A Smurftastic Party

I grew up on cartoons. I wouldn't say we were couch potatoes, because I certainly remember a lot of days spent outside in the backyard and bike rides down the street - you know, back when people were naive and kids were allowed to leave the confines of their own homes without supervision. Sort of off the subject, but I remember one time waking up and being so excited to go play outside that it wasn't until I was playing on the merry-go-round that my dad built that I realized I didn't have any pants on! Luckily, those were the days before cell phone cameras so there are no dirty blackmail pictures of that. Besides, I was like 6.

My favorite cartoons were He-Man and She-Ra, Gem and the Rockstars, Care Bears, My Little Ponies, Thundercats, and, well...these guys:

I honestly don't remember this guy...Gutsy. But now that we've been properly introduced he just might be my favorite. He's funny, brave, and, well...gutsy!

We had Groupons for the movie theaters that expired a week after we moved to Albuquerque, so for our very first Albuquerque outing, we took the kiddos to see The Smurfs. I was secretly excited to see it because I'd grown up watching them and was curious if the movie was the beginning of a new Smurfs era or just a bad idea.

I have to say, I really liked it. So did the kids. Hayden and Roman sat in their chairs the whole times, transfixed by the little men in blue. They'd watched a few Smurfs cartoons on Comcast's On Demand, but this was their first realy fascination with the characters. We spoiled them with treats and soda, and towards the end of the movie, Roman threw up. All. Over. The. Place. Jeremiah with his weak stomach was breathing through his shirt but we weren't ready to pull Roman out of the theaters and miss the last 10 minutes of the super cute movie. Luckily the theater wasn't that packed and I'm 60% sure no one else noticed that we ignored our vomiting child.

Aubrey also really liked it, although she couldn't quite decide if she wanted to sit with Jeremiah or me or by herself. She still talks about them and sometimes chooses to go to bed with her McDonald's Smurfette toy.

Well, it was no surprise that when the movie came out on Blu-Ray that we bought it. We even got the special edition that contained the Smurf's Christmas cartoon.

So...then it just so happens that Crowdtap asked me to host a Smurfs party to help our friends get into the Smurf spirit. Would I do it? Of course! My kids love parties and I love planning for them. This gave us a great excuse to invite some friends over to watch the new Smurfs movie and eat blue food.

This is my version of a Smurf village. I carved radishes into little mushroom houses and served it with blue Ranch dressing. Sadly, my husband demolished the village, but he has a love for radishes no matter what shape, so we forgave him.

Smurfette (yes, the same one that Aubrey enjoys taking to bed) guarded some blue raspberry taffies. I say "guarded" because if left unattended, the kiddos would beaten each other up in an effort to get the last one. There needed to be some order here.

This was my dollar store super find. I went for decorations and found these as I was checking out. Smurfberry candy canes - or at least that's what we called them. I'm sure they were boring blue raspberry :)

For the life of me I can't remember why I didn't dye the cupcakes blue. Oh yeah, because my cake mix was yellow, and I'm pretty sure my education in kindergarten taught me that yellow + blue = green. At least the frosting, cupcake liners, and sprinkles are blue.

Roman, Logan, and Hayden watching "The Smurfs". Logan is the boys' "best friend" and they bring out the crazy in each other. They are always asking when they can see Logan again!

Here's Aubrey with one of her besties, Railynn. Her other bestie, Jocylain, is here too. I have proof, you can see her elbow :)

Aubrey's the kind of girl who will attend a party based on food alone. She's a foodaholic.

Roman had a blue moustache after this. And, in the Smurf spirit, he was sporting a blue and white cast. Or maybe he was just slowing turning into a Smurf.

The website "Smurf Happens" had a lot of activities for the kids to do, including making their own Smurf hats and Smurf coloring pages. This gave the kids something to do after their movie was over.

We had a great time with our Smurfs party. The kids got to know their new friends a little better and their friends got to enjoy some Smurftastic food and a movie. My kids don't always get to do "fun" things, sometimes their Saturdays are spent grocery shopping, cleaning their room, or running errands with us. But when possible, we like to give them a good time with their friends, memories that will last a lifetime. We may not have the means to spend every kid away with a Smurfs goodie bag or big, fun, fancy decorations, but the kids had the time of their lives and that's what is important.