December 30, 2015
Crafts, Games and Fun.....
We had a LOT of activities planned for our Snowman Christmas Party. We started off with some painting fun. We did snowman handprints and craft stick snowman magnets.
Ashlee's cute creation of her little snowman family
Ali getting her hand painted....
The kids enjoyed getting paint all over BUT I think the adults enjoyed it even more. April and Ash spent a long time making their masterpieces....JUST RIGHT!
Brady's turn....
Ash hard at work....
Turned out so cute....
My attempt at artwork.....
I am definitely not artistically inclined! lol
Painting their snowmen sticks.....
Even Ellie joined in on the art project. I was quite surprised how well she did. She know EXACTLY where she wanted her eyes, nose and mouth of her snowman. She did GREAT!
Jack had a rough day at our party because he saw presents and REALLY, REALLY wanted to open them up right away. He was NOT a fan of waiting. This art project helped keep his mind off of them so he could enjoy the party a bit with us.
Luke showing off his snowman....
Ellie's Artwork...
Papa Howie suggested that Ellie paint his face to look like a snowman. She was ALL OVER that idea!!! I absolutely LOVED hearing the sweet giggles coming from her with every stroke of the brush. It was so cute and it brought back memories of some of our other kids that have "painted" their Papa!
Doing such a great job to make sure he is ALL COVERED! Look at the concentration on her face. So careful to do a great job! She is a doll!
Making Snow.....
I thought this Instant Snow was a perfect addition to our Snowman Party. Just add water and Kaboooom! Magical Snow appears. It was fun to hear the ooohs and awwws from the little ones! Pretty awesome stuff!
It felt AMAZING!
Snowman Games.....
My girls are PROs when it comes to throwing a themed party and this one was no exception. From the food, decorations, art projects all the way down to the games....EVERYTHING was SPOT ON!
Each Christmas party we try to fit in a candy game that we have been playing together as a family for years. It started out as Don't Eat Pete (a game I learned at school) It has been changed to Don't Eat Santa, Don't Eat Max (Grinch Party) Don't Eat Charlie (Charlie Brown Party) and this year...Don't Eat Frosty.
It's a silly little game but the kids love it
A candy is placed on each square on the board. One person leaves the room while the others choose the square that they CAN'T EAT!
One by one the candies are picked up until....they reach for the SPECIAL box! Then everyone yells....DON'T EAT FROSTY!!! At which point that person's turn is over and they get to eat the candy that they collected.
Sometimes (often) we play tricks on the people whose turn it is...This time we didn't choose a square for April. She carefully picked up one candy at a time, just waiting to be YELLED at but no one did!
I don't think she minded one bit cuz she got to eat ALL of the mini M&Ms....YUMMY!
On the other hand we did the opposite to Poor Howie. We decided when he left the room we would have the VERY FIRST square that he chose be the one where we would yell. But instead of yelling Don't Eat Frosty, we all screamed...DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE!!! He is working on limiting his sweets and April just happens to be his coach. I don't think he liked our trick! hahahaha....
We let him eat them anyway. :)
Ashlee was our last player, thank goodness, because her technique was a little strange! She SUCKED each and every candy into her mouth without using her hands. GERMS.....EWWWW
I love the look on Ape's face. Don't slobber on the gameboard Dawnie! hahaha
Time to Draw....
Our grandkids absolutely LOVE to draw. In fact Ash's kids seem to always have a pencil and paper in hand doodling on their latest creation. This game was PERFECT for our kiddos...
We played a fun game called, Roll-A-Snowman. We used a dice to determine how our individual snowmen would turn out. Each round you worked on a new body part or accessory. So fun!
It was pretty funny when it was Luke's turn...he seemed to roll the exact numbers that Chan had. At first it was a coincidence but after a while it kind of creeeped me out! hahaha. What are the odds of him having the same outcome, time after time after time. It had us laughing at each roll he took!
We played three rounds but if there was more time the kids would have played this game longer. It was fun! Karah showing off her snowmen....
Luke....
Ash putting on the finishing touches...
They all turned out so cute...
April....
Ash...
Grandma T....
Luke....
Boo....
Howie...
Chan....
Ali.....
Even little Nate played.....
Target Practice....
Our next activity was BLOW DARTS. We used straws with Qtips. The object was to knock over the tower of SNOWMAN cups. It was challenging at first to get the hang of things, but after a while everyone got to be pretty good aim. The problem was....once the top cups were gone, the Qtips would hit the cups but they would just slide all over the bench and was next to impossible to get them knocked over.
Each time it was his turn he cheeks would puff out and he would turn all red in the face. So fun to watch!!!
