Mad Science Birthday Party

Okay, I finally have a few minutes to post about the kid's birthday party. Above is Cadence on her 9th Birthday, this is sort of her birthday outfit, the shoes were from Dad, the skirt and shirt from Mom and the leg warmers from Auntie Becca (she felt very stylish). So on with the details of the science inspired party, which was my daughters idea, but I had a hard time keeping her on the science theme, I was a skeptic at first, but I think it turned out pretty cool and fun was had by all. Now I am again saying I kept the party pretty simple, and for those who scoff at me because it doesn't look simple, I have to explain how much editing I do in my head. There are so many ideas that I think up but then dismiss, so to me this is a simple version of the party. Sorry there are a lot of pictures, but I think those explain a lot better then words!

First of all, here is one of the goody bags, plain white bags from a craft store, then I cut out a beaker shape from flame fabric and ironed it on with stitch witchery. (super easy and made me think up all sorts of ideas for future) Inside I included some some science type stuff and ingredients that tied in to our experiments, like bubbles and mentos. There was also some candy and typed out instructions for the experiments.

So, here was our table - I covered the table with a plastic tablecloth, then I borrowed this cool centerpiece thing from work and filled it with snacks. Also I borrowed a bunch of beakers of various sizes; the ones on the table are filled with colored sand and scoops, the first thing we did was a craft with plastic beakers and test tubes that I bought from Oriental Trading super cheap, the girls filled them (with a funnel) with the colored sand to make cool designs. My example beaker is on the table between the purple and blue sand.

Close up of the snacks in a science type center piece borrowed from my work (catering company).

I bought bud vases from a florist shop for a quarter each (they look like test tubes!) and filled them with Nerds. The girls each got a vial in their bag and then I put some on the table and then hung the rest from the ceiling fan.

Then with their pizza, I had them make their own drink potions. I had tons of Juices, soda and milk. Each girl got their own beaker to drink from and I had different sizes to measure the liquids, and little droppers. The only rule is that everyone had to at least taste their concoction. They had tons of fun with this - and I have to say having all those glass beakers made the difference and made it seem authentic (I was just deathly afraid that one of the kids was going to break one!).

I love this picture of them making their potions, because Molly's face looks so disgusted!

This experiment was about testing the acidic levels in liquids using Red Cabbage juice, which I thought was one of the neatest experiments, but the girls did not care about the science behind it, they just had way too much fun changing the cabbage juice different colors (purple cabbage juice turns blue when baking soda is added, then the more acidic the ingredient the juice will go back to purple). And yes the juice did stink something awful here as evident by Joanie's hand over her nose.

We then did some experiments with dye and oil and what not, but this picture is of the girls seeing the effects of soap on dye with a fatty liquid, they made a ton of different patterns.

Here is a closeup of Cadence's (before she added like 5 other colors) the glue had a different effect on the dye then milk, this sort of looks like veins to me. Very cool.

Then of course we did a ton of experiments with baking soda and vinegar. This one is like a mini volcano in a water bottle. We added dish soap though (thanks Nancy for the idea!) and when the chemical reaction started it churned up the bubbles and made these fountain type bubbles that went on and on.

Of course, Pete had to show them how to shake up the bottles and then squirt them at each other and it turned into a big water fight, vinegar mess. We did this experiment over and over again, until we had no vinegar left, tons of outdoor fun in Feb. (thank goodness the weather was reasonable and sunny).

Here is my cute husband getting the mento, Diet Coke experiment ready. This was by far Cadence's most anticipated experiment.

At first the girls all got a wide clearance from the explosion, they were a little timid and did not want to end up with diet coke all over them (but vinegar is ok?).

But after the first one, they all swarmed in to take part and set off their own bottle.

This picture says it all. This is the results of our experiment.

What I didn't anticipate, was the girls swarming in to drink the Diet Coke, they were scrambling to get their own 2 liter to start swigging.

It kind of made me think of alcoholics rushing to get a drink and swigging it down, looked really hilarious to see a bunch of 8 and 9 year olds with giant sodas in their hands. Sorry moms! I did make them stop and throw the soda out, after they all got a drink.

Child after my own heart, knows how to eat and requested a Boston Cream Pie for her birthday instead of a birthday cake, and I guess she ended up with sugar and junk all over face after all.