Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A budget-friendly LEGO party.












I still can't quite believe it, but Aesop turned seven last week.
Yes, SEVEN.

As you may or may not know, Aesop that lovely, slightly nerdy, type of boy. He adores all things science, Starwars, superheroes and, mostly importantly, LEGO. It seemed only fitting that he should have a LEGO themed birthday bash this year.

There is something else you should also know : in our house we only have parties every second year. I'm not sure if this makes me a meaner Mum than most, but so far it seems to work for us.
(I should assure you that we do not restrict birthday celebrations as such, simply the actual throwing of a party. On alternate years we have an outing and family dinner etc. I'm not thaaaaat mean!)

Aesop's 5th birthday was a Starwars party, and we had so much fun planning every last little detail. This year, being a month off having a babe, I had a little less energy (and cash!) to spend but still wanted to make it every bit as awesome for him. I wanted to keep it all quite low-key, but not make him feel like he gave anything up, if that makes sense.

Aesop chose 4 friends from his class (this, I think, was the hardest part! Only four!) and delivered hand drawn LEGO head invites to them. Abraham whipped these up, and all the Mums commented on how simple and effective they were. The rsvp's came back very quickly!

I spent a bit of time scouring the net and compiled some ideas on Pinterest. We planned a few simple party games ( a hunt for little LEGO heads around the house, a tower building competition and a Starwars LEGO game..) but on the day the boys were happier to just scramble through the mountain of bricks we laid out in the lounge, and to play with Aesop's other toys. We didn't plan prizes for any of the games, because that always adds to the expense and the kids soon forget about them anyway!

The food was kept very simple, too. We had the usual party faves : cheerio sausages, sausage rolls, mini samosas, mini pita pizzas, burger ring chips, malteasers and a GIANT bowl of lollies. I'm really glad I kept it straight forward, because in the end they would have been happy with just sausage rolls and lollies! They were even so full that they weren't interested in the cake/cupcakes when they came out!

The cake (which is mostly still in the fridge, anyone fancy popping round for a cuppa and cake?) was baked in a square tin, and iced with four upside down cupcakes on top. It was not my finest show of decorating, but I'm glad I didn't spend more time on it - the kids hardly looked at it!
The cupcakes were plain vanilla with coloured icing, topped with some very cool brick lollies I found on Trademe. They didn't get eaten either! Madness!

And, finally, the goodie bags. These contained more of the super cool LEGO lollies (they actually stack! And taste good! Bonus!), a wee colouring book we printed out (from here) and a minifigure. I popped them into a yellow sandwich bag and drew a face on with vivid. Voila! The kids were stoked.

I learned a very valuable lesson at this years party - sometimes less really is more.

14 comments:

  1. I remember thinking that your star wars party was the coolest thing ever but this is equally cool.
    I love that cake. I love those cupcakes. I love the invites.
    You guys are so clever.

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  2. PERFECT TIMING!!!
    I'm in the middle of planning a Lego party for my little boy for mid April.
    Thanks for the great ideas!! :)

    And, i DON'T think you're a mean Mum!! We've decided that in our house each child gets a 1st birthday party and then after that... we'll see.
    We have two birthdays 3 weeks apart. So this year Mr. 4 is having a party and Miss. 2 isn't. As they get older we'll probably have to refigure it but while they're little it works :)

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  3. What fantastic ideas! Everything looks amazing and Aesop must of been so proud :-) I know what you mean about keeping it simple / less is more... I learnt that one the hard way. I will never forget my daughters 5th birthday (she is 25 now). I served up a very decorated cake and the children went outside with it... When I followed 5 mins later, I discovered a chocolate cake war going on with yellow icing all over the yard. I cried! I think I had too much food to begin with and definately too many children. I was tired and finished up very broke. I still have parties though :-) Oh wish I could come over for coffee and cake too!

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  4. awesome ideas, love the invites and the cute as goodie bags. and the idea of a party every 2 years is a great one, we have all 3 kids born within 4 weeks of each other so I really should think about doing something like that!! have shared this on my FB page too

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  5. looks like a great party - I did a lego cake in January too - for my hubby

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  6. Great idea and so simple. Cx

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  7. Awesomeness Rhiannon!! Perfect in every way!

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  8. Surely the bestest birthday party ever! SO cool, you must share the trader name for that candy too, pretty please?

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  9. OOh cool, I have nearly four year old into lego, I think I'll file this one away for later! I hope your last month goes well, and my husband struan solved the mystery for me last week, saying the lady was the receptionist at the school he works at and your friend her daughter! Cool! Lots of love

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  10. Hi! I want to officially 'follow'your blog - but how can I?
    So classic - I did a similar lego party (complete with trademe bricks!) for my 7 year old about 3 weeks ago! Love your blog..

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  11. Pretty ultimate party. Gutted I didn't get a goodie bag!

    Loved the cake, it was awesome. The samosas were awesome. The best part for me was how awesome Aesop's friends are. Such a cool, funny bunch of dudes.

    Loves you bro.

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  12. Also forgot to say, "awesome".




    (shame).

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  13. Awesome looking party with a great theme. Agree that less is more particularly with birthday cakes. Denise

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  14. Oh lovely. We did a lego party a while ago and it was such good fun (it's in the latest Parenting mag or here http://growingkiwis.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/lego-party-madness.html). And since 7 we just do every second year too. So I'll join you in the meanie club.

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