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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Trashy

We had Claire's birthday party recently. She wanted a WALL-E party.

She asked for us to decorate the house all "garbage-y". There's nothing quite like cleaning up your house so you can fill it with pretend trash. (Maybe I should have just left my house the way it normally looks? Nah, we wouldn't want the guests to actually catch a disease...)

Here is the decor:

We went with "stacks of WALL-E's garbage cubes" per Claire's request. I'm sure our guests' parents just thought we were taking a REALLY long time to get unpacked from moving into our house over a year and a half ago... Oh well. It made Claire and Scott's day.

In fact, Scott's breakfast prayer that morning extolled the virtues of our "garbage-y" house. He has a habit of praying in statements of fact rather than making requests or expressing any kind of thanks. He opened his prayer, said, "We're going to eat breakfast and I love garbage," and then closed his prayer.

I tried to do the brown streamers on the walls for the decoration, but they kept coming out looking too orderly and nice. I had to give up and have M do it. He's got skills. He should put that on his resume. "Haphazard streamer decorating." Some things require a woman's touch, but this was apparently one of those things that required a man's touch.

Our first activity was to have the kids pot a plant to take home as their favor. Note "The Plant" centerpiece:
Good thing I still had my brown snow boots despite the fact that we've lived in Texas for almost four years now.

The kids (mostly Scott) made an exciting mess with the potting soil:

The next activity was to take turns digging through "garbage" to hunt for a Twinkie (AKA more garbage?):

And then, of course, there was (chocolate) cake:
(The caramel cubes are more of WALL-E's garbage cubes, per Claire's request. The cake itself is supposed to be one of his garbage towers in mid-build, if you're familiar with the movie. Around here, we're beyond familiar...we're intimate. It's a good movie, but anything can be viewed to excess. [Insert eye roll here])

14 comments:

  1. Very, very cool, Gretchen. I'm impressed and inspired.

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  2. Wow! LOVE the plant in the boot and the cake is great too! I hereby declare you guys a die hard Pixar family (probably even more than us!) You know, when Josh and I went to Wall-e's Wrap Party (Black Tie party and screening of film) there was this girl wearing a fitted,long white dress. And right over her heart,but underneath her dress, I don't know how she did it, but she had somehow managed to make a green blinking plant light, just like Eve. It was pretty cool. I wish I got a picture. I think it would make a great Halloween costume...I know you're talented...what do ya say!? Clarie as Eve this Halloween? Scott as Wall-e and Kate as a Cockroach? Okay, well, maybe a little sprout instead :) ...Let me know what you think! And, I want to see pictures!

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  3. What an awesome party! I was actually going to comment on your haphazard streamers, way to go Marshall! And that cake looks awesome!

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  4. I am so impressed with your cake making skills!! I loved Scotts b day cake too.

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  5. You are so cute! Seriously, how do you come up with these really cute activities to go with your theme?

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  6. Plz do this party for me too as I would enjoy it as an adult

    Super cute, nice job

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  7. You are so creative--I wish these shows would still be "the thing" when my kids are old enough so that I could borrow your ideas. Sadly I think they'll be on to new movies by then... :)

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  8. Having a children party is so much work to do. The planning, implementing and expense as a whole. But it is worth it because it is only once a year. After having a party, that's when the true story begins - cleaning up the mess! hehe

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  9. Ooh, so cool, I MIGHT steal the idea! I have yet to view the movie, but I'm sure the girls could know immediately what your pictures were all about, they love that movie!!

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  10. I'm impressed that you had all those cardboard boxes laying around the house. Great decor, love the boot and plant take home gift, stuff like this, the kids love!

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  11. [Insert jaw dropping here]. Oh my gosh--what a great birthday party idea. Wall-E is a favorite around here (and one of my all-time favorite Pixar movies, too.)

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  12. haha! That's great! Sophia would love that party. Wall-e is dearly beloved here also.

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