The cat is out of the bag now that the invitations to the Eighth Grade Dinner Dance have been mailed! Our theme this year is "You Mean the World to Us." A travel them as the eighth grade students will be
"traveling" to several different high schools. Some will go to St. Lucy's Priory High School, some will attend DamienHigh School, Bishop
Amat, Bonita High School and one will attend a high school in Los Angeles for the Performing Arts. We have utilized the
Ghandi saying "Be the Change You Want to See in the World." There are several key aspects to this event and to try and tie the theme into various parts of the evening.
Traditionally this event is a sit down dinner for the graduates and their parents. The graduates wil
l be honored with their awards and some students will receive financial
scholarships (if they plan on attending a Catholic based High School). This should take up two hours and the remaining two hours is for the Eighth Grade Dance with the Seventh Grade. The Seventh Graders and their parents put this event on for the Eighth Grade Graduates. The Seventh Graders serve the meal and drinks. The Seventh Grade parents do the fundraising for the event, decide on a theme, decorate, train the students how to serve, decide on the menu, set up for the event and clean up. Without spilling too many beans, we had to decide how to decorate the entrance, a exterior enclosed patio, the main ballroom, and the room where the dance will be held incorporating our theme into each one. We are also performing a skit at the beginning of the dinner that incorporates the theme and then move into a slide show. The menu should be reflective of this theme also.
Alot to coordinate! Ideas? Please share your comments. And as we get closer to the event I'll share more. Right now you can be privy to our Travel Invitations. They are designed to resemble "luggage" with stamps and stickers to incorporate the look and feel of the old time steamer trunks used in travel. The theme is clearly written on the front page and a cute saying... "the Seventh Grade Class Invites You on a Trip Around the World.." The Eighth Grade Dinner Dance. "Your journey begins..." and then we wrote the date and time. The RSVP is stamped with the Memory Makers Magnetic Stamp to resemble a "stamp" that would be in a "passport." We are all so excited and CAN NOT wait until the event!
My son was born in December which means that birthdays just are as special as everyone else's. I think kids need that "magic" when they are kids. These are the moments that they will cherish and remember fondly. Jackson's last birthday party was when he was in Kindergarten. We threw him a Pirate Party. It came out so cute, but it sprinkled. Too cold to do most of the activities and the party goers left early for Jack to jump in his pirate ship jumper by himself. This time I brainstormed with an idea of a "half" birthday. This would make the party in June and thus warm enough for a Hang 10 birthday for a boy who is TEN!
We invited the whole class to our home on the last day of school, since school ended at TEN (10 am). The party could start at twelve and end around four. I made the invites with the Hang 10 1/2 theme - surfboards and hibiscus flowers. The party favors were brightly colored buckets which I used a paint pen on and wrote each child's name and drew some flowers. Filled them with Frisbees, Hawaiian purses for the girls, plastic jelly fish thingies, goggles for the boys, and some candy. I made tags to go on the outside and a prayer on the other side of the tag.
Wrapped them in cellophane and tied them with a brightly colored striped ribbon. Lauren drew chalk feet up the drive way for the "Hang Ten" theme and to show the party goers how to get into the party. I snapped a picture of each guest in front of a blue background with Palm Trees holding a Boogie Board. (When Lauren turned ten I used a pink Surf Board - this year I could not find someone who owned one). The kids dropped off their towels and clothes bag at the "Beach Check In Station", then off to the pool! I also had a "Wipe Out Station" which had band aids, sunscreen and dry towels. And a "Sweet Station" for refueling - Cawabunga. The Sweet Station was full of candy, rice krispy treats, butterscotch brownies, sweet tarts, lemonade, skittles, etc...
We had water guns to play with and we found these blow up water boats with water guns on either side at Costco. We bought four. The kids had a blast sailing around an squirting everyone. While others chose to shoot the guns and run around the pool. The girls congregated in the jacuzzi pool. We played the Limbo, Hula Hoop - who could keep the hoop up the longest, water balloon toss in pairs - then the kids had a water balloon fight with the left overs afterward. Great pictures! I wish I could share these. The kids were getting pretty smacked. Pow!
We also played the toothpick game. Drop a toothpick in the pool and have them search it out. They loved this! And a game that involved colors, called COLORS, where guests choose a color in their mind and then get into the pool so they can swim up to the designated "it" person who has their back to the pool and they try to make it all the way without having their color called out. Another fun game! I had alot of help that day, Lauren had a friend over (thanks Alexa), who helped with the games. Many parents stayed to help keep an eye on the kids in the pool. Plus my parents were there as designated Life Guards.
Jack's cake was a beach themed cake. The sand was crumbled graham crackers. Easy to decorate and the figurines I picked up at A & J Candies in Glendora.
It was a great birthday for boy who was so patient in finally getting a birthday party! Oh, did I mention that it was overcast and windy, and sprinkled in the morning so I could not set up anything right away! Holy Toledo! That is two for two! The Thank You's should be representative of the festivities. Since I am a scrapbooker I made each guest a mini scrapbook album (four page accordion card) with pictures from all the fun we had. The cover of the album was the picture I snapped at the beginning of the party with the guest and the bogey board. It was the last day of Fourth Grade so these made for an added memento for everyone. Happy Birthday Jackson!
