Snake Party

I decided to do one party to celebrate both kids birthday's, since they are so close together.  Last year we did two parties and it was just SO much work and almost no one showed up to Payton's, I still have no idea why, but I wasn't going to chance going through all that work and have people not show up because that was too many parties to close together.  The theme this year was more for Garrett, until 2 weeks before the party, Payton hadn't show much interest in anything, now she's obsessed with Elmo and we could have done something else, but the snakes worked out great!  We had about 12 kids show up, and that was perfect.  It rained badly that day, so we had to stay inside.  I decided to change up the timing of the party, we'd been to a few parties lately where I noticed people showing up 30-45 minutes late, so I decided to end the party with the snakes instead of start and I think it went really well.
As the kids arrived, they colored on paper pates and we cut them out to look like snakes and hung them up.  A few kids were really into it, a few scribbled real fast and ran off to Garrett's room to play.  After that, we did pin the crown/tongue on the snake.  This was a huge hit!  We blind folded the kids and they were hilarious, they all had a blast, Payton insisted on being blindfolded too!  After that we went right to singing and enjoying dirt cups.  As the kids were eating the snake lady showed up, she set up while they finished eating and then had them all sit in a circle.  She started with a really small lizard and worked up to a really, really big one, then she did turtles, and then the snakes!  I am not a fan of snakes, but I guess knowing they were non venomous helped.  Most of the moms hid out in the kitchen but the dads were right there.  Come to think of it, this may be the first birthday party where the dad's had a lot of fun, lol!!  The kids were able to touch and hold anything they wanted, and they had so much fun!  The grand finale was Peaches, the Boa Constrictor.  At first, she had all the kids line up and all of them held her, then people alternated holding her, I'm pretty sure we had more adults then kids hold Peaches.  My sister and mom did, so I had to, but I'll tell you, from the second that snake touched my neck, I immediately started sweating!  It's head was weaving up my back and I thought I was going to have a heart attack!  It really was so fun though.  Payton was even in there touching everything.  After the snakes went home, the kids opened presents and most people left.  Just a couple of our close friends stayed and the kids opened a couple gifts and played for a couple more hours.
I think, in spite of the rain, it was a great birthday party!!