Indoor Carnival

We celebrated Eli's birthday four different times.  That's a lot of birthdays for a five year old and a lot of birthdays for a five year old's mom.  Each celebration was wonderfully fun, but it was still four celebrations.  You've heard of this?

 Well, my husband and I felt that it could have been this:

Taken after the second of four parties.

On the fourth day of parties, I had some restless troops who needed some help waiting until said party was going to begin.  I had one game in mind and Eli invented the rest.  It was an Indoor Carnival, indeed. 

Game #1:  Beanbag Toss:  My One and Only Idea

We cut a cereal box in half, leaving the front/back panels each attached to one side panel.  Did that make sense?  A hole was cut in the middle of each.

These were then taped, by the side panel, to a table.

We brought out the beanbags and started tossing.

Eli elected to toss from a rocking chair.  I guess at another year older he was really feeling the aches and pains of aging.

Game #2:  Dueling Beanbag Toss

Eli wanted to tape a target to each side of the table and have he and his sister toss simultaneously.  You can imagine how this ended, with the sister sobbing on my lap after a beanbag bounced off her cute little face.

Game #3:  Cup Pyramid Knock-Down

The face says it all on this one.

Game #4:  Beanbag Toss:  A Variation

I happened to snap a picture of the only one that made it successfully to its target.

You can see the sister in the chair...still recovering from her beanbag-to-the-face injury.

Game #5:  Bowling

Cups...a basketball...bowling, of course.  Nice form, Buddy!

Game #6:  Hanging Cup Ball Toss

Eli did actually make a shot into the clear cup on the bottom. 

So, there you have it.  One game that turned into six.  Now, I did end up with a crying girl that never quite recovered and messier house than when I started, but, I also got this:

Worth it.