Science Birthday
September 24, 2017
~ This posting is dedicated to my son, DinhPhong Aiden ~
You are a smartest and sweetest boy we know.
You have brought so much joy to our lives.
You complete our world with your beautiful soul.
May your steps in life be filled with rainbows and sunlight.
You are a smartest and sweetest boy we know.
You have brought so much joy to our lives.
You complete our world with your beautiful soul.
May your steps in life be filled with rainbows and sunlight.
This month has been so hectic that I had to put this blog on hold for a couple of weeks. It seems like it has been years since I last posted something here. As always, I have plenty of things occupying my time in September, and this year was unusually busy as we had weddings, vacations, more weddings and birthdays to attend and that left me no time to finish a post. I promise that I have tried to create a few postings and recipes, but none of them are completed. I am hoping to catch up over the next few weeks, so please be patience with me.
I am going to make these September postings special as we were celebrating my son's 6th birthday over the weekend. This is somewhat bittersweet for me. I was too busy executing the birthday plan, baking cakes and cookies, and crafting invitation that I forgot to think about how my first baby has grown so much, and those emotions did not sink in until the end of the night—an aftermath of a semi-successful birthday party we hosted for his school friends. I'm not going into details, but let's just say my pillow was wet before I drifted into a long needed sleep.
Maybe I am being hard on myself but I was not actually delighted at the result of this party. Lack of time was the biggest setback for me this time around, because there were so many things I had to forgo to focus on the main theme for the party. How did we come about this theme? Aiden loves watching the mini-Science show on his IPad. There were many instances where I felt that he was much smarter than me. I mean, I should know more because I'm Mom right? I am astounded at all the things he has learned and is still learning, including how does the hurricane occur, why is the sky blue (I did not look into this until I was in college), how does the volcano rupture, etc. His knowledge about the outer space and the earth is definitely much more than mine. Recently, we were fortunately enough to observe a partial eclipse, and he was elated to witness such rare event. He exclaimed as soon as he saw the eclipse through his solar glasses, "Đẹp quá!” [It’s so beautiful!
INVITATION
Once we decided to pursue the party with the "Science" theme, I started out by making the invitation. Call me old-fashion, but I still love holding on to a paper invitation in this technology-savvy world we now live in. I don't think I'd ever missed making one invite for the kids' birthdays since they were newborns. Besides baking, crafting is also another passion of mine. All of my crafting files are mainly prepared using Microsoft Words, and that may be because I am not familiar with any other advanced software out there. I am not sure how I can share with you these files, but I will try to upload all of them here at the blog for you to use as soon as I figure out the logistic.
I want to keep the invitation design simple. So, after browsing Pinterest for some inspirations, I came up with the following design. I picked four main colors for the birthday: red, green, yellow and blue. I selected test tubes, molecules, microscope and a medication structure of acetaminophen (Tylenol) for the invite. As a pharmacist, I cannot help but include some "pharmacology" into this invitation. Since we are having the party at the local park, I also included the map of the park and specified to the guests how they can locate our birthday party. I used the natural light brown color for the envelops, but I also created a "lab-coat" envelop for me to keep because I thought that would compliment the invite wonderfully.
I am going to make these September postings special as we were celebrating my son's 6th birthday over the weekend. This is somewhat bittersweet for me. I was too busy executing the birthday plan, baking cakes and cookies, and crafting invitation that I forgot to think about how my first baby has grown so much, and those emotions did not sink in until the end of the night—an aftermath of a semi-successful birthday party we hosted for his school friends. I'm not going into details, but let's just say my pillow was wet before I drifted into a long needed sleep.
Maybe I am being hard on myself but I was not actually delighted at the result of this party. Lack of time was the biggest setback for me this time around, because there were so many things I had to forgo to focus on the main theme for the party. How did we come about this theme? Aiden loves watching the mini-Science show on his IPad. There were many instances where I felt that he was much smarter than me. I mean, I should know more because I'm Mom right? I am astounded at all the things he has learned and is still learning, including how does the hurricane occur, why is the sky blue (I did not look into this until I was in college), how does the volcano rupture, etc. His knowledge about the outer space and the earth is definitely much more than mine. Recently, we were fortunately enough to observe a partial eclipse, and he was elated to witness such rare event. He exclaimed as soon as he saw the eclipse through his solar glasses, "Đẹp quá!” [It’s so beautiful!
INVITATION
Once we decided to pursue the party with the "Science" theme, I started out by making the invitation. Call me old-fashion, but I still love holding on to a paper invitation in this technology-savvy world we now live in. I don't think I'd ever missed making one invite for the kids' birthdays since they were newborns. Besides baking, crafting is also another passion of mine. All of my crafting files are mainly prepared using Microsoft Words, and that may be because I am not familiar with any other advanced software out there. I am not sure how I can share with you these files, but I will try to upload all of them here at the blog for you to use as soon as I figure out the logistic.
