A Lego Birthday Party How To . . .

{Making a wish in 2010.}

My boy RedDog is seven. I can’t even talk about it because tears start falling and then I just want to pull him onto my lap and rock him in my arms like a baby again, but he barely fits!

His Lego party was so much fun!  I’m going to get right to the point and share the party itinerary and some photos, but first I wanted to impart my number one piece of advice for kid parties:

It is wise to have lots of little short activities or stations during the party to keep the attention of the kids. 

This one trick has saved many a party for me.  Now, on to the details . . .

As the kids arrived they were directed to the dining room.  On the table was a jar of Legos.  Each boy was given a slip of paper and a pencil.  They got to guess how many Legos were in the jar.  At the end of the party, the boy with the closest guess got to take the entire jar of Legos home – step #1 in my Personal Lego Reduction Plan! { down by 115, in case you were wondering.}

Once all the boys had arrived and made a guess at the Lego jar, each boy got a small Lego City car to build. I got the cars on sale at Target for $4.49 each, which with seven boys in attendance, was the largest cost incurred for the party. Each boy built their car at a different pace – some were fast, others quite slow – but there were only 12 steps in the instructions and I had Big C roaming around the table to help the stragglers. I had also placed piles of Legos down the center of the table for the boys to play with while they waited for others to finish.

I love it when he sits on his feet like this, it reminds me of his Daddy. 

Busy Lego architects.

Showing off the finished product.

After all the boys finished their cars, we went to the track to race them.  I {very quickly} made the track out of a scrap piece of drywall we had lying around.  We propped it up on cans from the pantry.  Four boys raced their cars at a time and the winner of each heat got a DumDum lollipop.  We kept racing until everybody had won at least once. Then at the end we had one race will all seven cars.  The boys loved this activity!

As we finished each activity, I would have the boys put their things in a little goody bucket to take home.  I got the buckets in the 4th of July stuff in the dollar section at Target.  They were the perfect shade of Lego blue.  I then made a Lego head label for each boy to tie in the yellow and red.

After the car race we played a quick game I named “Find the Golden Brick”.  I filled a bag {made out of a bandana and some leftover ribbon} with beans.  Then I threw in 15 standard size Lego bricks.  Four of the fifteen bricks were the coveted gold brick –the ones my kids always fight over!  I had the boys line up and they each got three chances to reach into the bag of beans and try to pull out a gold brick for a prize.  After three tries, all seven boys had pulled out a gold brick at least once.  I don’t know what that says about probability, but it sure worked out nicely for me.  The prize was an individual Twizzler licorice, which went into the bucket.

Next we had a little minifig design activity.  Minifigs are the little yellow-headed Lego people.  I had Big C bring up a bunch of our minifigs to give the boys ideas.  Then using a blank template and markers, they got to design their own Lego guy.

RedDog’s Birthday Party Minifig.

The boys all really loved this activity.  If I were to do it again, I’d make more copies of the blank minifig sheet to send home with the guests.

Instead of trying to attempt a Lego shaped cake {do a Google search and you’ll be amazed} I went for simple cupcakes in red, yellow and blue wrappers frosted yellow with a minifig on top for each boy.  RedDog chose Funfetti cupcakes since it had Lego colors in it.  Love a boy who’s willing to go along with a theme!

Next we went into the family room and had an activity using some of our family’s large stash of Legos {minus the most precious pieces, which my children gratefully removed the night before}. We set a timer for five minutes, then I would call out a theme and the boys would use the allotted time to build something that fit in that category.  We did this three times, using the categories SPACE SHIP, ANIMAL, and FOOD.  At the end each round the boys would share what they built.  It was very fun and I was amazed by the creativity of these seven and eight year olds.

As a surprise finale activity, I gave each boy a small bag with his name on it. We set the timer to 30 seconds and I told the boys that when the timer started, they could see how many Legos they could fit in their bag.  Whatever they got in the bag before the timer ended was theirs to take home – step #2 of PLRP.  For thirty seconds it was sheer madness, but totally fun to watch and I think we might have reduced our stash by one-sixteenth, which was completely zeroed out by the amount of Legos RedDog got as gifts!

We sent six boys home sugared up and with a significant amount of Legos, both new and gently used.  Each boy also got a bag of silly band bracelets and a  kaleidoscope in his bucket.

My budget for this party was $50. I spent $42.  The boys all seemed to have a really great time and it was fun for me to have Big C as my helper.

When I asked Soren today what the best part of his birthday was, he said “That awesome Lego party.” Mission accomplished.