10 year old birthday countdown 10, 9, 8

My oldest will be 10. So trying to think of a theme for his birthday that was not too young, was daunting.

Then Jack's birthday came and he received a rocket and some astronaut ice cream as a gift. I was inspired and talked to Sean who is starting to study the solar system, so we thought how about a space themed party?

Immediately I researched the rocket that Jack received and found the Cosmic Rocket and the ice cream were easily available online. For the party we'll keep the invite list small and those invited will build their rockets.

Then we'll sample astronaut ice cream and

we will also experiment with the mentos in a soda as demonstrated here.

You can find a kit online here or at Learning Express.

we'll serve Tang of course...

I also bought some pump air rockets to play with and have as a take away.

Sometimes you can get these at the dollar store. I ordered mine from here.

We will have a pinta and whack a planet or meteor, filled with milky way and mars bars.

A cookie cake decorated like the solar system, and some more mentos to take home as well.

I also thought of some space or moon inspired background music, here are 10 that I thought of;

1. Fireflies - Owl City

2. Man on the Monn  - R.E.M.

3. Starman  - David Bowie

4. Space Oddity (from Space Oddity) - David Bowie

5. Moonshadow - Cat Stevens

6. Walking on the Moon - the Police

7. Rocketman - Elton John
8. If There is a Rocket Tie Me to It - Snow Patrol
9. Drops of Jupiter - Train

10. Moondance - Van Morrison

leave me a comment of some other songs if you think of any.

Hope his party is out of this world!

Suzanne

Bunco... how to get started

I wanted to get Bunco started on my street. I am going to share the steps I took.

You have to have a bunco set, see if someone has one they are not using, or you can purchase one from here.

1). Talk it up among your circle of friends. Get a reading on who might be interested in playing. I used facebook to reach out to folks on my street, and got a very good initial response.

2). Pick a date to have an introduction to Bunco party, and invite folks. I'll use facebook and email as well as traditional invitations for those that are not on facebook. This is where those that are interested can come, learn how to play, learn about the time commitment involved and we can decide if it will be just snacks and dessert, or a full dinner, a BYOB, and what prizes we'll have and then determine what day of the week, and what week of the month you will play. Then folks can exchange contact information, and using a master calendar, pick a month to host.

3). Play a round or two so those new to the game will get a chance to play, and a refresher to those who have played before. Many folks play differently so this is a good time to decide how your Bunco group will play.

4). Have name tags.

5). Get excited for the first game. I have met folks who have played for 15 years plus.

How many of you have played Bunco before? and for how long have you played?

Do you give prizes, have dinner? Tell me what worked for you.

Suzanne