I want to keep the invitation design simple. So, after browsing Pinterest for some inspirations, I came up with the following design. I picked four main colors for the birthday: red, green, yellow and blue. I selected test tubes, molecules, microscope and a medication structure of acetaminophen (Tylenol) for the invite. As a pharmacist, I cannot help but include some "pharmacology" into this invitation. Since we are having the party at the local park, I also included the map of the park and specified to the guests how they can locate our birthday party. I used the natural light brown color for the envelops, but I also created a "lab-coat" envelop for me to keep because I thought that would compliment the invite wonderfully.
ID BADGES
I saw some badges online from most of the parties, and thought they are too cute to pass up for this theme. So, I created that as well. I named the lab under our last name, included the birthday date and the access phrase for each tag. I love the idea of making personalized items for the party, thus each badge has the name of the kid who will be attending the party. And I wanted to add Aiden's age onto the tag, and used that as the level of clearance at the bottom of the tag. I used balloon ribbons to create the lanyard for the kids to wear over their neck.
I saw some badges online from most of the parties, and thought they are too cute to pass up for this theme. So, I created that as well. I named the lab under our last name, included the birthday date and the access phrase for each tag. I love the idea of making personalized items for the party, thus each badge has the name of the kid who will be attending the party. And I wanted to add Aiden's age onto the tag, and used that as the level of clearance at the bottom of the tag. I used balloon ribbons to create the lanyard for the kids to wear over their neck.
THANK-YOU TAGS
I know that I will have party favors for the kids. What party comes without favors? I was debating between giving out test tubes or sugar cookies for party favors, so I decided to give out both. Yet, I only included the tags on the sugar cookies because they look prettier. If I had more time, I would have added a thank-you sticker on the test tubes as well. I like to use black as a background color to make the tag stands out. In addition, to keep the theme consistent, I included the same test tubes clip-art among all of the printings.
I know that I will have party favors for the kids. What party comes without favors? I was debating between giving out test tubes or sugar cookies for party favors, so I decided to give out both. Yet, I only included the tags on the sugar cookies because they look prettier. If I had more time, I would have added a thank-you sticker on the test tubes as well. I like to use black as a background color to make the tag stands out. In addition, to keep the theme consistent, I included the same test tubes clip-art among all of the printings.
POSTERS AND SIGNS
As promised, I also created a sign that I posted in front of the park entrance for the guests to locate our party. It was a beautiful day and there were another 4 parties hosted during this time at the same park. I also made a small poster that welcomes the guests to the party, which was placed near the sweet table at the party. I had my son carry this frame to take a few pictures at the beginning of the party.
As promised, I also created a sign that I posted in front of the park entrance for the guests to locate our party. It was a beautiful day and there were another 4 parties hosted during this time at the same park. I also made a small poster that welcomes the guests to the party, which was placed near the sweet table at the party. I had my son carry this frame to take a few pictures at the beginning of the party.
Every year, Aiden gets to bring a poster to school for everyone to celebrate his birthday. So, I created the poster and used it as a decoration for the party. I put together 6 pictures from each year and wrote down each place he had traveled for that particular year. I placed this into a 11 x 14 gold picture frame and put it on the side of the sweet table. I thought it added a little personal touch to his birthday party.
Lastly, I also created a birthday sign mirroring the Periodic Table for each letter to say, "Happy Birthday." I placed this on top of the sweet table, and it was difficult to keep the sign still as it was a windy day. Here, I retook some pictures for a better look of the sign.
SWEETS
I am all about sweets at the party. After all, this is the main ingredient for this blog. I know that I wanted to make sugar cookies for the party, so I started out making the atoms picture using a flower cookie cutter and scientist lab coats using an angel cookie cutter. Again, here I used some of the images from the invitation to keep the theme together. I made about 22 cookies and placed them in the clear treat bags and tied them with ribbons. I added the thank-you tags on each bag.
I am all about sweets at the party. After all, this is the main ingredient for this blog. I know that I wanted to make sugar cookies for the party, so I started out making the atoms picture using a flower cookie cutter and scientist lab coats using an angel cookie cutter. Again, here I used some of the images from the invitation to keep the theme together. I made about 22 cookies and placed them in the clear treat bags and tied them with ribbons. I added the thank-you tags on each bag.
Next, I made 24 mini chocolate cupcakes to duplicate a Periodic Table diagram. Using four main colors, I punched out a square topper fondant for each cupcake and added the first letter of the name of each kid. There are obviously a lot more "A's" and "T's" for this Periodic Table. I aligned the mini cupcakes on the wooden board which fit perfectly. I placed this at the front center of the sweet table.
