Brady's Ninja Birthday

 On September 12th, Brady turned 4! We planned on having a family birthday party at the park since my mom and Zach's parents just happened to be in town on the Saturday after his birthday. Despite the fact that we already had a party planned in his honor, I still felt the need to throw together a little "friends party" for him. He's made some really good friends in our neighborhood that we didn't invite to the family party and it just didn't feel right to celebrate his birthday without his friends. So on September 11th, while all the other kids were at school, I had a little 4-man birthday party for Brady. It was delightful.

He decided on a Ninja theme which is so Brady right now.

He picked out the orange frosting. Since there were only four guests, I decided to make cupcakes and use the rest of the box mix for the birthday cake on Saturday because I am just that smart.

As the boys arrived, I had some balloon bad guys hanging from the banister. I put a marble in each balloon to give it some weight. We then had the boys show off their best Ninja moves on the balloons. It was pretty impressive.

Tate's high kick.

Brady's fire sword strike.

And Fischer's face block. 

 This is quite possibly the greatest picture of all time. Check it out zoomed in.

Amazing.

The premise for the party was that they were going through Ninja training so, naturally, I was no longer Brooke, I was Sensei Brooke. I made the kids call me that and bow to me and stuff. It was pretty great. 

So with each activity they completed they received an item that would help them become a true ninja. After attacking the balloon bad guys with their best ninja moves I awarded them each with a ninja star (I stayed up way too late following youtube videos on how to fold ninja stars out of paper- the things we do for our kids!) Next, we decorated the ninja stars with markers and practiced throwing them. I had a basket and they each tried to throw their ninja stars into the basket. 

With their ninja star training complete, they were ready for their very own ninja masks (thank you Dollar Tree!)

I set up a little obstacle course in the toy room in the basement. It was super simple, but they loved it!

Once they got through the toy room obstacles, I had a tunnel into the theater. I had all the lights turned off so I awarded them each with a glow stick to help them complete their final challenge- the Spider Web. 

After they maneuvered through the spider web I had a black belt as their final reward. They were now true ninja. At the beginning of the party I had them pick ninja names that they went by throughout the party. I wish I could remember them all. They were hilarious and yet oh so serious.

Next it was time for presents. Self-admittedly Brady's favorite part!

We were just coming off of Zach's birthday (on Sept 1st) and he let the boys help him open presents so Brady just assumed that's how it was done. It was so cute to watch him invite his friends to help open his presents- another perk of having a party of four.

I love Tate's photo bomb.

 Lastly, we had the cupcakes. I bought the orange frosting at the store in a little tub. It was very disgusting looking vibrant. Brady wouldn't touch his (see previous sentence), but his guests all thought they tasted fine.

This is when all the party planning and craziest is totally worth it. Look at that smile as his friends sang him "Happy Birthday"

 The next day was Brady's actual birthday... and a school day... Happy Birthday to him! Haha. Stay tuned.