Abbey's Birthday Bash

Abbey Elisabeth Davis turned 11 on November 6th, but we didn't have her birthday party until this last Saturday. She had a Scavenger Hunt Birthday. Her friends arrived at 2pm -all equipped with their cell phones in hand. Once everyone arrived, the party was split into groups: Ted and Jacee, Sheila, and Joe and Angie (Abbey's father and his girlfriend). Each group had a list of items they needed to "scavenge" and return by 3:30pm with all or most of their items. The rules were simple: only 1 item per house, you could only go to each house once, and call the party house to check in when all items were collected.

Off the teams went to their assigned streets. Upon arrival, each team checked in with the party house before starting- which wasn't an issue since EVERYONE had a cell phone. (This was done so one team didn't have a time advantage over another). Once dispersed through the neighbohood, the game was on! With a three minute lead, Ted and Jacee's team won followed by Sheila's team. Joe and Angie's team came in last probably due to the fact that the girls were more interested in chatting and texting than getting their items! ~lol The winning team won a $5 gift card to Cold Stone. Sydney was thrilled since she was on the winning team.

After the hunt came singing happy birthday to Abbey and eating cake and ice-cream. Abbey decided she wanted a cookie cake this year and it turned out to be really yummy! Not that most children by the age of 11 haven't seen trick candles already, Abbey thought she would show her friends how they worked WHILE Joe was trying to light them! We got them all lit, and had fun watching her try to blow them out. After cake and ice cream came presents. Happy, happy, joy, joy! (It was chaos - imagine sitting in a room with twelve screaming ten and eleven year old GIRLS. Oh, man. Abbey got a lot of fun things, such as gift cards to Aeropastale, Target, and, of course, Tropical Smoothie! (She begs to go get a smoothie every day). She also got a game for her DS and a cute friendship jacket that zips in half. You and your friend can trade halfs- it's actually really cool. After presents were opened, we played a game. Underneath layers and layers of alternanting newspaper and painters tape was a can of silly string. The girls had to try to unwrap it while wearing men's leather gloves. A feat to be challenged with for certain, but to make it extra exciting, there was a hitch- you had limited time to rip through the layers. The guest sitting to the left was furiously trying to roll a 5 as quickly as possible. Once she did, she promptly stole the gloves, donned them, then furiously attempted to make a dent in the layers BEFORE the guest on her left rolled a 5. The dice and gloves made it around several times before the can was revealed. It was fun watching them do it!

With silly string in hand, they went outside to promptly drain the can. Shortly after, they started a game of street baseball while waiting for their parents to pick them up. It ended up being a really good party and everyone think really enjoyed themselves. But, there is a reason why birthdays only come ONCE a year! ~lol