Robot Birthday Party

I've posted before with various snippets of info regarding the now infamous bRobot birthday party... and here is my final installment (I probably could do more since I haven't even touched on the invites we made, but I think this should wrap things up nicely).

1. We started the party off with a Robot Dance contest.  I am thankful for all the kid-friendly robot songs on YouTube (no time to download and create my own playlist). 
2. We re-booted with robot fuel (bottled water with mailing labels stuck on over the store label), then munched on Computer Chips (dried apple chips) and Nuts & Bolts (snack mix).  I filled two old coffee cans with the munchies to give them a more "robot" look.
3. Next we all got to assemble our own robots.  I cut robot layers using my Cricut cartridge in a variety of colors.  The mini-bots chose their color, glued the pieces, attached the googly eyes, and then drew in other details.  These robots were attached to the outside of the brown paper bags we used for goodies.
4. Lastly, each friend was given a robot sugar cookie to eat while the birthday boy opened presents.  I opted for cookies since they do not need to be sliced and do not require plates or forks to eat them (and the crumbs vacuum up better than mushy cake crumbs).

The party was a big hit! and I was exhausted...

BRO-bots - the cake

The birthday season is finally coming to an end around here.  Luckily I have three boys who have (so far) been able to agree on a birthday theme.  This year was Robots - and I have dubbed them the Bro-bots.  I did an early post on the cake design that my oldest came up with and the drawing I made as a compromise to his design.  Well here is the final product in all its glory!

And the BRO-bots (notice the robot t-shirts they are wearing)

The details:

3 cake mixes were needed for the 3 8x8 square cake layers & 1 dome cake with inner layer

3 jars of frosting (in between layers & dome, crumb coat, and final gray layer)

1 jar of silver sugar sprinkles

2 red white & blue oreos for the robot eyes

1 mini twizzler for the robot mouth

dryer vent cut for robot arms

number candles with the boys' ages as the robot buttons

Now this was just the combo party for the family - they'll be another post after the friend party this coming weekend!

Birthday Bot Cake

Here is another sneak peak into the big BroBot Birthday party planning!

The boys and I recently had a big discussion as to what their birthday cake should look like for their Robot Party.  Here is what my oldest thought it should be:

I, of course, had other ideas.  Notice the feet, the present eyes, and the candles on his shoulders? I especially like the extra long arms.  Although the creativity is off the charts, the cake couldn't practically be made this way and expected to stay upright.  Not to mention, it looked a tiny bit scary in my opinion.  So we did a little debating and ended up compromising on this:

You'll have to check back at the end of September to see what it actually ends up looking like!

Robotz on the Brain

I know it may seem a little strange, but I have been collecting ideas and items for our annual birthday party already.  For those of you who don't know, all three of my boys' birthdays fall within 2 weeks (late Sept / early Oct) so we always have one big party.  One party means one theme.  And I always let them choose the theme... as long as they choose before summer hits. 

A big party for three little boys, family, and friends takes a lot of planning.  So I like to break it up over about 6 months.  I know, CRAZY!  Pinterest has definitely made the "idea development" part of the planning more streamlined, but I still like to wander the stores and websites periodically to find those clearance steals that you cannot plan for.  Just because I have one party for 3 boys does not mean my budget is 3 times bigger.

This year's theme is ROBOTZ - but not OUTERSPACE.  Do you know how difficult it is to find robot items that do not also include spaceships?  Who decided that all robots come from outerspace?

So here is what my frugal shopping has achieved thus far:
1.  Robot Valentines (which will become invitations) 32 for $1
2.  Robot Coloring Books (full size) 15 for $3
3.  Robot Pencils and Pencil Cases 16 for under $8
4.  Robot Finger Puppets 16 for $2
5.  Stretchy Robots 16 for $2
6.  Robot Notebooks (5x7) 15 for $6
7.  I will obviously be buying some sort of robot candy (I like the options that Oriental Trading Co has) and that will complete my goodie bag items.  I am still looking for a "deal" on this item.

I am a huge fan of letting the kids pack their own goodie bags.  Three years ago we did this for our Pirate Party.  I gave each child a pirate map and sent them on a scavenger hunt around the yard to find their pirate booty.  It was a fun activity for the kids and it was one less thing I had to do to prep for the big day.  I am still working out my Robot-theme scavenger hunt, but it is definitely going to happen.

I am sure I will be posting more about this throughout the coming months, so check back often!