Sunday, November 09, 2008

The Do-over birthday

We had to cancel Ella's birthday party because of Elizabeth's early arrival. The party was originally scheduled for the day after I came home - I was in no shape to host six 8-year-old girls so soon.


So last night we had the do-over, and it was a big success. We hosted an outdoor movie night with some of Ella's school friends and a few neighbors. B got his hands on a projector, and he set up a movie screen on the back of the porch. He also rented a big popcorn maker and set up a little concession stand of sorts (I wouldn't let him charge for the popcorn, candy and drinks). I can't claim to have come up with the idea on my own; friends of ours hosted an outdoor movie night for adults a few years back, and it was a blast. Of course, we were all drunk by the end of the movie, but that's a different story.


Once it got dark, B fired up the dvd player and showed "The Muppet Movie." Ella and Lily were the only ones who had seen it before, but all the kids in attendance LOVED the movie. I was inside feeding Elizabeth at one point and heard shrieks of laughter from the back yard.


There's no school tomorrow for the kids (dammit), so we're letting the kids have another movie night since they don't have to be in bed early.


B manned the concession stand. The highlight of the night for him was when one of the kids told his mom that the popcorn tasted "just like the stuff at the movie theater."


It's getting harder and harder for Ella to blow out all of her candles at once (sob).





The movie crew. It got fairly chilly as the evening wore on. By the end of the movie, the kids were in one big pile under blankets.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How cool.

Of course, an outdoor movie night here, in November, would end up with them all in snowsuits and likely have DCYF knocking on my door.

But maybe someday for Jacob's birthday, in July... (Emily's, in April, is still too iffy for outdoor plans.)

The Kretzings said...

What a great idea! I'll have to file that idea away, but like the previous poster, I probably won't get to use it ever with either of my kids and their March/November bdays in the northeast.

Cathy said...

You more than made up for your daughter's birthday--how fun!

Emma in Canada said...

I have one child I could maybe do this with, but I suspect I would need a good sized back yard first!

Some company goes across North America hosting outdoor movies on a giant blow up screen, it's really something else, especially since their are no drive ins around here anymore. Oh, how I miss a good drive in!