ghostbusters birthday party

How many kids get to have a private movie screening of their favorite film for their tenth birthday party?  Thanks to Jason Garnett, the mastermind behind Roanoke's Shadowbox Cinema, Alex received just that.  He and his friends enjoyed a movie with popcorn, punch, and cake a couple of weeks ago. 

 Several years ago, my son became infatuated with the original Ghostbusters movie.  I'm not really sure what spawned this interest, but it has remained.  Last Halloween, Alex decided he wanted to dress up as a Ghostbuster.  Not long after making his costume, I had the idea for this party.

Jason made this day the most stress-free birthday party I have ever experienced.  He set up the chairs and tables, provided the popcorn in cute little bags, and had the movie all ready to go.  All we had to do, essentially, was show up.  He even cleaned up after us when we were done.  Now, I know that other nationwide party venues offer this same service, namely Chuck E. Cheese and Pump It Up.  But, imagine all the screaming kids that surround you in those places.  The boys who showed up to Alex's party were in movie-going mode.  They sat down, watched the flick, and then we had cake, opened presents, and played a bit.  Easy cheesy. 

 

The cake was four layers of devil's food, iced with cream cheese frosting.  I'll admit it... I cheated and used a box for this.  I seriously had so much other stuff going on that week that I couldn't fathom looking up a recipe and then trying to bake it from scratch.  What if my chosen instructions flopped?  So, I went the Duncan Hines route.  

This blog served as the inspiration for the cake.  Their cake turned out much better, in my opinion, but they are professionals, so I'm not beating myself up over it.  This picture was taken after I had wrapped it in tinfoil for traveling, so the icing is also a bit marred.  (Excuses, excuses.. I know!) 

Anyway, the ghosty guy on top is made from candy melts.  I took the Ghostbusters logo, turned it into a sketch photo in picnik, and printed it off.  Then, I taped it to the counter under a sheet of wax paper.  I used squeeze bottles to trace over the image and fill it in. 

The green gunk is corn syrup mixed with piping gel.  I would never ever do this again.  It made such a mess!  Originally, I just had the cake sitting on a cake board, but then I had to put my pizza stone underneath that to catch all of the runny gloop.  Even then, corn syrup ran across my table, dripped onto the floor, and got stuck to my shoes.  Nasty.  Just use icing instead.


The Punch

I didn't take a picture of it and I wish I had.  Here's the recipe I used:

• 2 (1/4 ounce) packages Kool-Aid lemon-lime powdered drink mix
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 (46 ounce) can pineapple juice, chilled
• 2 quarts cold water
• 2 (2 liter) bottles Sierra Mist, chilled
• 1 quart lime sherbet 

I was unable to find lemon lime kool-aid at my grocery store.  In a mad rush, I bought the blue and yellow packets instead.  Who knew that the blue packet would produce red kool-aid?  How dumb.  So, we wound up with brown punch instead of green.  That just made it more disgusting-looking.   But, it tasted nice.

The Favors

We handed out mini tubs of green slime as party favors.  And punch balls.  The punch balls made the end of the party chaotic.  Just don't.  I bought these little containers at the Dollar Tree and filled them with the gooey homemade concoction.  Want to make some yourself?  Just mix together equal parts of white glue, liquid starch, and warm water, and a few drops of food coloring, and stir.  Seriously stir.  It will look like a nasty mess for awhile and then it will suddenly come together.  Have fun with it!