Ethan's 5th Birthday Party: The 5th Birthday Experiment

Adorable invitation by Sandy Ford Design

Ethan had his 5th birthday party yesterday! If you know me, you know parties are my thing. I felt like turning five deserved pulling all the stops, but at the same time it seemed a lot more chill than years past -- maybe because I finally figured out a good system (and not waiting for the last minute to execute all my ideas). Ethan requested a science party this year. The venue was a no-brainer -- My Gym Coconut Creek, our home away from home. Ethan has been taking weekly classes there since he was eight weeks old and has his parties there each year. What better place to celebrate turning five than his favorite place and with his favorite teacher (thank you, Mr. Lee)?!

(You can take a glimpse at parties of years passed here.)

I made these lanyards for each of the little doctors in attendance at Ethan's party. What I didn't think of ahead of time was that it probably isn't the best idea to hand out little lanyards to go around the necks of small children as they run around a kids gym. (Oops!) My friend handed each child their lanyard when they entered the gym -- and then the parents held onto them during the duration of the party.

For the party favors, Ethan wanted to send his pals home with something "science-y and fun!" We decided on homemade slime kits. We made these little direction cards and sent each kid home with some glue and Borax to make their own little slime.

Every year I make a photobooth set up. For this one, guests got to pull down the frame and pose next to the scientist hall of fame, which features Neil Degrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and Ethan -- per Ethan's request.

Every year, I also make a slideshow that streams on an iPad featuring Ethan's year. We must have watched his 5 year birthday slideshow 100 times the last two weeks -- and I'm pretty sure I cried each time. FIVE.

Ethan sent letters to Bill Nye, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Miss Frizzle from Magic Schoolbus. To his surprise, Miss Frizzle showed up! He was so, so excited!