The Messy Party

Today the Zany Brood went to a "messy party" thrown by a brave Mama in my SAHM group. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since Wacky Zacky screams bloody murder if he gets dirt on his hands and then cries when his hands are wet after we clean them. I suspected Zany Janie would be right in the middle of the action since she seems to love to do things her brother hates (i.e. see Shakin' and bakin' in Dana Point).

A messy party is a party where all the rules are thrown out the window and the kids are allowed to frolic, play, and make a big mess without getting into trouble. The party was set-up with six messy stations including: a cookie decorating station, a baby pool filled with flour, a baby pool filled with several types of cooked pasta, an edible play dough station, a finger painting station using colored pudding, and a cleaning station.

We got to the party a little late and walked into what appeared to be mass chaos. There were tiny ghost babies and toddlers running amuck covered from head-to-toe in flour. Wacky Zacky and Zany Janie were not feeling the party vibe and clung tightly to my legs practically cutting off circulation. The only way I was able to pry them off me was to offer them a cookie at the cookie decorating station.

After regaining circulation in my legs I attempted to guide Wacky Zacky and Zany Janie to the flour pit. It appeared like all the other kids were drawn to the flour like white on rice, but not my Zany kids. They withdrew in disgust shielding their cookies from the puffs of flour flying in the air.

Next we walked to the pasta pool and I carefully set Zany Janie in the middle of the pasta. She immediately began to shriek and reached for me. I got her out and attempted to play with the pasta to show them both how much fun it could be, but they were having none of it. They wouldn't even touch a piece of pasta and jumped back when I offered them a piece acting like I was trying to give them a snake.

The kids were more than anxious to leave the pasta pool and venture to the picnic tables where the play dough and pudding paint sat. Wacky Zacky actually sat at one of the tables and began to paint a picture. He's so drawn to art that I think he may be a Picasso in the making.

Surprisingly Zany Janie wanted nothing to do with this station either. She sat back and watched Wacky Zacky go to work. I do think I saw a slight smirk on her face when Wacky Zacky was finished with his painting and started freaking out that his hands were dirty.

After cleaning Wacky Zacky's hands he continued to feel adventuresome and tackled the edible play dough.

Zany Janie stuck her nose up at this station too and I succumbed to the fact that she was more of a "girly girl" than I'd initially thought. This was the look on her face 99% of the time at the party:

After going through all the stations and keeping clean, my kids decided to go and play in the most disgusting part of the party. They decided the cleaning station pool was the place to be. As you can see, when flour is added to water it makes a nice paste!

Despite it's appearance, this is actually filled with water not milk and it was initially clear at the beginning of the party! My kids bathed in the water and remained in it until I had to drag them out to leave.

Looking over the wreckage at the end of the party:

I was glad it wasn't my house!

Zany thought of the day: So what type of person are you? Would you have sat back, stuck your nose in the air and passed by all the messy stations like Zany Janie? Or would you have partaken in a few of them like Wacky Zacky? Or would you have gone for the gusto and plowed through all of them and come out white as a ghost with spaghetti hanging from your earlobes, play dough shoved up your nose, and a pudding painting on your shirt?