Welcome to the lab…mwahahahahaha

The Mad Scientist birthday was a complete hit.  My son had a great time and told me over and over how happy he was.  Total success, I say.  Here are the dirty details in case anyone out there is in need of some ideas for a super fun kids’ party.
The invitations:


I used a picture of my son [from Christmas morning when he opened his official lab coat and immediately started laughing manically] and used Picnik to adjust the colors and add text.  I wanted it to look like a magazine cover, so I added various “articles” and of course the featured “Scientist of the Year” as my son.

The party information was on the reverse side and nothing too fancy

A print out of this sign greeted the kids as they came in the front door:

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As the guests arrived, one of my sisters was stationed at the door with mad scientist glasses (from Oriental Trading) and hair products.  The invitation said to come with “mad scientist” hair, but we knew some of the kids were coming straight from school and wouldn’t have time, so we wanted to be prepared for them

After becoming Mad Scientists, the kids moved to the kitchen table to decorate some science lab sheets with stickers (again, Oriental Trading)

For the table centerpiece, I just filled various sized Mason jars and clear glass vases, all already on hand, with water and food coloring, water and vegetable oil (and salt, which made for a super cool lava lamp effect for about 20 seconds), and water and dry ice.  Some of the jars also had small plastic snakes floating inside

I also sprinkled the table with tiny cut out warning signs

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These signs were also printed out and hanging around the party area

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For our first experiment, we did baking soda rocks.  Full information/tutorial at the end of this post, but they’re a super easy, cool way to hide little toys.  We actually did them at a space party a few years ago, too.

Next up was Oobleck.  It’s cornstarch and water slime stuff.  The instructions for it are at the end of the post, along with the rocks.

Super easy, really cool and cleans up very easily.  Thankfully my older sister, who is an elementary school teacher, was in attendance and kind of took over this part for me, fully explaining the science behind it all and making sure everyone had the right consistency of slime.

My son very much wanted to make crazy monsters, ala Frankenstein, at his party.  This was our compromise: Make Your Own Monster Cupcakes.  I just made cupcakes and frosted them before the kids came.  Then I provided a variety of candy and let the kids have at it. 

We didn’t do ice cream.  I actually forgot to get it out.  But to drink we had floating brains.  I bought a set of  Brain Freeze ice “cube”things from Amazon.  Over the course of a few days, I made a bunch of the brains out of blue punch.  At the party, we just served them floating in Sprite.  The kids thought they were awesome.

For the grand finale, we all went outside for a Mentos/Diet Cola fountain.  My sister gave my son a special dispenser to use for it and everything.

The goodie bags were medical specimen bags from the local hospital (I asked for unused ones ).  Inside went the sticker sheets, the bugs from the baking soda rocks, and their mad scientist glasses.  I also poured Pop Rocks into some plastic test tubes (yay Oriental Trading!), and those went in there, too.  They also took home their jars of Oobleck.

And then I passed out from exhaustion.  But it was totally worth it.

sharing this party at a few of these awesome link parties

Baking Soda Rocks

Oobleck

Make a paste of baking soda and water.  The paste needs to be pretty thick, so that it can be formed into a ball and keep it’s shape.  I just added water slowly, testing by pinching off some and pressing to see if it would stick together, until I got to where I wanted it to be. Get some small toys.  Place one small toy in the middle of a baking soda patty And mold the patty around the toy, enclosing it completely. So now it looks like a small snow ball Place on ungreased cookie sheet Bake at 200 degrees F. for about three hours. Cool completely. Fill a large container with vinegar and add the baking soda rocks a few at a time.  Everything will start to bubble and fizz Use spoons, tongs, whatever, to roll your rocks around and help break them up Soon the rock will fully dissolve, in a sea of foam and fizz, and your toy will appear!

We premeasured one cup of cornstarch into a container for every guest, labeling with their names and dates ( my little sister got the chemical labels from the vet office where she works and the jars are from Oriental Trading) When the time came, each child was called up individually and we added 1/2 cup water and food coloring of their choice Then they took their jars back to the table and mixed well with spoons.  Some jars needed more cornstarch added after we started stirring.  The resulting “oobleck” (no idea where the name comes from) is a cornstarch suspension, neither a liquid nor solid.  The more the kids play with it with their hands, the better the consistency.  But it’s basically a slime.

*Leftover baking soda paste, and the vinegar/soda mix from dissolving the rocks, makes great household cleaner.  DON’T dispose of the baking soda/vinegar down your drains.  Trust me on this.  Three years ago we paid big$$$ in plumbing bills to clean out the mess I made doing just that.*