My six year old boy was turning seven. It was party time and my mind was busy going down many avenues of themes... He wanted a Mario party. Um.... no. Although I tried to think of things to do for it, I couldn't think of great activities, I had to come up with something that would seem cooler than his current obsession. After a huge belch and the laughter that came from his five-year-old sister and my frequent comment, "That's so gross..." and the discipline that followed, it hit me - boys are gross. Let's celebrate that quality for a day!
We decorated our long table where the kids would eat with plastic, plain table cloths from the dollar store. I took clear thread and hung plastic bugs over the table and sprinkled some on it. The centerpiece was a big clear glass punch bowl containing "Gross Punch". I used 7-up with different food coloring drops added and rainbow sherbet. It looked like a science experiment. Our "cake" was also in the center. I'll describe that under the "food" section.
If you read my previous articles on the elements of a party that I like to use, I'll walk you through our fun day...
Craft- As the kids arrived (both boys and girls), I had them make a fish print shirt. This was a technique that I learned in Japanese summer school in my youth on paper, and I thought it would be great on a shirt. I purchased packages of 5 Hanes/ Fruit of the Loom plain white t-shirts at Walmart (or you can get them on sale at Michael's or in the clearance bins at Kmart for $.25). My mom bought several 6-10" fish from the market, and I put out disposable plates with regular acrylic craft paints and small foam brushes. The kids put on disposable gloves and painted a fish to their liking, then my mom (because it was just too gross for me) helped them to lightly press the painted side of the fish down on the shirt. They slowly lifted the fish and wrote their names in fabric squeeze paint near the fish image. We hung the shirts with clothes pins on a rope in the back yard to dry and as a decoration for the party.
Games- I borrowed the old baby shower game here. Nate's little sister Mia was just a baby in diapers, so I filled different ones with food items that the kids had to guess what was inside. The diapers were open so the kids could look at and smell what was inside. The different diapers contained mustard, peanut butter, melted chocolate, jelly, and pickle relish. The kids sat in a circle, passed the diapers and inspected them. The comments and looks on their faces were priceless! There wasn't so much a winner to this game. After all the diapers went around I held them up one a time and let them shout out the answers.
For the next game I had them feel what was in a lunch bag and guess what was in there (while still sitting in the circle.) Each bag had a number on it and I had grown ups help me here. They held the bag a little higher than the child's head and we had them reach in and feel and write what they thought it was on a 3x5" card. The grown up with the bag helped them write the answer if they needed assistance. In the different bags were peeled boiled eggs, boiled spaghetti, canned bay shrimp, gummy worms and kiwis. I instructed them not to squeeze the items, just feel them. I had my sister go around with baby wipes and a garbage bag for their hands. At the end I showed them what was inside each bag and they checked their cards.
Since those games were time consuming, we only did two.
Hunt- This wasn't really our usual hunt, but it was fun. After the games we had the kids gather around a coffee table and watch Nate and my mom dissect some squid. They were on the "hunt" for a surprise in the squid, which was the ink. My mom and Nate each had their own squid and my mom cut out the eyes, the "bone" and then the ink. She cut it open and let it ooze out. She instructed Nate the whole time on what to do. He was thrilled to use a knife for the first time, and to have such an attentive audience. It was great!
Pinata - For this we just got a plain pinata and decorated it with slime and dollar store bugs. We filled it with candy, plastic bugs and frogs, and chocolate eyes.
Food - I didn't want to go too overboard in this area because I wanted them to eat, so we had grapes, carrots, pb&j's cut into bug shapes, chips and gold fish crackers.
The cake - one of my favorite parts of the party! I used my mom's giant glass punch bowl and made a big Worms in Dirt. I bought the chocolate muffins from Costco (or you can make a chocolate cake mix according to the directions), cut them into cubes and layered them with chocolate pudding and Heath bar crumbles. Along the sides of the bowl I put gummy worms. On the top I ended with pudding and finely crushed oreos with worms sticking out. When we served it I gave them a squirt of whipped cream on the side and made sure that everyone got at least one worm. It was a hit!
I generally don't do goodie bags for parties because the kids take home their bag from the pinata and their shirt (or whatever craft they make.) I like to make them work for their goods!
Overall it was so much fun. I was so thrilled last year when I was working in my son's class (he's almost 10 now) and his friends were reminiscing about his Gross Party and how fun it was. They remembered it! Ah, it was so worth the effort!
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