finn's mad science party

i'm so excited to share photos and highlights of finn's birthday. (sorry for the wait grandma)
last sunday, a dozen of finn's friends joined us at dusty rhodes park to celebrate his 7th birthday!

after finn chose a 'science' theme, i did some searching on-line and came across the celebration shoppe. 
i purchased this adorable invitation and coordinating printables that made it easy to for me to decorate and theme the party around. easy is always good.

for the first time in 5 years, coastal san diego didn't see much sunshine on finn's birthday.
it was a cool, cloudy and windy day - with temperatures in the low 60s.
those who live in cold climates might chuckle, but for san diegans, it was chilly.
we survived - but we definitely had to pull out a sweater.
well the adults did...the kids didn't seem to notice it was cool.

one of the highlights of the party was the 'Mad Scientist' that came out to entertain the kids.
he was AMAZING! he not only had the kids laughing outloud, but the adults too.

after his 45 minute show with lots of interactive experiments, i had a chance to thank him and
chat with him. i learned he was a retired drama teacher.  no wonder he was so fantastic!
Dr. Don was his stage name and c and i agreed, he was worth every penny.
if you have a little science lover, i recommend mad science of san diego wholeheartedly!

after he left, christopher brought out our his own science experiment - an air compressor rocket
that he made with the boys literally the day before the party.  the kids couldn't get enough of this.

there was even more entertainment when one of the plastic soda bottle rockets, filled with water,
exploded all over finn's daddy. *grin*

after lots of rocket launching and playing on the playground, the kids had worked up an appetite.
we chowed on warm and greasy pizza and then it was time for the birthday cake.

christopher spent several hours in the kitchen baking and building a 'flask' shaped cake.
i suggested it just be flat, but NO, that wasn't interesting enough. it had to be 3-dimensional.

he used several round cakes to build it up and then inserted a glass vase in the center for
the dry ice and warm water so it would produce steam. he wanted it to mimic a science experiment.
finn was THRILLED! he said it was the best cake dad ever made.
(even better than the robot cake). *grin*

and if the cake was a little too crazy looking to eat, party guests had the

option (and privilege) of eating a delicious cupcake baked by my sweet

and very talented coworker tina.  they were as delicious as they were cute!

i found these science cookie cutters online months ago and couldn't resist purchasing them.

my first thought was to make sandwhiches for the younger siblings of party guests,

but instead, i decided to have sugar cookies made.

i discovered baked, a local bakery located in mission beach.

the wonderful owner nanci, was happy to help me out. 

she did a fantastic job!

the science sugar cookies included: beakers, flasks and test tubes

toppings were set out so the kids could pile on top of their mini
vanilla ice cream cups that auntie jen handed out (thank you).

the wraps for the drinks were printables purchased from the celebration shoppe. 

party favors were test tubes filled with skittles. these tubes and their trays (not pictured)
were purchased at steve spangler science.  they were a hit with the kids! 



and finally, the guest of honor, finn oliver.

he told us he had the best birthday EVER!

i forgot to take a picture of the b-day boy with his lil' brother so i snapped this in front of the house after the party..
scoutie was about to fall over from exhaustion (we both took a 3 hr nap after this picture was taken)