Ellie of course did not understand the game and she was more of a target than anything else. She would go around picking up and knocking down the cups. I think she got pelted in the head on more than one occasion during this game. Once the Qtip was just lodged in her hair and she was not phased one bit! She was on a mission! hahaha
We played this game as a team race to see which team could get their tower down first. Tyson is quite the competitor and I love watching how he creates new ways to succeed!
He made it so that TWO darts (Qtips) came out at the same time.....doubling his odds of success! hahaha.....I love how his mind works!
At the end the last few cups REFUSED to fall over so they had a FREE FOR ALL and everyone started shooting.....It took a while till one team finally won. When I asked if they wanted to try the same game but use our stuffed snowballs....the room erupted with a UNANIMOUS YES!!!!!
We had played that last year and the kids LOVED it. EVERYONE jumped in to take turns at this game.
NOTHING is better than watching my grandkids have FUN and ENJOY themselves. FUN memories being made, that's for sure!!!
Nate did amazingly well.....
This kid has an arm!!!
More Games....
Here was another drawing game we played at the Christmas Snowman Party. Everyone had a paper plate which they placed on their head.
As April read instructions as to what to draw, they had to follow her without looking.
I was up preparing some food so I didn't get to watch or participate in this game BUT....I remember it getting REALLY quiet as they played it. I think they were all concentrating as the instructions were called out.
I LOVE the fact that my son-in-laws jump in and play the games as well. No matter how SILLY the games may be, they include themselves. I love that!
The look on Ali's face is classic! At the end of the game they received points for different aspects of their pictures, for instance.....one point if the snowman's hat is touching his head, or two points if the snowman is sitting on the ground, etc. Looks like Alyssa is trying to figure out WHAT IT WAS SHE DREW! Probably did NOT resemble a snowman AT ALL! hahaha
So artistic!
NOT too shabby, Chan....
Nate had FUN with all of the games today....
Do You Want To Build a Snowman?
Our last game was another relay. We played a game similar to this one a few years back but this time we decided to have the small kids involved instead of the adults. The goal was to ROLL your teammates across the room (dressed in white) to collect items needed to build a team snowman.
The faster they changed into the white sweats and got to "rolling"...... the faster they could begin building. They had to collect a hat, gloves, scarf, buttons, corn cob pipe, carrot nose, and balloons used to fill their snowman
It was a TEAM effort and to be honest I couldn't believe how the adult men rolled across the room. I had NO IDEA they planned on doing somersaults!!!! I didn't even think Howie knew how to do them! lol I am SOOOO surprised that someone did NOT get HURT!!!! They were slamming into couches and walls.....it was hysterical! Tyson even stuffed our little Ellie into an outfit and rolled her across the room to collect some items. I think she was FREAKED out to say the least! "WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?"
Once everything was collected the teams began blowing up balloons as fast as they could to "fatten up" their snowmen. Luke was chosen for one team and Karah for the other! With the outfits being EXTREMELY LARGE.....they were able to stuff a TON of balloons into their shirt and pants!
Short video of our MADNESS!!!!
Working so hard to be the FIRST team DONE!!!
This picture just CRACKS ME UP! Everytime I look at it I just can't help but laugh! Such a FUNNY memory!!!!
Luke is SOOOO stuffed that I am surprised he can even breath at all!!!! hahaha
These two could BARELY stand up...in fact right before these pictures were taken, Luke stumbled and fell down. Boo also fell down on top of him. They reminded me of Sumo wrestlers! It was sooo, soooo, soooo funny! Although, Luke was struggling to get up and I think it freaked him out a bit. He was kicking his legs and seemed like he could not breathe. Ty came to the rescue and got him upright and calmed down so we could get some pictures.
I don't remember which team was the winner, but they all did an amazing job at teamwork to get these two done! They had to get stuffed, put on a scarf, buttons, nose, and corn cob pipe to be complete
They were such good sports!
Once they got some pictures, the teams were informed that the game was NOT over yet!!! We talked about how we build a snowman BUT then the sun comes out and MELTS them! It was their job to "MELT" their snowman, any way possible. They began popping the balloons as fast as they could until the very last one was gone!
They then strategically placed their snowmen in a DEAD position! I loved how Boo crossed her arms to look melted and dead!
Luke looked exhausted!
I actually wanted to lay on the ground too!
I was BEAT just watching it all!
Our Melted Snowmen....
The FUN did not end there!
Chan decided that he needed a Ba-Donk-a-Donk! hahaha
Chan "CRACKS" me up!
Well the games have come to an "END" " (literally if you look at CHAN's picture) "BUTT" our party is still going strong. MUCH more to come! It was a LONG and EXHAUSTING night BUT sooooo well worth it. Memories to last a LIFETIME!
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