I did not have time for macarons, so a friend has offered to make them for me. These yellow macarons represent "nuclei" and were colored in yellow with a lemon flavor. Along scattering around the table were test tubes I purchased from Amazon,and filled with colorful Skittles. Aiden had helped me putting these together a few nights before the party. We picked out the Skittles to ensure they are the same color for each test tube. Aren't these cute?
Then, there were worm petri dishes I also purchased from Amazon. I was having a hard time searching for the right size, but luckily the second package came home 1 day before the party turned out to fit what I was looking for. I do believe that petri dishes are a MUST for a Science party. Although I was not planning on serving desserts in these petri dishes to the kids, I thought the dishes would add a nice touch to the decorations. I used blueberry flavored Jell-O for 10 petri dishes and added a Gummy worm to each dish, as suggested by my daughter. I thought it was very pretty to add onto the sweet table.
Then I placed a variety of beakers with colorful solutions on the sweet table for decorations. I also purchased on science flasks to hold multiple treats, including M&Ms and jelly beans. On top of this, I created a few "molecules" using mini colorful marshmallows and toothpicks.
Finally, I made the a simple one-tier cake for the birthday party. Again, I duplicated the test tubes from the party invite for one side of the cake, while added the birthday boy's name on the other side. His name was created mirroring the Periodic Table elements as well. I also made four molecules using fondant and paper straw to be used as cake toppers. I also added a mini glass flask with orange M&M inside to make the topper "pop." A friend gave us an idea to add dry-ice into this flask just before the birthday boy blows the candles, but we could not get a hold of dry-ice in time for the party. I'm sure that would have been fun for the kids to watch.
SCIENCE PROJECTS
A science party will not be completed without actual hands-on experiments. I did a brief research and found three simple projects that kids ranging the ages of 4 to 8 to "perform" with easy instructions to follow. In preparations for these experiments, I gathered all of the requirement equipment and organized them into 3 bags. My plan was to have each kid perform the experiment on their own with some assistance from the adults. The kids were excited and amazed at the outcomes.
The first experiment called "Invisible Ink" where the kids dipped paint brushes into lemon juice and wrote their secret messages on plain white paper. Next, I used the iron to "reveal" the messages. You may also use candlelight to do this, but it would take a lot longer to do so. We had so many kids that made this experiment harder to complete. We attempted to reveal one of the messages, and then hurriedly moved on to the next experiment.
A science party will not be completed without actual hands-on experiments. I did a brief research and found three simple projects that kids ranging the ages of 4 to 8 to "perform" with easy instructions to follow. In preparations for these experiments, I gathered all of the requirement equipment and organized them into 3 bags. My plan was to have each kid perform the experiment on their own with some assistance from the adults. The kids were excited and amazed at the outcomes.
The first experiment called "Invisible Ink" where the kids dipped paint brushes into lemon juice and wrote their secret messages on plain white paper. Next, I used the iron to "reveal" the messages. You may also use candlelight to do this, but it would take a lot longer to do so. We had so many kids that made this experiment harder to complete. We attempted to reveal one of the messages, and then hurriedly moved on to the next experiment.
The second experiment was called "Inflating Balloons" using the simple acid and base reaction with vinegar and baking soda. First, each kid would put about a tablespoonful of baking soda into the balloon using a funnel, then carefully place the balloon over a plastic container or a flask filled with vinegar. Once all the kids had this step done, we asked them to lift the balloons up so the baking soda would fall into the vinegar solution. The reaction creates gas, CO2 which causes the inflation of the balloons. We had more kids than expected so I only gave each a little bit of vinegar and baking soda; just enough to see the reaction, but not enough to "pop" the balloons. I thought this was the most successful experiment among the three we did during the party.
Finally, we performed the last experiment called "Dancing Frankenworms," in which we also used vinegar and baking soda. First, we soaked the gummy worms into the baking soda solution for about 20 minutes, and then put each worm in the beaker filled with vinegar. The expected reaction is to see the worms "come to live." The key is that the worms have to be thin enough to squirm around the vinegar solution.
On top of these experiments, we also had other non-science activities at the party. We had a mini bounce house for the kids to release their sugar rush from all of the sweets intake. We also hired a face painter for those who are interested in having their faces paint. This actually has helped the traffic between the science experiments and the long wait for face painting.
And that's all folks. Although it was a lot of preparation and planning, the kids had a blast, which is really all that matter. We ended the party with the ordinary blowing the candles and cake cutting, and more play time.
I hope this posting inspired you to host your next Science Party. And don't be hesitated to use one of the crafts that I have already created for Aiden's Science Party. I am ready to work on my upcoming birthday party for my daughter, and yes, it does take more than a few weeks of planning.
xoxo,
Tristina
I hope this posting inspired you to host your next Science Party. And don't be hesitated to use one of the crafts that I have already created for Aiden's Science Party. I am ready to work on my upcoming birthday party for my daughter, and yes, it does take more than a few weeks of planning.
xoxo,
Tristina
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