Henry's 6th Birthday

With so many folks away in August, we decided to host Henry’s birthday party a few weeks early, in late July.  Having opted for the super easy moon bounce party last year (see Henry’s 5th Birthday), we wanted to do something at the house this time.  We took a chance on the weather and planned a backyard water play party.  We looked into renting an inflatable waterslide, but for the same price, discovered we could buy a slightly smaller version from Amazon.  Between the slide, a few inflatable pools, some water guns and a tub of water balloons, we figured the kids would be sufficiently entertained.  We weren’t wrong.  The boys spent most of the afternoon hurling water balloons at each other while the girls were surprisingly enthusiastic about the slide. 

Consistent with the planned activities, Henry chose a shark theme for his party.  For decorations, we downloaded a “shark sighting” sign from the Internet and posted copies around the backyard.  Bryant also drew some life-sized sharks on the patio with sidewalk chalk.  Henry was keen on having a shark cake—not a sheet cake with sharks on top, mind you, but an actual shark-shaped cake (Bryant made the mistake of showing him some photos from the Internet).  Fortunately, we found instructions online and were able to create a halfway decent version.  We also discovered some nifty ideas for carving a watermelon shark and making shark Jell-O cups (in lieu of ice cream).  You can read more about our party preparations here.

 

 

 

We got lucky with the weather.  It was overcast and not too hot for most of the party.  Right at 5pm, as the party was winding down, an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in, conveniently emptying our backyard of guests.  Henry had fun getting wet with his friends.  With the start of Kindergarten just around the corner, the party doubled as a farewell celebration for the children in 4B.   Between Henry’s classmates, their sibling and parents, and our neighbors, we had quite a crowd (about 30 children in total).  Despite all the work (we were exhausted afterward), it was nice to entertain in our backyard.  Having said that, we’ve already decided that next year will be another “venue party.”

Below are pictures from Henry’s shark-infested celebration: