Stanley and the Party

20080322BatCake

The party went well.  We had a 50% "yes" rate on the RSVP's, making a total of 6 kids, including my 3. Not too bad a turnout for Easter weekend -- and everyone there really liked Benjamin.  I didn't want to deliberately exclude anyone, but wasn't quite in the mood to invite the entire Kindergarten class. Thanks to Oriental Trading Company we had some nice "bat" party favors, stuffed beanies, key chains and rubber bats.  We played a version of Blind Man's Bluff/Marco Polo  called Bat and Moth that used echolocation for a blind bat to find a sighted moth -- the rest of the kids got to be "trees."  I hid the rubber bats in the living room -- squeeed between pillow cushions, etc.  They were dark so they hid pretty well, unlike the eggs we hid on Sunday :)

We played with balloons, had cake with a bat freehanded by me, ice cream, fruit and pizza -- and since we were a smallish group we got the good stuff: Papa John's.  They opened presents and we watched "Stellaluna" --   much less a production than I've done in the past.  I've put on some pretty elaborate themed parties before involving paper mache and stations and treasure hunts, etc.  I liked the calmer feel this time, and the smaller number of kids, even without the "wow" factor.  But, since children barely remember parties after a year or so, much nicer to just relax.

And Stanley.  If you have ever come across the book "Flat Stanley" you will recognize him as a little boy who was smooshed flat by a blackboard, who was perfectly fine after, but flat as a sheet of paper who has several adventures.  Apparently it is a stock second-grader activity these days to send out a "Flat Stanley" doll to a penpal.  Jeannine has two, a friend from Texas, and a second-cousin we met at a family reunion who lives in Tenessee --   so within a few days we had not one, but two Flat Stanley visitors that we are to give a tour of the Seattle Area and send back a picture and a note, and the flat Stanley.  We haven't made it to the Space Needle yet, but we did stop for chowder at Ivar's Seafood Bar where both Stanleys "Kept Clam" ;)