GI Joe Party -6yr- Drill Sargent Simon Says

INVITATION: I printed the invitation on the opposite side of a coloring page that had a picture of Uncle Sam.  We added, I want YOU to come to (my son)'s Birthday Party.  I stuffed them in small manila folders.  On the outside we printed GI (the name of the guest) and stamped CLASSIFIED in red ink.

  The invitation read:  G.I. JOE, HERE IS YOUR TOP SECRET MISSION (AKA) My son's 6TH BIRTHDAY PARTY: ARRIVE:  SATURDAY AT 1500 TO 1630 HOURS (3:00 TO 4:30) LOCATION:FORT (our last name) WE ARE LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MEN TO SERVE AND PROTECT THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE UNITED STATES.  PLEASE COME IN YOUR FATIGUES AND BRING BRAVE BODIES AND MINDS. YOUR FIRST TASK: COLOR UNCLE SAM ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THIS PAPER AND BRING IT TO THE PARTY FOR A PRIZE. THIS MESSAGE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 30 SECONDS.

DECORATIONS: We had the party in our backyard.  In order to direct our guests from our front door to our backyard, I wrote in sidewalk chalk, GI Joe, follow the flags to the backyard for boot camp.  Along the sidewalk to the backyard, I put little American flags in the ground.  By the gate, I had a chalkboard that said, Boot Camp, and I put a camouflage balloon on the gate.  On my sons fort, I put up a poster we got for free from the local Army Recruitment Office.

ACTIVITIES: While the children arrived, my husband led them in a game of Drill Sergeant Says, otherwise known as Simon Says.  Then I told them the first thing we had to do at boot camp was to practice marching.  So they all lined up behind me, and I took them on a march around the front yard saying, Left, left, left right left.  When we returned to the backyard, our first task at boot camp was an obstacle course.  They started by swinging on one of our swings from a stool and jumping off.  They then ran up our climbing wall into our fort.  Then they slid down the slide.  From there they ran to a bench covered with camouflage fabric and army crawled under the bench.  Then they ran to black circles in the grass spray-painted with black paint to look like tires and ran through them.  Then they sprinted to the finish line. 

Our next activity was grenade practice.  We lined up three targets made with markers and posterboard along our fence.  We filled a bucket of water balloons (the balloons were bought online and looked like grenades) and they threw the balloons at the targets (not at each other because we wouldn't bomb our allies). 

Our final activity was medic practice.  Each child received a paper bag with a red cross printed on it, and I told them it was their ambulances.  We then headed to the front yard where I had scattered dozens of little green army men (from the dollar store) in the yard.  The children hunted for the wounded soldiers to save them like it was an Easter egg hunt.

COSTUMES: The children were told to wear camouflage clothes if they had them.  When they arrived, they each received an army helmet (from the dollar store), a dog tag with their names, and temporary army tattoos.  My husband, my children, and I all wore as much camouflage and army green as we could find.

CAKE: I made a sheet cake and with green icing for grass and blue icing for a river, created a battle scene using some of our (clean) plastic army men, their weapons and the plastic barbed wire.  I served the cake on American flag plates.

FAVORS: Each child took home their helmet, dog tag, and tattoos, a sticker and an army bracelet given to us by the recruitment office, a parachuter and a plane (from the dollar store), and their rescued soldiers.