what 150lbs of rice looks like in your living room

a few months ago my littlest turned 3 and he reeeeeally wanted a construction party that he could invite his friends.  he actually had his friends picked out.  this is new to me.

and I reeeeeally wanted one of those giant balloons {that actually spent its first night in the car because it was too big to fit through our front door, and it was a wind storm.}  

and so the story begins here.

 and then I found these straws.  and a big roll of caution tape.  and well the rest of the party just kind of snowballed.

the annual birthday garland made an appearance as well.

best idea of the day, using brown kraft paper as table cloths and piling everything on top = no serving platters to wash.  clean up {in the kitchen} was the easiest ever, and actually happened that night.  rare.

Ali designed all the paper products for me.  right?!  cupcakes were this fabulous recipe and so easy topped with crushed oreos for "dirt". 

a little kraft table, you know for when you aren't flinging yourself into plastic balls or flinging rice acrossed the living room....  this is a fabulous website for coloring pages.  you can even customize them and create writing pages too.

best re-use of a pac-n-play.  My littlest received 200 plastic balls for his birthday.  imagine taking turns jumping off the couch.

our local Home Depot gave us kid-size aprons and diy birdhouse kits for everyone {so awesome of them}, add in construction hats.  and the gear is all set. 

and then my friend helped me with the idea of digging for treasure in rice.  I bought 3 50lb bags of rice at Costco.  it was a lot more volume once the bags were opened than I had realized.  next time {as if} I would use a plastic pool instead of under bed bins.

the aftermath tracked through most of the main floor.  and dry rice on wood floors is very slippery.  actually a vacuum {if its working} can easily suck up all this rice.  or a nice thorough sweep of the floor, which has been needed for months now, also does the trick.

 and that is the tale of our crazy construction party.

the end.

one more thing.  do you know Birthday Dreams?  it is a non-profit that provides birthday parties for homeless or foster children who wouldn't otherwise have a party.  isn't that the best idea ever?  in the midst of this party that was so fun {and slightly over the top} to celebrate my 3yr old, it is also very grounding to me to realize the needs of others.  donating to them {in time or money} will also be a new piece of our celebrations going forward.

happy tuesday.

best,
kirsty