Cavel's Great Gamer Party Loading...

An Update

I'm finally back.  I missed May.  I don't know about you guys, but I always think I'm in a busy season and it's going to pass, and things will calm down, but that never actually happens.  It seems like we just go from one busy season to the next.  We got through April with Easter and Jerusalem and the Kid's Business Fair and a few family birthday parties and gymnastics and cheer, and I thought things were busy then and everything would calm down, but nope.  May had other plans. May was full of field trips and end-of-the-year parties and events along with a State Gymnastics Meet and cheer practice and fundraisers, a culinary fundraiser at school in which we made about 500 spaghetti dinners over the course of 2 nights, final cooking projects at school, Mother's Day and our 12th Anniversary, graduation and graduation parties, the Watermelon Festival where our 2 big kiddos sold crafts, a 90th birthday party for my Aunt Ruth, family gatherings, and the last days of school and all that comes along with that, as both a teacher and a mom.  We also squeezed in a skating trip and a couple of fondue nights.  Shew.  May, man.

It's summer now, and I still feel busy.  Mostly because of all the things I didn't get to do in May, I guess.  Now, I'm just playing catch up.  My classroom is still not finished.  We've been out of school over a week, and I just can't get it done.  By the end of May, my house was wrecked.  I had totes of Easter stuff half-way packed away in the middle of the floor and stuff just piled everywhere, school bags still unpacked, toys scattered across the floor, counters overflowing... It got overwhelming.  I am trying to learn that my house will just not be clean for another few years.  I have to come to terms with that.  I try, I really do... but kids.  I get one room clean just as they are destroying another.  It is all just never-ending cycles it seems.  

Anyway, here I am June 4th, and I have a million other things I could and should be doing, but I'm determined to sit down and do what I've been neglecting to do.  My last blog was precisely 2 months ago.  I officially failed my goal of one blog per month, but I'm not throwing in the towel.  I'm just going to pick up where I left off and maybe try to double-up when I get a chance.  Also, I've been waiting to be inspired, like I was in Jerusalem, but I think I've been too busy for that.  My brain is on over-drive and that isn't when inspiration tends to come.  One thing I have maintained is my Bible reading plan.  If I get behind throughout the week, I always make sure to catch up.  And there hasn't been a day yet in 2023 that I've gone without reading the Word.  I truly believe that is what got me through. Some days, that 30 minutes would be the only down/quiet time I had.  Some days, the kids were already up, and even that time wasn't/isn't quiet, but it still helps me get through the craziness.  I did read the book of Ruth recently, and I do plan to write about that soon.  I'm still pondering it and waiting for the full inspiration to come.  I'm also planning to write about Easter and some things we do to keep Jesus as the focus of it all, but I'm waiting for the full inspiration on that too.  While I'm waiting, I'm going to blog about Cavel's birthday party since I never got to it.  One day, I'm going to go back through all the fun parties we've had throughout the years.  Today is not that day.  Today, we focus on Cavel's 10th birthday party, which was over 3 months ago already.  Time is flying, but that's another blog for another day.  For now: Cavel's Great Gamer Party:

Some Background

Last year, Jurnee turned 10.  In our family, all birthdays are special, but double digits seem like a really big deal, so we let her go all-out.  She had been begging for a party at Defy for a while, but we normally just do parties at home.  Since she was entering double-digits, we caved.  Not only that, but she invited some friends and her cousin, Eden, along with every single girl from her class (I'm a big believer in no one feeling left out) to join us and sleep over.  We had a big crew.  It was super fun!  When it came time to plan Cavel's double-digits party this year, we couldn't decide what to do, but we promised him he'd get the big hoopla too.  We almost went with renting out a theater, but I couldn't guarantee what family-friendly movie would be showing at the time.  We debated a few things but just couldn't come up with something he was totally sold on... until his dad mentioned a professional basketball game. Cavel played his first basketball season this year and recently became a big fan of the sport, so he opted to attend his first NBA game instead of having a giant party, along with having a regular party at home.  Works for me.  Because the tickets were a big part of his gift/party, we tried to keep his party pretty basic and cheap.  A basic party is hard for me, but I think I did pretty good.  

