School Halloween Celebrations

The Halloween festivities began the Saturday before Halloween this year at Mia's school's Fall Harvest Party.  Mia was a fairy (Tinkerbell, if you ask her) ... although I think that she was sort of wishing at this point that she also had a robot costume like Luke (note to self:  next year Mia gets the elaborate costume).

Luke was excited to go back to Mandala and see all of his old teachers, especially Miss Sharada, who was so sweet and walked with both kids in the costume parade.

The robot costume came with a bit more publicity than Luke (or any of us) bargained for.  For shy-guy-Luke, it made him a little uncomfortable.  He basically walked around saying "thanks" on repeat while everyone commented on how cool his costume was.  He even was asked to take photographs with a family who we didn't know ... (weird? ... ummm, yes!).

Halloween morning brought the costume parade at Luke's school.  As the day wore on, Luke became more comfortable with the added attention that the costume brought to him. Luke's teacher, Mrs. Anderson, told him that it was the most creative costume that she had seen in all of her years of teaching (making Michael very proud).  By the time we were getting ready to go trick-or-treating, Luke asked me if I thought we could go somewhere to enter him in a costume contest because he was pretty sure that he would win. :) 

The Costume

Luke announced quite some time ahead of Halloween that there was no other option than for him to dress up as a robot this year (obviously ... because everything is about robots this year!).  I did a fair amount of online searching and came up empty handed.  There was simply nothing that could just be purchased.  So, I looked at Michael and informed him that he would have to make Luke's costume.  To his credit, he sounded sort of excited to take on the challenge.  You can imagine my concern when 4 days before Luke is supposed to be wearing his costume to an event, Michael is away travelling for business and I have nothing (NOTHING) for Luke to wear.

Needless to say, Michael returned home and didn't get much of a rest.  He drew up a plan, I went shopping for supplies, and he constructed Luke's costume in one night (granted, it was a very late night!).

 

I have to admit that I was nervous as to whether or not it would be pulled off, but I had nothing to worry about.  Daddy delivered on the costume front.  Luke-bot was a happy guy!

Luke's "Robot Reboot"

Luke's 5th Birthday party had a "Robot Reboot" theme.

 

I am not sure that any of us know where the obsession with robots stems from.  Nonetheless, Luke just loves them.  It seemed to start when he asked Santa repeatedly last Christmas to bring him a robot.  Santa was a bit stumped as to what Luke's expectations were for a robot, but he delivered on his promise to bring gifts to all the good little boys and girls.  Luke received a robot that walks, talks, and dances.  He seemed happy...

 

It was around this same time that I was planning Mia's birthday party and Luke informed me that he would have a robot party for his 5th birthday.  I assumed that his mind would change, given that he would have 7 months to come up with a bunch of other ideas.  He didn't ...

 

We even "sort of" tried to talk him out of the whole robot thing.  You see, you can't just go to Party City and purchase a robot party kit and be done.  No, because party stores don't just carry a robot line.  So I knew it would be a lot of work.  A lot of do-it-yourself.  A lot of crafting.  It was....

 

We told him how much fun it would be to have a "Pancakes and Pajamas" party since he is such a breakfast lover.  He also happens to request to stay in his pajamas just about every day.  When you ask him on the weekend (or even on a special day, like his birthday for instance) what he would like to do, he will tell you that he would like to stay in his pjs all day long.  Luke loved the breakfast party with guests in pajamas idea.  He loved it so much that he informed me that he would like to do it ... along with robots.  Hmmm?

 

So, after quite a lot of brainstorming, and a good deal of internet research (nope, no one else that I can find has ever done a pajama/breakfast/robot party), I came up with the theme "Robot Reboot."  Sort of silly, but it works.

 

The sign welcoming Luke's guests to his party



I did mention that there was quite a lot of crafting projects, didn't I?  Here is one of Daddy's contributions - a tabletop robot, complete with green glasses :)

The treat table and Luke's magnificent cake (NOT made by me!)

I wish I had got a few more pictures of outside - these aren't great, but they give an idea.  I ended up running a few minutes behind, which cut into my photography

As usual, I took no pictures of the food.  Guess it goes to show you what my least favorite part of party planning is!  We served egg casserole, french toast casserole, donuts, fruit kabobs, yogurt and granola, cereal, chocolate milks, and juice boxes.  The adults had much more exciting beverages than the kids:  mimosas and bloody marys ... oh, and coffee.

 

 Outside was set up with a few different craft and activity stations.  One table had glitter play-doh, another robot puzzles, and the final (and most popular) one was a design-your-own robot station.

 I adored Luke's cake.  It was made by Roxy, the aunt of one of Luke's friends.  She's amazingly talented.  I could tell that Luke loved his cake.  I almost hated to cut it because it was so cute.

 

 

 

Kids enjoying the robot cake (it was delicious; marble cake with s'mores filling!)

 Luke received so many perfect gifts.  It was officially the year of legos and robots.  He is building legos daily now ... and is also now outfitted for school with a robot backpack, lunchbag, pencil case, and even a robot ice pack for his lunchbox!

Finally, party guests went home with their own original robot t-shirt (yes, add that to the list of craft projects!) and their own little robot made out of slinkies, candy, and crayons (thank you, Pinterest!).

 

 

 

 

When all was said and done, Luke still managed to have a LOT of energy, so he put on a dance and song performance for us utilizing his radio robot (constructed, again, by Daddy).  This one stayed outside and had Luke's radio/CD player set up behind it to play through its "speaker."  I think it might have been the highlight of the party for Luke.

 

Weary-looking, pajama-wearing parents after a full day of partying robot-style

 

 Happy 5th Birthday to our big boy!  It was a great party ... and I have to admit, as I often do when it comes to Luke and his ideas, he was right.  It was an awesome theme :)!