Lego Chima Birthday Party Keeping it very very simple

I think Im lucky that Son is as straightforward as he is.  He doesnt hem and haw about what he wants, but clearly asks for what he wants and hears my ideas on how to make it happen.  This year, he was detertmined to have a Lego Chima birthday party, have his friends come over and race speedors, and have a grand ol time.

The problem is that his birthday is in December, right before everything happens in the holiday season.  His special day gets crushed in between a million other special holiday events, so generally planning his birthday is one of the last things on my mind.  Hes always very focused however, letting me know the specifics of what he wants and how hed like it to be.

This year - he had very simple request.  He wanted a LEGO CHIMA BIRTHDAY PARTY where everyone built their own kit.

Inwardly I groaned, but since I planned a similar LEGO birthday last year, I gave him similar ideas of what I could manage. Since we had the kits, one per child, costs were going to rise, so only five other guests, no lunch and Id have on hand my nephew and my student to help troubleshoot things going awry.  Each guest would take their kit home after building and play and wed call it a day.

His response, "THATs EXACTLY what I want!"  Phew for me.

The other fortunate thing for me is that his birthday always falls after Black Friday and Cyber Monday for Christmas gift shopping, so generally speaking, Im able to pick up some kits for a bargain.  This year was no different as the Lego Store had a huge number of speedor sets 50% off and so I snagged a stack of them in order to have plenty for the kids to choose from.  I planned on returning the rest, but then Daughters each wanted one, as did my teenage assistants.

Activities were planned and all I needed to worry about was food.  Son only cares that the food is all stuff he can eat so we went with a super simple menu with my new addition of "chima jello" which ended up grossing me out (artifical flavors and colors) but looked totally awesome in the cups.  Kids had a mixed response to it with one child eating all the jello while Son freaked out when someone told him his tongue was blue.  If I were to change anything, Id make layered jello in individual cups as making the finger jello was a lot stickier and messier than I preferred.

Here is a very simple outline of what I did with some pdfs of things that I thought were fun.

Decorations
Son colored his own pages from the Lego website and taped them to the wall.
I made a Happy Birthday banner with "chima-ish" lettering.  I printed the letters on blue paper and just attached it to string.
Blue tablecloth on the table

Activities
Color pages of Lego Chima characters.  This is great to do while waiting for all your guests to arrive.
Build Lego speedorz.  I had a nice collection and selection of ones that I had gotten 50% off.  I have the kids build them on large baking sheets with high sides as it keeps the pieces organized into individual areas and no one fights.  It seems to minimize the loss and confusion of pieces.

Race and play Lego speedorz. I had an empty floor space where the boys could race and test out each others Speedorz.
Snack time!


Menu
Rice Krispy Pops - made these and put them on a bed of blue sprinkles to simulate the chi water

Chi Jello- yellow and blue finger jello

Hummus and chips
Sacred Chi water (Really just bottled water, but I printed blue labels with the words sacred chi water on them.)

Two hours later, party over!

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Lego Birthday Party for Sons 5th Birthday Low key fun

The cruddy thing about having your birthday in December, as Son does, is that it smashes up against other holidays which means that this momma has a hard time thinking and planning it in a manner that she normally might.   But Son, in all of his wisdom of age 4-and-turning 5 figured out that hed better start laying out his demands for what he thought his birthday should look like early.  And he did.  Just that.

"Mom.  I want a lego birthday party.  I want my friends to come, sit down and build a big lego project and take the lego project home."

"Huh?" I responded, in the midst of reviewing college essays.

"My friends.  My birthday.  Legos and lots of them."

I looked up and said, "Okay.  Thats fine.  But if that is the birthday youre going to have, you can only invite 5 kids."

Son looked dismayed and said, "WHY?"

"Bigger lego kits cost more money - so if that is what you want, you cant have as many boys.  Think about it."  Secretly I actually hoped that hed go this route because that would just mean a lot less chaos for me.

"Okay.  Five boys.  I can decide which five boys?"