The Theme/Deco

Cavel is a huge gamer and we'd never done a gaming party, plus they happened to have a ton of gaming party supplies at the Dollar Tree, so that theme just made sense. We just went with those colors, turquoise, lime, and black, and what we could find on Amazon and throughout the house to match, like the PlayStation light.  I'm not sure where I found the Minecraft cups for silverware, but they matched pretty well.  It was either Dollar Tree or Walmart.  I also found some Minecraft giftwrap that worked.  Afterwards, I found some Super Mario Christmas paper I had bought on clearance after Christmas.  I was pretty bitter, because it also matched the color-scheme, and it had NO evidence of being Christmas paper.  I could've saved like 4 bucks.  Darn.  Anyway, I definitely recommend checking out the after-Christmas sale for paper that would work for non-Christmas events.  We found really cute invitations on Amazon that were shaped like controllers.  I wouldn't recommend the exact ones we got because the color wasn't as brilliant as advertised, but they worked and there are lots of similar options. One of his friend's moms saw the invitation and reached out and offered us this fun background since she won't be able to use it again.  It was the perfect touch and was a great use for our photobooth/backdrop stand (best investment ever!)

The tablecloths, plates, helium balloon, birthday banner, and centerpiece on the left were all Dollar Tree items!  

Shirts

I love themed shirts and will whip out my Cricut when necessary, but this time I got lucky.  Our shirts were ALL shirts we already owned, believe it or not.  Jurnee wasn't so lucky, but she survived. 😂

The Cake

For some reason, Cavel had his heart set on dirt-cake instead of regular cake, so I made this full-sized dirt-cake along with individual servings, and it was a hit.  I had already bought cute little gaming cupcake toppers, so we just used those in the dirt-cake, so it somewhat matched the theme at least.  

Cupcakes

Because I know not everyone loves dirt-cake, I had to make some cupcakes too.  There really is no need to spend $100 on a cake, when you can make several dozen cute and delicious cupcakes to fit any theme for about $10.  Just use matching icing and/or sprinkles and pipe some icing on top.  Arrange the cupcakes in the shape of the number they are turning or some other easy shaped (like the lightsabers I did for Canyon's Star Wars party), and bam!  You're good to go.  

Also, you can't go wrong with bite-sized brownies, which Jurnee also arranged into the shape of a 10.  (Mommas and daddies, they are definitely watching us. Learning from us.  Mimicking us.  We must be cognizant about what they're watching, learning, and mimicking. It is an honor, but it is also a HUGE responsibility.)

Food and Drinks

For the food, we actually went pretty basic without a theme and just did some of his favorites: grilled burgers and hotdogs, fruit, pasta salad, chips and dip.  But I had to include our favorite fruit punch.  I make this for pretty much every party and just switch up the color to match the theme.  This is the lime green colored Hawaiian Punch (Green Berry Rush flavor), but the jug is turquoise so the color was a little off, but the flavor was spot on.  Just mix one container of any flavor of Hawaiian punch (or mix 2 flavors to get the color you want) with a 2 liter of ginger ale and about 2 cups of pineapple juice.  Add as much sherbet as you like and whatever flavor you prefer.  These punch cups were another Dollar Tree find.

The Pinata

For some reason, my kids are determined to have pinatas these days.  I'm not a fan because they just don't last and then your candy gets all dirty, but YOAKO (You're Only a Kid Once), so whatever.  We got the pinata.  Thankfully it doubled as cute deco.  The stick it came with was more like a wand, so we had to use a bat.  Bad idea, take it from me.  Definitely invest in the pinata stick or use a broom or anything less intense than a metal bat. 😂 Also, Jurnee's birthday is only 2 weeks before Cavel's, so I was able to buy candy in bulk and saved what was left from stuffing her pinata to stuff his.  Every little bit helps, especially when your kids' birthdays are so close together.  If your kiddo has a birthday after a holiday, look for clearance candy that doesn't have holiday themed wrappers.  You'd be surprised how much you can find.  In addition to candy, we included these fun gamer bracelets in the pinata.  These were a fan favorite for sure!

Fun

In an attempt to keep things basic and simple, we didn't plan anything other than food, cake, presents, and the pinata.  I think these are actually the kind of parties kids prefer.  They can just be kids.  I will say, this was the end of our trampoline net.  RIP.

The more the merrier, in my book.  Cavel invited so many kids.  I didn't even know all of their names at the beginning of the party.  But I love that about my kids.   They genuinely love people, and that makes my momma heart so happy.

Present Time

My kids definitely enjoy both giving and receiving gifts. I always love to see the other kids watching the gift opening too.  It's cool to see their excitement watching their friend open the gift they brought and they truly seem happy for the birthday kiddo instead of jealous.  Good job, mommas and daddies.

Overview

So, there's that... Cavel's Great Gamer Party to celebrate him hitting the double digits... Only 3 1/2 months later.  I think it turned out perfect for him and accomplished my goals of making him feel special and keeping it pretty basic.  It definitely didn't break the bank, which is a win in my book.  I hope you gained some ideas for your party planning repertoire. If you have any tips or questions, feel free to leave a comment.  Before I know it, we'll be planning the next party.  Stay tuned!  And until then, happy party planning!

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