When I asked
Rascal Ranger* what sort of
theme he would like for his birthday this year, I expected him to say a "Ranger's Apprentice" theme. . . or perhaps something that would incorporate The Lord of the Rings series, like
last year's Hobbit Birthday Party. Instead he told me that he wanted it to be a "surprise!"
A couple days later I was out running a few errands with our oldest son and as we were leaving the store we noticed a poster for The LEGO Movie, and that it was going to open on Ranger's birthday! How perfect! We have only taken some of our children to the movies a few times, and after discussing it with Sean we decided the movie would be a fun birthday surprise. Between The LEGO Movie and Charlotte's past
movie themed party I had all the inspiration I needed to pull together his "surprise" birthday!
.: Surprise! A Simple Cake :.
From Instagram last Friday morning:
The birthday boy is such a great kid! He knows it has been a busy week and smiled and thanked me when he saw his simply frosted cake this morning after requesting a "surprise" theme this year... Sean just took him to get a birthday hot cocoa and it's time for the rest of us to get busy with the rest of the decorations!!! His day will be filled with surprises!
He really did think it was all I was able to pull together for his birthday... and he was perfectly fine with that! Wednesday we had the opportunity to purchase a used bunk bed for the little boys
(I'll post more about that later) and after a trip to the hardware store Sean and I were up until well after midnight assembling the bed. Thursdays are always filled with lots of schoolwork and tutoring, and just when I was about to start decorating the cake we received a call from Captain's doctor letting us know that he is referring us to the specialists at the children's hospital 5 hours away, which had me fighting tears the rest of the night...
(Please continue to pray for Captain. They suspect CVS, but need to rule out other diseases. We will also be having him tested for food allergies and sensitivites soon.) His reaction and gratitude for even a simple cake made the rest of the surprises we had in store for him that much more exciting and fun!
.: Surprise! A Popcorn Birthday Cake :.
As Sean was leaving with the birthday boy, I asked them to please pick up some ice cream too, while they were in town. This would give us about one hour to decorate the cake and the house before they got back! Thankfully it all came together incredibly fast.
Ranger did think I was going to do "something" to the cake while they were gone, but all he could come up with for that round yellow cake was the sun! He had absolutely no idea what I had planned.
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Popcorn Birthday Cake Supplies:
I bought two 12 packages of the Wilton Dot Candles so we wouldn't need to use the purple. These reminded Captain and I of Legos and matched our theme perfectly!
.: Surprise! Decorations :.
I found the
Movie Director Clapper at Amazon. I have white chalk around here somewhere but I wasn't able to find it so I just printed out the text with the Lego font and taped it on to the clapper. Not what I originally had in mind, but I was in a hurry and it worked.
I had a box of concession candy for each of the children as party favors.
We hung some Dizzy Danglers from the light fixture and set the table with a red plastic table cloth, black plates, and yellow napkins. We also scattered some old fashioned movie tickets around the table, and some Lego Movie items/gifts for the birthday boy!
.: Surprise! Let's Go to the Movies! :.
I ran across The Lego Movie Collector's Edition gift card at Target. He discovered it at his place setting and we asked if he'd like to go see the movie at noon!
.: Surprise! Lego Movie Series Mini-Figures :.
.: Surprise! Special Gifts :.
Before we left for the movie, we had him open a few of his gifts.
The first was a tackle box filled with the discontinued
Lego Mindstorms NXT that one of my friends son's had outgrown and she had passed down to us!!!
He also opened the gifts (coins, drawings, a candy bar, etc) from all of his siblings.
 |
| "COOOOOOKIE!!!!" said Bud, after his older brother opened the Twix from Twinkle Toes. |
.: Surprise! Friends :.
Ranger was surprised once again when we arrived at the theater and discovered that five of his friends were joining us for the movie, and would be spending the rest of the day with us. His one and only past birthday party that included friends was
his Bowling Birthday Party on his 7th (Golden) Birthday!
Note: The Lego Movie was fun and entertaining, and it definitely had me laughing at times. However, just like pretty much every Hollywood movie anymore, it included some bad humor, language, and unnecessary scenes that we would have skipped had we watched it at home. We only took our oldest three (ages 10-13) to see the movie and the four younger children had fun with their cousin and aunt during the movie.
.: Surprise! Colossal Pizza Party :.
.: Surprise! Birthday Fun :.
After pizza, his friends all came back to our house for cake, ice cream, and to play for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
.: Surprise! More Gifts :.
After cake and ice cream the birthday boy opened the rest of his gifts including:
.: Surprise! Ranger's Cloak and Oak Leaf :.
His favorite gift was the surprise Ranger's Cloak (complete with a "Claw of Kalkara" for the clasp!) made by
my dear friend Erica, along with a silver
pewter oak leaf I ordered from a shop on Etsy! He has been wearing them nearly non-stop since his birthday. I hope you are planning to open that Etsy shop soon, ELM! I have four more children who has already requested cloaks for their upcoming birthdays this year...
*I'm officially changing Rascal's blog nickname, at his request. He was only 5 when I started blogging and quickly outgrew "Rascal" later that year! I'm hoping that since they both start with "R" it won't cause too much confusion...
Happy 12th Birthday, Ranger!
