party time...

This looks like a very tame version of what I did this weekend. The main event: Aly's birthday party! If you are wondering what the deal is with the random costumes, well, we had a little white elephant costume swap to add a twist to your typical birthday party. It was a huge hit! I'll tell you how it works...

Rules to the White Elephant costume swap...

* Bring an old costume (it's best if it's a full costume not just accessories) in a concealed bag to the party.

* Don't put the costume on, show up in your normal clothes, but give the bag to your host when you arrive.

* If you don't have a costume that's fine. still come.

* If you have extra costumes bring them.

* Once pretty much everyone who is attending has shown up and there is a large pile of bags with costumes in them, you are ready to begin.

* Count the number of people in the room and fold up that many pieces of paper with numbers written on them (25 ppl = 1-25)

* Everyone draw a number.

* One is the best number, two is the worst number ( <-- I was two)

* Whoever picks #1 will start the game. Person #1: picks a bag of their choosing and opens it. This is their costume...for now. Now it's person #2's turn.

* Now is the tricky part-- #2 has a choice-- they can either steal the costume from #1 or open a new costume bag. If #2 decides to steal then #1 must pick a new bag. Now it's #3's turn. and so on. Once a costume has been stolen twice it cannot be stolen again. Get it? When all of the turns are taken and it finally cycles back to #1 they have the whole group of costumes for the picking.

Our game was pretty interesting because there really wasn't a lot of stealing. Everyone was pretty pleased with the costume they ended up with and I think overall curiosity often gets the best of you. You really want to see what is in those bags!

Aly, that crazy girl, planned a lot of the evening, which was fit with a photo booth, snacks and a fancy cocktail garnished with rock candy!  I basically only provided the venue and the ice cream cake. side note: If you ever find yourself in a time crunch, but still want to do something more than cake from a box, an ice cream cake is the way to go! Trust me. Everyone was all about it-- the DQ mint oreo Blizzard one to be exact.

Happy Birthday Aly!