Dangerous Boys

I had a baby on Christmas Day, which was awesome and very special. Except that, on top of all the regular holiday activities, we also have a birthday party for Duncan each year a week or so before Christmas. We've had suggestions of celebrating his birthday on July 25 or in November, but really, it just doesn't seem right.

So I had a great idea for Duncan's birthday party this year. I thought we'd do an "Amazing Race" theme. I was picturing 2-3 parents driving vans loaded with kids, driving from place to place in our city while they searched for clues and completed all kinds of feats. I assumed Duncan would be thrilled to hear what I had planned.

But when I told him, he said, "Don't you remember? I want to have a Dangerous Book for Boys party."

Oops! Totally forgot his plan for The Dangerous Book for Boys party. So everyone knows that book, right? We don't actually own the book, but we had it checked out from the library for awhile, and it obviously had an impact on him.

At least one mom was really scared by the word "dangerous" in the invitation. But not to fear. We ended up not doing the only really dangerous activity—Cincinnati fire kites— because everything was too soggy outside. But for your viewing pleasure, here are Jesse and Everett doing the kites a couple of years ago:



This was a great and easy party theme if you have a boy in the 8-11 age range. Here's what we did (click to make really big):


* Each boy took 5 shots at the target with the BB gun (carefully monitored by Randy)
* Each boy got a 2-liter of diet Coke and a tube of Mentos for their own eruptions.
* Each boy made both a sling-shot and a marshmallow gun made out of PVC pipe (Randy had the pieces ready beforehand and then glued the slingshots while they finished the party)
These activities took most of the time; after cake (chocolate dirt cake with sour gummy worms liberally sprinkled on top) and gifts, they had a blast running through the backyard shooting each other with marshmallows.

I'm glad Duncan insisted on the Dangerous Boys party. Amazing Race? Maybe next year.