Monday, October 28, 2013

The paper airplane birthday

 We had a really fun day celebrating Elijah's 9th birthday. He settled on a "paper airplane" birthday party which turned out to be really fun and simple and cheap. :) I made the mistake of looking on Pintrest for ideas.... hello, I am so out of American culture, but seriously, mini-suitcases filled with $50 worth of party favors for each kid at a 1 year old's birthday party???? Cakes that look like wedding cakes for a 4 year old's party? Really?

Anyways, back to the party.... Origami is really big here, so it was no problem getting a ton of different sizes and colors of paper. We found a stack of books on paper airplane folding at the school library (who knew!) and set out all the paper and books and markers and let the kids go to town. I was surprised at how many kids didn't know how to fold paper airplanes... it's pretty serious business in our house.


What I didn't get a picture of is all the kids "testing" their planes INSIDE our house... it was pure madness. But really fun - because seriously how much damage can a piece of paper do? After almost an hour of folding and decorating and flying inside, we had a flying contest outside (and a decorating contest for the girls). Then we made paper origami cups and did water games with them. 


After a few games, we did popcorn and watermelon and cake. Every birthday party I have every thrown has popcorn and watermelon and cake at it. Cause I can't stand too much sugar for the kids and ice cream here is nasty. :) 


Very simple. Very fun. The kids all had a blast, without Pintrest's help. :) And the birthday boy loved it.


The "real" birthday also fell on "party day" this year, so later we got to do presents from grandmas and family. Presents are a very careful thing here - some kids don't get presents from America sent over, so people keep it quiet if their kids do. 


We have seen Elijah grow and change so much this year. He loves to read and loves school. But he also loves to be with his friends and play outside. He's always planning forts and clubs and making weapons out of sticks and creating grand plans of inventions and crafts. He's very, very independent and stubborn, but still enjoys cuddling with us on the couch and playing games with us. He's definitely moving out of the "little boy" stage and I am sad to see it go, but it's fun to see him become his own person. We love you, Elijah!

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