Tristen is 11, Seth is 9

Since the boys' birthdays are so close together and they share the same friends, I take advantage of being able to throw one party for the both of them. This year was different from all the rest! First, they had a sleep-over! Second, we had a movie theme! Third, we braved the theatre with a large group of young boys to watch the newly released book-turned-movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid!!! >> But I'm getting ahead of myself...

My little men have never really been into action figures and the like but they've always shown to be very capable of putting things together (such as puzzles) and they're also very creative so... LEGOS!  They are friends with an awesome young man who's father got him into LEGOS very young and have enjoyed them when they go visit but I thought it was time to get them their own set; the problem?  where will they build and store them? 

>> when Lauren was going to move in I found this picnic table at a thrift store (I really only needed the bench to add to our kitchen table to make more room but the whole set was cheaper than going out and getting just one bench so...) .  The table has been taking up space in our garage ever since, with no purpose to fulfil, just disabling my parking space! <<

So we repurposed it!  We painted it to make it look cool, then we added a solid flat surface to the top as well as a ledge so all those tiny little pieces wouldn't slip through the cracks or roll to their doom!  The best part is, the surface and ledge were also repurposed!  Their original purpose was a makeshift frame for Hayden's "big boy bed" so it was still low to the ground (he's very AP, you know?) but we recently got a real frame and box spring for his bed so it too was just wasting space in the garage!  >> two birds and all that!

OH!  Right, I almost forgot to say that the table top is painted in chalkboard black!  This table is fulfilling so many purposes now and the boys all love it! 

Since I was on a roll, I pulled out two frames (glass broke so, unusable?) that have been being stored > you guessed it <  in the garage and painted them to match the table & used the last two pieces of the flat surface from the makeshift bed frame as additional chalk boards for the wall!  That way, when the table is covered in LEGOS (or whatever) they can still have access to a chalk board.  >> clever, I know, right?

This is the "before" (the "after" is in the picture of the table above), I recycled these empty containers too!  They can put their chalk or tiny LEGO pieces in them & when they change their minds, they just rewrite in chalk on the label painted on the containers to keep track!

(After the party sharing and creating and enjoying their new table)

(in photo:  Elias, Hayden, Ian, Samuel, Tristen)

THE PARTY:

Started with a large spread of movie foods.  We had pizza rolls with ranch dip, cherry-filled and cream cheese-filled brownie bites, pigs-n-a-blanket, mandarin oranges (had to throw something healthy in there), sour apple candy rings, nachos & deviled eggs (Tristen's request) - - and let's not forget the cake!

At the request of the birthday boys, the cake says "Birthday of Some Wimpy Kids" >> are you laughing hysterically yet? No?  Well watch this video of them blowing out the candles!

How about now? ahahaha!  Trick candles rock!

>> All day long Hayden had waited for cake <<

The party went on...  They opened presents, played outside, played with their presents, ate tons of food and after the kids who couldn't spend the night went home... well, they continued on without them! 

>> Proof that they did get a some sleep <<

(in photo: Garrett, Hunter & David)

In the morning the boys wasted no time picking up where they'd left off while I made breakfast (ooops, attempted to make breakfast; burnt french toast sticks anyone?)

None of the boys seemed to notice, haha, they ate and kept playing until I announced that it was time to pack up their things, get dressed and head to the theatre!

(in photo:  Garrett, Hunter, David & Seth & Hayden with the sun in his sensitive eyes & Ian, Tristen & Max)

We provided the movie tickets for all (the b-day boys chose to treat their friends to the movie rather than get an extra gift), & each boy got their own movie-sized box of candy! 

(in photo: Ian, Tristen, Max, two empty seats for me & Brad, Hayden, Garrett, Hunter, Seth, David)

They were all so very well-behaved!  I would reccomend a party like this for "tweeners" - those kids who are still too young to be given money and set loose in the mall but are now too old for traditional birthday parties with games and prizes and goody bags!