for sure! It caused lots of laughs and giggles.

Thrill Points Check List Item Number Two

Find a bathtub get all party attendees into the tub and sing "Row Row Row Your Boat"

25pts

After we ate cake (and washed up a bit) we loaded up into the car and the kids brainstormed how they were going to accomplish their next challenge.

The birthday girl decided that we needed to head to Menard's!

(a local hardware store)

They found a bathtub big enough for everyone and with huge smiles and giggles started singing at the top of their lungs while store workers and people passing buy gave puzzling looks.

 Thrill Points Check List Item Number Three

Find and ride a roller coaster!

20pts

(This one was on Judy's not- bummer summer thrill points list too!)

They had trouble figuring this one out. I had them look at the next clue to give them a hint as to where we needed to go. But once they figured it out they were PUMPED!

 We headed to Chuck e Cheese! They have a virtual roller coaster there. I was lucky I had a coupon that got us 110 tokens for $20. Each child spent about 10 tokens while we were there so we didn't even spend half of them, which we will save for a rainy day. We played for about 40 minutes total before moving on to our next challenge.

Thrill Points Check List Item Number Four

Hug a Giant Mouse

20pts

He is not exactly Bigfoot, but about the right size and furry!

Thrill Points Check List Item Number Five.

Sing for your supper! Sing "Old McDonald Had a Farm" for people who are at McDonald's. Then you can eat!

25pts

They sang for the employees, and they McDonald's employees even clapped for them when they were done and told them how cute they were.

Then they got their dinner! Yum!

Thrill Points Check List Item Number Six.

Blow bubbles for some kids you don't know.

10pts

I had some leftover party bubbles from little brothers Lego party so I handed them out once we got in the car and they decided as a group that they would be able to find some kids at McDonald's, and they did. Mission accomplished.

Thrill Points Check List Item Number Seven

Lift a car up using your bare hands.

50pts

They brainstormed this one quite a bit. They thought about finding a toy car and lifting that up. But with a bit of guided hints they figured out where we needed to go. Right outside a science museum in our town you can pull a rope that actually lifts a car using a giant sea saw type lever.

They all lifted a car using their bare hands!

Thrill Points Check List Item Number Eight.

Survive a tornado.

50pts

Inside the science museum they have a tornado machine. It cost me $1 to send them all into a tornado and the video I got was totally awesome if you can't tell from the photo.

It was also the first Friday of the month and in the evening the science center admission is free. So it cost nothing to haul all the kiddos into a fun and interactive science center. Where they spent the rest of the evening playing and exploring.

Thrill Points Check List Item Number Nine.

Figure out how you can get everyone upside down at the same time.
25pts

The kids were so smart that they decided that if they all stood with their arms above their head and I turned the camera upside down they would all be upside down on the video at the same time. Unfortunately the video was too dark to get a good image off of so we took this one to show you what it looked like.

You are maybe wondering how I was OK driving all over town with a group of 5 kids. Well it is because one is my daughter, one is my nephew, one is my niece, and the other two are my daughter's best friends from school who I know very well. It is such a good group of kids and I thank God every day for the great friends God has put into my daughter's life. They are all great and wonderful kids and helped make my daughter's 7th birthday so special.

I can't wait to get the Thank you DVDs done to give to each of them to show them all the awesome thrill points they earned during the party.

The cost of the party was right around $50 not counting supplies I already had like party plates and supplies from previous birthdays. I also didn't count mileage and we used coupons and lucked out on  free admission science center first Fridays.

Note: You may have notice that the order on the post is different than the thrill points sheet, I ended up putting them on the blog in the order they were accomplished, instead of sheet order.

Star Wars Birthday Party

Da, Da, Da... Da da da, Da da da.

If you are the mother of a Star Wars fan you know the song I am singing.

As a woman, I never really though I would know the difference between Jengo Fett and Bulba Fett, or the difference between a battle droid, a clone trooper and a droid decoa. But here I am the mother of two boys and I know way more about Star Wars then I ever wanted to. So a Star Wars Party was not a hard thing for me to whip up.

 Here is what we did to make the party AWESOME!

Star Wars Upcycled Invites!