"Yes."

And so it was.  I figured five boys, six bigger lego sets (the ones that cost $9-$10), some simple treats, and bam - Id have a party with minimal fuss, which was what I really wanted.  I managed to find a great deal on the size lego set I wanted (buy one, get one 50% off) and bought a couple of varieties.  The lego sets would be their project during the party and their party favor.  Simple streamlined and exactly what the Son ordered.

However, a week before the party, Son entered the party space and casually remarked, "The girls always get some nice decorations.  How come I dont have any?"

"Uh...you need decorations too?"

"Yes.  I just want something that goes from here to there," and he pointed to wall where he wanted his decorations.  My heart sank.  What was I going to do?

Turns out - I was going to make legos.  I had cardstock, in all the appropriate colors and the only thing I needed to buy were foam squares to help raise the circles off the cardstock.  And thats all I did.

Activity
Each child followed the instruction booklet inside their lego kit and built their own.  I was lucky and I recruited my nephew, two of my students, and Daughters (all great lego builders) to all be assistants for my young lego builders.  My nephew in particular, who is a young lego master, was extremely helpful as he was able to troubleshoot when a couple of the builders ran into trouble.  If youre going to go this route, I definitely think having people who are experienced with legos helping out.  (Im good at building too, but I didnt want all the stress. :) )

I used half pan sheets (I borrowed some from my friend) to keep the legos from individual kits in one place and to help organize the children.   Its definitely a worthwhile idea.

I purchased sets similar to this one at a brick and mortar store.  I bought a selection of sets (more than I needed) - three different kinds all similarly priced, so that kids could choose the one they wanted and I simply returned all the extras.  After the kids choose, hide the rest so no one is tempted to change their mind.
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The half sheet pans which are super nice to use.


Decorations
I did not plan to do decorations, because I figured it wouldnt be all that important to Son.  I thought wrong.  At the last minute, I was inspired by a picture I saw which created lego shapes with paper, and decided to do the same.  I had to come up with my own dimensions however, and these are the ones I came up with using 8.5x11in cardstock.

Square (2 x 2 legos) - 4.5 x 4.5 inches
Rectangle (3 x 2 legos) - 6.5 x 4.5 inches
Mini lego (1 x 2 legos) - 2.25 x 4.5 inches
Large rectangle (2 x 4 legos) - 8.75 x 4.5 inches

I basically cut my 8.5x11 sheets of paper, down the length, into a 4.5 inch strip and a 4 inch strip.  The 4.5 inch strip I cut into the various sizes for the blocks, and the 4 inch side, I used to cut the 2 inch circles.  If you have a 1.5 inch or a smaller punch, by all means just use it.  (I go for the modern representation, and my legos are NOT to scale.)

2 inch circle punch which I just used it to punch away.


These foam stickers allow you to create some height from the circles and lift the circles off the cardstock, giving the illusion of legos.


I made a bunch of different blocks in a variety of colors, and made a garland with some, a mobile with some others, and then a randomly hung some strings of them....

Menu
Since Son spends all the birthday parties he goes to surrounded by food he cannot touch, I wanted to have a birthday party for him FULL of food he could eat.  In years past, I always made a cupcake that he could have in conjunction with a dairy and egg rich cupcake for the guests, but this year, I decided that he should have a birthday with his friends only full of food that he enjoys.  I kept it simple, as it was only going to be a snack and not a full blown meal and he told me what he really wanted to have.

Dairy and Egg Free Banana Muffins
Mango Rice Crispy Pops (I just substituted freeze dried mango for the strawberry)
Fruit Salad
Hummus, pita chips, and carrot sticks
Water, in mini water bottles

Son loved his birthday, and at the end of the day, gave me a huge hug and said thank you.  He also sat in the middle of the living room for about 4 hours straight opening various lego birthday presents and didnt budge from his spot building, rebuilding and playing with all of his toys.  It was a lovely, quiet (SOOOO QUIET) birthday party, its one Id like to recreate for each Daughter.

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