Movies and Photobooth 8th Birthday Party

Daughter #2 had a birthday party late January, and Im only getting around to writing about this now.  With all three in school and an increased work schedule and activities schedule, throwing the super deluxe handmade birthday parties of before simply is beyond my ability from a time and effort standpoint.  Daughter #2, fortunately for me, is sensible, level-headed, and knows exactly what she wants to do.

"Mom, for my birthday, I just want to watch a movie with my friends.  I want to have snacks and CANDY."

This sounded like a perfectly lovely idea (meaning easy idea) so I agreed that wed throw a movie birthday.  It seemed kind of too passive simply to just throw the movie birthday so I came up with the idea of a photobooth before the movie, and while the movie was going on, I could print all the photos at home, and then the guests could put them all in photo albums and then they could take them home.  It seemed like a simple, doable, and fun party, and it suited Daughter #2s sensibilities perfectly.  The movie she chose was "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2," just out on DVD, and with that the party stage was set.

Opening the Party
It was a great warm-up to the movie, having the girls pose in their photobooth and have fun.  I turned a bare wall into a black wall with chalkboard contact paper, and even bought some chalkboard markers just in case the kids wanted to write something on the board and pose beside it.  I got some basic props from Michaels (a feather boa is a must), and even picked up some cute frames using their coupon which you can find in their weekly ad.  I borrowed costumes and hats from other people and created a space where the kids wanted to dress up and have fun.

After I took the pictures, the trickiest part was ensuring that I had enough photos for each child to put into albums after the movie was done.  I bought simple albums from Michaels, each one about $3, and they were perfect to slide photos into easily after the movie was over.

My photo printer and photo paper were well used at this point.  I just kept printing photos as the movie played.

Chalkboard Contact Paper - I had enough wall space for three rolls.


Chalkboard Markers


The Food
People who know me well know that Im not particularly a huge fan of sweets and processed foods, but for this birthday, I did want the girls to have some candy, but in small amounts.  I found tiny little shot glasses which I figured the girls couldnt fill with too much candy, and put into bowls a variety of candies, not to many of anything, and let the girls fill their cups with a bit of candy.

I also had huge bowls of popcorn that I made so that the kids could dig in while the movie played.

As for food I made, I ended up doing as my friend put it, "Food pretending to be food" which was the direction I really wanted to go in, but exhaustion set in and I could only do a few of the items I had cooked up.  Since the movie was "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" I couldnt help but do meatball sandwiches.  I used my favorite meatball recipe, got some of the torta bread, toasted it, added a bit of cheese, meatballs and cut the sandwiches into quarters.

Using puff pastry, I also made pigs in a blanket.

Finally, for the birthday girl to blow out candles on, Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes.

Ending the Party
After the cake, the girls had a few moments to sift through the 100+ photos that I printed out and make photo albums of their movie.  Parents loved the albums, and I loved the fun and memorable keepsake as the party favor.

Me.  at the end of this party.

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