LEGO Heaven: Turning Seven

Our oldest is turning seven soon, and he loves Legos - who doesn't though, really?

We decided to throw a Lego themed party.  Here is how we brought the Lego theme to life:

1.  Decorate with Legos.  

Pretty basic, right?  We used MegaBlocks to spell his name and make the decor for our mantle. To ensure the "V" didn't fall apart, I secured the back of the blocks with a couple of strips of clear (Scotch) tape.  Use some wider blocks at the base for a good foundation. Our kiddos were super excited to wake up one morning and find this on the mantle.  The kids jumped in on the fun and built several other Lego names and sculptures to add around the house.  It was a fun project for the week.

We also surrounded our flatware holder in Legos to add to the theme. You can add your child's name for an extra special touch.  If you don't have a flatware holder, make one using only Legos.  Make one for each item - one for forks, one for spoons, etc.

"Le-go" of your inner master builder and run wild with fun decorating projects.

And, we used some of the chunky MegaBlocks in the open base of the cake stands. You can see those in one of the following pictures.

We happened to also have Lego mugs handy for the coffee, Lego shaped Lego containers on the book shelves, and a Lego lantern to add to the buffet.

2. Play "Pin the Head on the Lego Man."

I found this great activity online at East Coast Mommy Blog.  While I wanted my Lego man to look a bit different, the blog does offer templates if you don't want to freehand your Lego man.  For our Lego man, I used a standard piece of blue posterboard.  I drew the Lego man out with a Sharpie marker.  We painted the red using washable paint, and I made the hands from yellow construction paper - the same paper from which I made the heads.  The Lego logo was made out of cardstock and Sharpie markers.

The kids really enjoyed this game.  Even the oldest participant (8) was skeptical and felt too cool to play in the beginning asked to join before the game was over.

3. Leave out some Legos for the kids to play. 

It is a Lego party, right? I thought only the little kids would play with the MegaBlocks, but before the party was over, a crew of kids ages four to seven were building this structure together.

4. Make Lego cupcakes.

Originally, I planned to make a Lego brick cake - two standard sheet cakes layered with the end trimmed off for the block and using the extra cake to cut into circles for the top dots, icing everything in red. However, I realized that is A LOT of red icing (i.e. A LOT of red dye to be spread throughout our house and clothing by little hands), SO I decided to make cupcakes.

I used store bought cake mix and frosting for the cupcakes.  To make the Legos, I bought a multipack of fondant sheets from our local Wal-Mart (roughly $9 before tax).  I used kitchen scissors to cut the rectangles for the blocks, and I used our (washed) single hole punch to make the six dots for each "block."  To attached the dots, I put a small dot of icing between the rectangle and dot.  You can use matching icing or the same color like I did.  I also wrote the birthday boy's name on the top cupcakes using the same styling as the Lego logo.

I did notice that the fondant bricks were beautifully stiff and had that Lego look when I put them on each cupcake, but by morning, the "bricks" had taken on some moisture and settled more into each cupcake. Everyone still seemed impressed, and it was still clear that these were Legos.

5. Make a Lego pinata.

I found this idea online also at Little Family Fun.

The pinata was easy to make. I used a diaper box that had held two packs of diapers. It seemed to have the best Lego shape out of our collection of diaper boxes.  I filled it with a large, mixed bag of Halloween candy (Nerds, SweetTarts, Bottlecaps), a 484 count box of Classic Legos, and a large tub of soft peppermints (Bob's brand).  The filling cost about $50 ($30 for the Legos, $10 for the mixed candy, $5.88 for the peppermints, and tax).  I used masking tape to secure the box, and American Greetings brand wrapping paper from Wal-Mart to wrap the box.

Definitely follow the suggestion at Little Family Fun of using styrofoam cup tops and card stock for the dots.  I used the wrapping paper and multiple foam stickers, which did not make for a completely "finished" look although it got the job done.  The inside ring of the masking tape roll was the perfect size and template for the dots.

To figure out which kiddo got a crack at it first, we took inspiration from Little Family Fun.  I cut construction paper into rectangles, drew on the dots, and wrote a number on the back of each card with a marker (Be sure to draw a line under the "6" and "9" to prevent confusion.). We mixed the numbers up and handed a Lego "brick" to each kiddo who wanted to take a swing at the pinata.

Each child was given a goody bag for when the pinata broke.  This activity was both a game and a way to pass out favors all in one.  We wrote each child's name on their number card to go into their goody bag to eliminate any confusion about the owner of each goody bag.

It was very hard to bust the pinata open.  A cardboard box is thicker than a traditional pinata. On the plus side, everyone got a turn to swing at pinata both in the traditional blindfolded way and the free-for-all-swing-a-thon that occurred after.

We also found that we should have purchased an eye mask for the blindfold since we had two games involving blindfolds at our party, and blindfolding each child with a scarf is time consuming and difficult.



So, I may have taken the idea of "a simple Lego party" at home farther than I planned, but everyone (especially the eight and under crowd) seemed to have a lot of fun.  Our kiddos had a great time building and making decorations for the party the whole week beforehand.

To see even better ideas, check out Buzzfeed's excellent list here:  How to Throw the Ulitmate Lego Birthday Party