Come for some "reel" fun!

Allison had her birthday party Friday night.  We had a popcorn and movie theme.  Here's what we made the front of the house look like:

It had a red carpet, yellow "No Papparazzi" tape, red "VIP Entrance" tape, silver "Celebrity Zone" tape, and a roll of film banner.

As the girls arrived.  They sat and chatted (more rowdily than quietly...but not out of control!) and ate popcorn.  For 13 girls, we went through 10 bags of popcorn...and I could have made more and they would have eaten that, too!  We ordered four large Papa John's Pizza.  It was just enough.  We also served orange Fanta, Root Beer, and Sprite.

We'd gone to Blockbuster the night before to rent a couple movie options.  The one near us is one that is closing.  They are not renting anything, but their movies are for sale and at cheaper than retail prices.  I had all four kids with me.  We came home with more than just two movies.  (As a side-note, we also came home with a Wii game.)

So, I previewed the movie that Allison had as her choice..."Arthur and the Incredibles."  It seemed a bit slow for a party.  So, we played "The Tale of Desperaux" instead.

After eating, and a few more minutes of the movie, we made "Rocker Bracelets."  I just bought two large kits of thick leather bracelets and let them stick silver, glittery "tatto-like" stickers and gem-like stickers on them.

They bounced back and forth between eating, activities, and the movie.

We had cake and presents:

I was not sure what kind of movies 10- and 11-year-ish-old girls would really be into on a Friday/party night.  But, they loved "Desperaux" and when we ran out of movie before the night was done, I put "How to Train Your Dragon" in and they loved that, too.  It seemed like everyone had a good time and thought all the decorations (film reels throughout the inside of the house, too) were fun.  Parents came and got their girls 2-1/2 hours later and we handed out popcorn cups with microwave popcorn packets as our goodie treat.