Ryan requested several months ago that this years birthday party be a Percy Jackson party. Now I'm not much of a party planner, but this one caught my imagination so I was as excited about it as he was (a little more to be honest...the day of the party it was hot and he said, "Why didn't we just do a water party again?").
So the boys (and one girl cousin, Rebekah) were welcomed to Camp Half-Blood by the Activities Director (me) and were instructed to prepared their armor. I had already cut out circles from cardboard and painted them black so they just had to decorate them with gold paint. I taped posterboard strips on the back for the straps but that didn't work too well, if I did this again i'd need to come up with a different plan. After their shields were painted they began their quest. Scott was my assistant so the two of us each took a group to help and answer questions as they moved through their challenges.
They had to:
1. Defeat Medusa by throwing darts at a dartboard where a picture of her that was covered in small balloons was taped. (This was a bit of a challenge, especially after a few of the balloons were popped, the last boys had a harder time popping what was left.).
2. Have a chariot race (using two scooters on my mom's long driveway).
3. Defeat the Minotaur by shooting marshmallows at it.
4. Power-up by getting a clue out of the sprinkler (Percy Jackson is stronger in the water).
After their quest was over they were rewarded with their swords (cool light-up swords that my friend Katrina found for me).
After the quest they played Steal the Flag (Titans vs. Olympians) and were joined by Scott much to the dismay of the opposing team.
Then after a quick lunch of hotdogs our Camp Weapons Instructor (Justus Lawrence) did a sword demo and taught the kids some moves and directed some practice battles. I think everyone thought that was fantastic especially Ryan who got to battle all of his friends (although I think he was pretty pooped by the end).
We opened presents and ate cake and ice cream and it was officially done!!
It was a great time. Hooray for Percy Jackson!!
