My eldest child just turned the big 09. Why he's almost a man! Well close to a pre-teen anyway.
So what can you do for a 9 year old boy's birthday party in the beginning of April that won't get you covered in wet mud or bore the attendees to death?
My son wanted to play indoor games and watch a movie. The party was scheduled to last 1 1/2 hours. The average movie lasts about that long and we still had to feed the kids, have cake and open presents! I decided on a 90 minute party purposely because I know that's really all I wanted handle.
Anyway, my husband had no good ideas, I mean, had no ideas so I decided we could do a craft. We made grass buddies.
For this craft project I purchased;
from Dollarama
-small terracotta pots (3 for $1)
-saucers (4 for $1)
-small bag of potting soil ($2)
-wiggly eyes ($1)
from Wal-mart
-small bag of grass seed ($7) in the summer you can buy smaller bags for around $2
I already had white glue, foam Popsicle sticks and markers at home. Bingo dabbers would work great for pok-a-dots!
I took a medium container and filled with about 5 cups of potting soil and about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of grass seed, then watered the mixture.
Have the kids decorate their buddies as people, monsters or animals and then fill the pots about 2/3 full of plain soil. Add about 2 plastic disposable spoonfuls of the mixture and then cover with more plain soil. You should have about an inch of space from the top of the planter.
As the grass buddies dried, we had cake and presents. Rather than water the finished project at the party and risk having their parents' car covered in wet mud, I instructed the kids to water their buddies when they got home, put them in a sunny spot and watch them grow grass hair. I also told them to water their buddies every 2 or 3 days.
They are 8 and 9 year olds, hopefully their buddies got watered when they got home!
If I had had more time, I would have made little care sheets for the kids to take home. Perhaps next time...
