Ben's 7th Birthday - Ninja style!

Yesterday we celebrated Ben's 7th Birthday

So, for starters, let me explain how we do birthdays - 

Every year each kid gets a special birthday, and they get to be kings and queen for a day, basically.  They get to choose meals, activities, treat, and get presents.  But there are a few special years when they get to have a friend birthday party - at 7, 11, 15 and 17.  We picked years that aren't outwardly special or recognized in other ways.  (for instance, our kids are baptized and age 8, 10 is double digits, 12 is becoming a Young Woman or Young Man, 14 is attending boy/girl dances, 16 is going on group dates, etc...)

So, this year was extra-special for Ben - his first friend party ever!

Also, no surprise, but this kid picked a NINJA theme.  So fun!

These are the invitations I made on picmonkey, that Ben handed out to a few fun friends.

We started the party with the kids all getting a ninja headband (I tore some pieces of red fabric in lengths for all the guests, and Ben's golden ninja headband I made ahead of time).  We looked up their ninja names (see this pin here) and wrote them on the headbands.  Then they were all set for ninja training!  Ben played "Sensei Says" - he was the leader and taught them all his very awesomest ninja moves.  They also played "Follow the Sensei" and "Sensei May I."  (self explanatory, right?)

After that they used the ninja skills they'd all practice to attack a bunch of  red and golden balloon we strung up that had ninja masks taped to them.  Fun stuff!  They loved it, and those balloons didn't last too long!

Then they used their ninja skills in hand to pinata combat.  After many turns through the line, Ben finally cracked through that pinata, and  candy came pouring down.  They stuffed their candy into little cellophane bags with ninja eyes drawn on them.  Then they hung out for awhile comparing and sorting and trading their candy, of course!

They ran and played for awhile and then we did cupcake and presents.  I totally didn't take many pictures of the whole thing, but I hope you can see details here and there.  (plus I left out all the pictures with friends in it - you know, internet stuff. )

Here's the golden ninj-apple juice the kids drank.  Cute!

 Anyway, we had a great time.  Because it was all around hard to schedule, we didn't hand out the invitations until Thursday, and it was such a busy weekend around town that I wasn't sure we'd get anyone there.  BUT.  We have great friends.  Everyone came except one of Ben's friends. Phew for that!

Also, these are the cupcakes I made, more or less.

It was fun, and he sure loved it.  He kept exclaiming, "BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER!"