For a few months before the party I had saved these fruit snack boxes. On each side is a star wars image. For the invites I just cut out an image and put the party info on the back side. Instant Invites.

Star Wars Party Bags.

I used the image on the other side on the fruit snack box to decorate some plain white paper lunch sacks I had on hand into star wars lute bags. My son actually helped make these for his friends. When they broke open the pinata their prizes went into these bags.

Destroy the Death Star Pinata!

A week before the party we started creating the Death Star Pinata.

 We started with a jumbo punching balloon.

We did two layers of paper mache, I always just use flour and water to make my paste. I let the layers dry for a day in between. Then we added the grey paper streamers using Elmer's glue.

Two layers was plenty, I was worried it would break right away so the first round of hits they used the pool noodle light sabers, then after everyone had a turn I got out a plastic light saber. Everyone still got a turn hitting with that one before I had to add a few cuts with a box cutter to weaken it.

They also didn't just destroy the Death Star.. They had to find it first. For their final Jedi Training mission, we sent them on a note scavenger hunt. We had Yoda write the clues and he told them to look different places in the house to find more notes that would lead them closer to the secrete location of the Death Star. Good thing dad came up with the perfect hiding place. In the dryer!

Large Storm Trooper Balloon!

That is no fancy expensive party balloon, it is actually a white tall kitchen trash bag decorated with a sharpie!

We hung it above the chandelier above the table. It made a great decoration.

Also if you notice in the photo we had Vader-aid to drink.

Pool Noodle Light Sabers.

Just cut in half, add duct tape and electrical tape.

We got everything we needed at the dollar store. These were so awesome and did no damage to anything in our house. We also did not star the party off with he light sabers, they had to do the laser beam challenge and learn to use the force first.

Helpful Party Tip:

The phrase, "Patience my young padawan." comes in handy when they ask tons of questions about what they get to do and when.

Also make sure they know true Jedi listen to their master. (aka you)

Jedi also must learn self control, good to remind them of this before you give light sabers to a bunch of young kids.

The Laser Beam Challenge!

 Just like the laser doors that trapped Obi Wan in Episode I keeping him from helping Quigon in the battle against Darth Maul! These lasers you must try to move through without touching or knocking down.

Using the Force

Remember that commercial where the boy in the Vader costume uses the force to start a car, when really the parents hit the start button on their key chain? Well we did the same thing, but with the fire place. Our fire place control is on the other side of the room so when I was teaching the kids how to focus their force all on the fire place to start the fire. My husband out of site was able to hit the switch to turn on the fireplace. We had a few surprised faces, that is for sure.

Sneak by the Storm Troopers!

A storm trooper squadron had taken over the living room. They were white balloons I had used black sharpie to draw a storm trooper minimalism face on. I then tied black string on them and hung them with tape from the ceiling.

A whole army!

Jedi's in training at the party had to crawl through the ventilation shaft (aka crawling tunnel).

 Then do a quick Jedi somersault to keep the storm troopers from seeing them.

At the end of the party, the Jedi's who had graduated from Padawon Learners to Master Jedi got to go and destroy the storm trooper balloon army by whacking them with their light sabers.

 Milk Jug Trooper Target Training

They also had storm trooper pinata training. In order to destroy the death star pinata later they got to practice their aim on a storm trooper head made from a milk jug. I tied it to a string and a stick so I could safely stay out of the way and swing it closer or father from the Jedi in training.

Death Star Light Saber Golf!

Each child got to make a death star ball out of balloons and rice. They are super simple and took only a minute or so for each kid. See the simple how-to here. They made them right when they came one at a time and the other kids played with the star wars guys while they waited for others to finish.

Later, we used the death star balls for light saber training. They had to use their light sabers to push the death star balls all the way around the dinning room table and back to the couches where they started from. They took their training very seriously. 

Light Saber Baseball

We also did a bit of  light saber base ball. I batted the balloon toward them and they had to hit it with their light sabers. Everything is soft so no chance to destroy or break anything.

I also did my best to dress up like Padame, but I think I looked more like she would have looked if she had survived childbirth of twins. HA! It was still fun, but the 5 year olds didn't really get it. "Why do you have duct tape on your arms??" Ha! Oh well!