Photo-A-Day #3473

Our house was invaded by pint-sized Monster Hunters today. The theme of Eva’s party was Backyard Monster Hunt. This is something that Eva and I came up with on our own then we posted it to Cooper and Kid and the Time to Play Site. We also posted about it on this blog.

When the kids arrived they were given a piece of cardboard. They were tasked with designing a new Monster for the Monster Hunt. When the kids were done I took a photo of each of them with their monsters. We intended to go out tot he yard and hunt the monsters with some Nerf Blasters. Each kid received a Nerf Blaster and 6 foam darts then they were to be unleashed upon the monsters in the back yard. Unfortunately it had rained, hard all morning. The yard would be a muddy mess. We decided to roll with it like we did yesterday.

We prepared by setting up a place for the kids to play with the Monster 500 toys. We also set up stations to play some old school and new school board games. I picked up a balloon pop game and a foam creature craft. I was also going to set up a make your own crayons station. We might save that one for Andrew’s birthday.

Allison worked really hard on so many things for everyone to eat. She made a great Freaky Fruit Salad.

We had other decorations around as well. It works out great because of the Halloween Holiday, there are tons of monster related things in the stores. There was this two pack of Frankenstein cookies. Eva decorated them this morning.

We ordered four extra large pizzas from Eli’s and a chicken fingers dinner for Andrew and any of the other kids not eating pizza. We did pretty well on the pizza and everyone got to eat plenty, I hope. The sun came out a little after 2:30 and so by 4:00 the back yard was slightly drier so we went out to do the Monster Hunt.

I was going to be a character but just got dressed up instead. I gave the kids the basic instructions and let them have at blasting the monsters. Eva had an electric Nerf Rebelle blaster but she couldn’t keep it working so she changed over to her Heartbreaker Bow. She liked that much more. I had the Slingfire and that was pretty awesome. I bought all the kids a Nerf elite Strongarm. It holds six darts an is easy to fire and reload. It packs a pretty decent punch as well. The kids had a fun time and let off some steam. Parents got to play with the blasters as well.

Then it was time for the Cake. Allison worked really hard on making this monster cake that was designed by Eva in a sketch. I think that the final outcome was fantastic and Eva loved it as well. She didn’t see it until the moment she opened her eyes to blow out the candles.

In addition to the cake there were also cupcakes and each had a monster toothpick in it (gotta love Halloween). The cupcakes were orange and purple Funfetti, my favorite kind of cake.

After cake Eva opened her presents and she was thrilled with the wonderful things that her friends gave her. She even got musical gifts like a ukulele and a harmonica. I was able to get her the Crayola Design Pro Fashion set which we will be featuring in a Gift Guide for Cooper and Kid. She’s real excited to use that.

Each kid left with their Nerf blaster, 6 additional darts (about 16 darts were lost in the backyard and so each kid’s original 6 withered down to 4), a LEGO Mixels, a little lightstick and a Monster Activity pack. It was a very fun day.