Surely you didn’t think I’d finish a pair of pants and then take a BREAK? OH NO-NO. My creative juices were awakened by those pants. I AM ALIVE! Within seconds of taking down Sara’s Max & Ruby 3rd Birthday Tea Party (not an exaggeration), Sara announced that when she turned 4, she’d be having a Monkey Party. She has spent 10 months reminding me…MONKEY MOMMY. MONKEY PARTY.
That party has been running around in my head for a while now. Bounce House. Moon Bounce. Bounce Party at a Bounce Place. Jump around like monkeys. Oops. Lay Off. Recession. Start over. Think handmade. Think home. Think….oh…no…don’t go there Lori…DON’T DO IT! Think….CANDY LAND (referring to Kelly’s UNHOOKED 1st Birthday Party). It’s out there now. Stay with me, it gets better, I promise.
Summer, put the girls birthday parties together considering their birthdays are mere weeks apart. Hot. July. Monkeys…in a rainforest. Sprinkler park assembled in the back yard by attaching sprinklers to the sides of the porch, etc. Borrow the neighbors spickets for water pressure. Fill up the elephant pool. Sew some favor drawstring bags out of monkey and banana themed fabric. Use monkey and banana coloring pages to create pennant banners. Chocolate covered bananas. Beg sister with artistic talent to help color the invitations. Are you feeling it?
Greg’s not. Perhaps the Candy Land decorating hangover is lasting longer than I anticipated. The conversation went something like this:
Lori: So I’m starting to think about the Monkey Party.
Greg: Ugh. Uuuuuuuuugh.
Lori: Greg! It’s going to be great! But it’s only 8 weeks away…not much time.
Greg: Lori! 8 weeks! I could plan a Shuttle Launch in 8 weeks.
Lori: Not if you had to BUILD the Shuttle!
He brought me pink roses later in the day “just because”, and while I’m sure he was thinking “points, I just scored big points”, those roses said to me, “Hmm…sounds like he’s warming up to the idea of a rainforest tree-lined driveway made entirely out of salvaged cardboard and wood stakes”. Ah, sweet marital communication.
All good brainstorms need a focal point, so introducing my favorite little monkey pencil (top picture). We scored 2 of these cuties made by Plan Toys at Imagination Station. They were giving them away for Earth Day, and I called them today and asked if I could buy the remainders for our favor bags. Score! He makes me want to draw something. If I could draw. Oh well, I’ll have to settle for making a list of games. What sort of games would one play if one were a monkey in a rainforest? When I told Greg my first 6 ideas cost nothing, he said I could double that list as long as it was half the cost. Score, yet again!
5 responses so far ↓
1 Roxanne // May 13, 2009 at 10:29 pm
IF you need help coloring let me know. I love to color. I can’t draw worth a darn but I can color pretty well. Why do you think I went into teaching. Mom right now also has the overhead projector from school here at home so we can make big picture.
2 Lydia // May 13, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Pin the banana on the monkey’s mouth. Only the paper monkeys are attached to a bungee cord, which is stretched between two trees, suspended just above their heads. Greg keeps pulling on the bungee cord, so the monkeys are bouncing up and down. they have to pin the banana on the monkey when it comes down, or jump up and try to hit the monkeys. Should make for a good Youtube video.
3 Angela // May 14, 2009 at 6:48 am
Amazing….
There is always monkey in the middle with water balloons. Which parent volunteers???
4 The Momma // May 14, 2009 at 7:46 am
Lydia,
It is YOU who should write a book. It will be titled “Hilarious and Cruel Games for Children”. What’s twisted is that the girls would think that game is a total blast.
Angela, I’m in the middle. I’m always, always, always in the middle. HA! Sorry we chatted so quickly last week…I’m back and not yet well rested, but home all the same!
Roxanne,
Overhead?! I may be calling you! What fun!
Lori
5 Dawn // May 14, 2009 at 7:55 am
Hey Lori…we need to chat. Our church VBS theme from last year was the rainforest. I have tons of decorating ideas that are fabulous and games galore that have been kid tested. Church budget is almost nil…so most of it comes with a price tag of $0 or just the price of construction paper. I have some pictures but they are all on my other computer – might help you at least get started