This post is about my son’s birthday party.

It was a lot of fun, and I just wanted to pass along some tips that worked, coming from a person who has had some parties, um, not work.

J wanted an Indiana Jones party, and the thing we did that was the greatest hit was blow dart guns. Cheap, easy to make, and the kids had a lot of fun. We (and when I say “we”, I mean it the royal WE sense, in that I mean that DH did most all of the work) cut some PVC pipe to 12 inches long, made some simple darts out of magazine paper and tape, and then gave one to every kid. We had them line up and do target practice on a balloon, One kid even popped it. Good lungs.

Then we had them pair off in teams and hide behind couches. We put a table with some funky looking toys that we called idols on it in the middle of room, and told them to try and steal the idols. Whichever team got the most idols won. They could shoot at other players, but if you got shot by a dart, you had to freeze until a team member unfroze you. You know, kind of like a cross between capture the flag and freeze tag. One boy got it right away, and jumped up and down screaming, “It’s like freeze tag! Only with darts! And guns! And idols! JUST LIKE FREEZE TAG!”

I’m with you, kid. I’m so with you.

We handed out safety goggles to keep anybody from getting their corneas scratched, and let them have at it. And I’ve learned that nothing seems to please 7 year boys like shooting things at other 7 year old boys.

We rounded off the game portion of the party with 2 bins filled with sand and “treasures” from the dollar store. And surprisingly, only one boy pretended he was a dog and dumped sand out of the bin. The other kids were quite satisfied with pretending to be archaelogists, especially when I told them that the ancient Play-Doh they were digging up was also glow-in-the-dark.

We are nothing if not completely historically accurate.

Then we did a pinata, hyped everybody up with too much cake and ice-cream, and then let them run like wild monkeys with their PVC pipes, which quickly became swords and lightsabers, just in time for their parents to come and pick them up at the top of their very big sugar highs.

Good times, people. Good times.

For Ardis, I offer the following pictures. No faces, so it’s all good, right?

Little Sister, holding a balloon, wearing her safety goggles:

The boys, digging for treasure: