10572

Around the World - Chopstick Pick up Fish

March 2005

Eve in Wahiawa Hawaii USA

Special Mention

First of all for the invitation I wrote on the top that My son would like to have you join him for a birthday trip. Then I wrote out an itinerary. I put the passenger name of each child on their invite, and had all of our destinations listed as stop overs. I had our address as the International Airports address, and the departure and arrival times. 

When the children arrived at the party I had canvas bags and magic markers outside on a table for them. I had them put their name on and decorate their bags. The bag was so they could keep track of all of their things while at the party. It turned out to be very practical and beneficial because I had so much stuff for them. I also had prepared Passports for each of them. I put a page in for each country we were going to. And on each page I had the flag of that country and a couple of facts so we could teach them a little bit on the way. My son insisted that the party goers get to choose their destinations. So, I bought a globe and I taped little paper flags on each of the countries that we had planned. The birthday boy wanted to be the pilot and have my brother be the co-pilot. So, once all of the children were done with their bags we boarded the plane. I rented some chairs and had moved the table out of the kitchen and that is where we had the plane set up. We had the globe up by the pilot and once the co-pilot explained where the emergency exits were and such the pilot asked where the passengers wanted to go. 

They spun the globe and decided on France first. So, we opened our passports and talked about France and the Eiffel Tower, and a couple of other little facts. Then we went outside to where I had set up our own little Tour De France. On the door or in the area of each activity I had a printout of the flag of the country and since we had opened our passports and discussed the facts and the flag the kids knew exactly what to look for. The kids were all given two balloons (I was fortunate enough to find ones that were made to be tied together.) And they had to race across the yard with the two balloons in between their legs. Half of this activity was they had to blow up their own balloons. We didn't start the race until everyone had two balloons blown up and tied together, so some of the children got to practice. In fact it was one of the first girls who had her balloons that won. I am sure it was because of the practice time. For prizes for the winners I just had suckers. The kids did get a souvenir from each country though. So, since France was a race they all got water bottles.  

Then we went back to the plane and got everyone buckled up and decided to go next to China. We talked about how China was where noodles were invented, and the Great Wall (why it was made and how big it is). We held China in the living room because of the coffee table. We talked about how they sit on the floor at a low table and eat with chopsticks. Each child was then given a pair of chopsticks and a little bowl. In the center of the table I had a large bowl of gummy fish (noting that Chinese people eat a lot of fish) and the game was to get the most fish in one minutes time. I gave them a minute to practice and then we played, it was very frustrating to some, but everyone was happy when they got lids to put on their little bowls and I filled each one with gummy fish. They also got to keep their chopsticks and we gave everyone a fortune cookie as well. 

We went back to the plane and I was surprised at this point because the kids all wanted to do the whole buckle up, here are the exits, etcàroutine every time we got on the plane.  Our next destination was Russia. We talked about Russia's weather, and how it was the first country to send a person into space. On that note I had emptied the garage for this game and had stars and planets and such all over the walls. On one of the walls I had a comet and I gave each of the kids a paper tail (comet tail) to color and then we played pin the tail on the comet. It was really fun. For their souvenir I had found rocket shaped bubble bottles. The kids really liked those although I did get bubble soap all over the plane floor and had to take a minute to clean up a bit before someone slipped and got hurt. 

We decided to go next to Africa. We talked about all of the different animals that could be found in Africa and that went right with our game of Safari. We set this up in my sons room. I had bought little animals and had put them inside of balloons and blown them up. I had one for each child. And then my brother blew up 90 more balloons. We bought only green balloons. The game was that you had to find a balloon with an animal in it. This was so much fun and I think it was probably the favorite game of the day. Walking into a room of over 100 balloons is so fun anyway, but the extra hunt just made it all the more fun. When that game was over (very quickly) each of the kids had an animal for their souvenir and we only had two countries left. 

Next was the USA and that was where we ate lunch. Since the kitchen was our plane we had a picnic on the back porch.  I found star shaped plates and made three pictures of Kool-aid (They have all three colors; I was amazed they have white Kool-aid). We ate hotdogs, chips and pickles, and got to catch our breath for a second. For their souvenir I had little flag balls for the boys and little patriotic charm bracelets for the girls. 

We then went to South America for our last stop over. We talked about Soccer and what a huge sport it is there and how it isn't called soccer butfootball. We then went to the neighbors yard for a pinata. It was the perfect game to end with.  We then flew back home to Hawaii where everyone got a lei as we landed and we opened gifts.

Once that was done we ate cupcakes and fudges-sickles (because I wanted to keep this part really easy).  By then it was time to go home. The whole party took 2 hours, about $200 dollars, and it was a ton of fun. My son told me it was the best party he has ever had. (That makes ME happy.)

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