Building Blocks Party

JC, my eldest son, just celebrated his 7th birthday.  Since last year, he has been asking us for a birthday party. We had a huge celebration last February for SJ's 3rd birthday, where we also decided to have EJ's Dedication Day.  After seeing that party, he was even more determined to throw a big celebration for his own birthday. Personally, I'm not sure if we could still organize one for him.  But in the end, I still said yes.  You may wonder how wealthy we are, but I assure you, I've tried my very best to plan these celebrations on a budget.  All I need to do is be creative and put in the personal effort for all of these parties to happen.  We managed to host parties even on a tight budget because I bake and design my own cakes, I don't need to hire tables, chairs, or catering services, and I have my mom and some church friends who help with cooking and cleanup. I personally create all party decorations and giveaways. I also want to mention some generous friends who contributed to the party essentials.

I seized every opportunity to spend time organizing all the party details weeks in advance.  I don't know how to draw, and I was amazed that I was able to create the Lego Man standee.  I found it easy to make the Lego Man by cutting out the shapes, outlining the edges with a marker, and then assembling the parts together.  I used old posters and boxes to create this standee.  I covered empty boxes with colored paper and stacked them to form the letters JC, making them look like blocks piled up together. This served as our stage decor and also as our guests' photo booth.   

I was able to save money by sending our invitations through Facebook - no more printing costs. I personally designed the invitations and found a free template from Surviving the Stores, which had many links for more Lego Party Ideas.  I found a link to download the Lego Font, which was helpful for creating our invitation, logo, and banner.  

The above photo shows our party giveaways.  The keychains and books were sponsored by JC's godmothers, who knew how thankful we are to them.  I bought the block toys for P10.00 each.

More Party Details

 

While waiting for more guests to arrive, the children kept busy watching the Lego Movie. Every child was given a name tag written on block-shaped paper. Our first activity was to create a Lego Man's face. I have a pre-cut outline of a Lego Man's head that the children need to complete with drawing. Afterwards, they played "Pin the Head on the Lego Man. "

The children played with blocks too!  We grouped them, and they began to construct their own creations. We named the game "Become a Master Builder. " Each group presented their masterpieces. The winning group is selected based on who receives the loudest applause from the audience.

We had the block relay game. Once again, the children play in groups.  Each player has a spoon in their mouth.  Each group will have a plate with an equal number of blocks.  The first child in line will take a block and balance it in the spoon in their mouth, then pass that block to the person behind until it reaches the last player.  The last player will place that block on the back of their assigned plate.  The first group to finish all the blocks wins the game.

For our final game, we had to guess the number of blocks.  The person who guesses correctly or comes closest to the number wins a special prize.  We used an LCD projector to display a photo of the jar. Then we revealed the correct number of blocks by showing another photo of the blocks in a pile to provide the accurate count.

We are blessed to receive a brief message from the Lord through Pastor David Hoglin.  Then, he offered a prayer for the celebrant, and we took some souvenir photos. 

Then JC blew out his birthday cake candle, and everyone enjoyed having snacks and more time to chat.  The children had extra time to play with their toys.  

We enjoyed a simple meal of spaghetti, crispy chicken fillet, hot dogs, jello, and finger snacks -fish crackers, corn bits, sweet beans, green peas, and mini marshmallows. We also had chocolate drinks for everyone, courtesy of another friend. Of course, everyone shared in JC's cake that I baked.  

And yes, it is always possible to throw a party even on a very limited budget.  It would be hard and tiring for me; but I am always willing to sacrifice to stay within the budget while sharing happiness with others, especially creating good memories for my family.