Chattanooga Nature Center

Just 15 minutes from downtown Chattanooga, located at the bottom of Lookout Mountain, you can find the Chattanooga Nature Center.   They offer educational programming Monday - Friday throughout the year.  Learning adventures are done in a "Living Classroom" where hands on field classes are taught by naturalists.

Some of the classes offered are "Birds of a Feather", "Things that go Bump in the Night", Predator / Prey Connection", and more.  If you are interested in finding more information for your group, call 423-821-1160 ext. 107 or go to http://www.chattanooganaturecenter.org/ to view other current events.  They also have birthday facilities & special Christmas events coming up soon.

Birthday for my 11 Year Old

Last day of summer!! I am a little sad but in reality I am ready for school to start. These last weeks have been long & drawn out like the school year just would not get here...my view, not my son's.

My son's birthday was last weekend & he is at the age (11 now) that I don't have to come up with the theme birthday with party games, etc. We did not even order a birthday cake because my son & most of the kids hate that kind of icing. So we just bought a chocolate cake & threw some candles on it. We had salad, sandwiches, hot wings, & chips for dinner along with some ice cream & the cake for dessert.

This was a sleep over party so the boys played outside until dark & then I pulled out some board games. They decided that they wanted to make their own game so I supplied cardboard & art supplies. They sat for hours drawing & making a game...they named it "World Attack". They played until bedtime & had the most fun with that.

Six of his friends came to the party but only four of them spent the night. Monday morning another friend of ours met us with another boy & we all went to the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. We had been earlier this year but none his friends had been so it was exciting & fun for them. We had a great time & was able to give him a memorable birthday.

I had looked at venues for the party but everything was too expensive & the museum did not offer any type of birthday event, so I just did it myself. It was less expensive than doing a planned event & granted we didn't get the behind the scenes stuff, but that was OK...the boys had a great time!

So if you can't find an affordable birthday venue...just do it yourself!

Birthday Party Planning

I just realized the other day that my son's birthday is fast approaching...in about 3 weeks! I get in the summer mode & before I know it July is almost over, school is right around the corner & I need to start party planning...now.

So of course I get online & start scouring information for party themes, decor, food ideas, etc. Here is one company that I came across that has Tons of party supplies, favors, and decorations for every occasion. Same day shipping. 110% lowest price guarantee.

If you are planning a party or a late summer luau definitely take a look!

Party invitations

Now is the time to order your party invitations, kid's birthday invitations, & more! Right now the Card Store has free shipping on all orders over $25.00...but you need to hurry because this deal expires August 31st.

Civil War Birthday Party

Last year when my son turned 10 he wanted to have a Civil War birthday party. He loves Civil War history so we set out to find things for decorations & a cake as well. I soon discovered that no one makes Civil War cakes in my area & that I would have to venture to make one myself. Now I love to cook but baking is not my thing & I have never decorated a cake besides spreading some icing around.

So I went to the grocery store & talked to the pastry chef in the bakery dept. to get ideas on how to put a scene together. I also purchased a sheet cake from them so I wouldn't have to bake. They keep them frozen until they are ready to decorate them, so I just brought it home & stuck it in the freezer until I was ready for it. I paid $9.00 for the cake which I thought at the time was a good deal but realized later that I could have made a sheet cake for about $1.00.

I did make some cup cakes from a mix which I used in the decoration. My son wanted a scene from Gettysburg...Little Round Top to be exact. So here is what I did. First I bought some vanilla icing in a can because I needed it to be white. I then dyed the icing green so that I could create a field with grass for my battlefield. I sliced off a little of the rounded top of the cupcakes so that there would be a flat surface & then I turned them upside down to make mountains (Little Round Top is a mountain). I then covered the whole thing in green icing. I then made a red rectangle with a blue X using colored icing that you buy in the tube for piping. This was our Confederate flag. Then using a star attachment I piped on white stars on top of the blue X.

Our color scheme was red, white & blue so I used red & blue candles for the cake. Red represented the Confederates & blue the Union. Noah came up with the idea to do the blue candles in the fish hook pattern, which was one of the battle maneuvers they used in the war. Noah then helped decorate the cake with some plastic boulders & some of his toy soldiers. We then iced the extra cupcakes in red & blue for our color scheme.

For decor I went to the thrift store & found a string of plastic lights in red, white & blue stars & I hung these around the window behind the food table. You could also go to Big Lots at 4th of July & buy a lot of items that would fit the theme. I then floated red, white & blue balloons above the table along the ceiling. I wanted to use a Confederate flag for a tablecloth but my son wanted to use it in his war games.

We did not have organized games for the boys because at this age they can play on their own. I stuffed pillowcases with grocery bags & then hung them from the trees outside. These served as dummies that they used for "bayonet practice". Noah had received an electronic log with cans that you shoot at for Christmas. When you hit the cans with the laser they fall off, so we set that up for the soldiers shooting practice. You could also set up cans & give the kids water pistols to shoot. Noah collects toy guns & swords from the Civil War era, so all the boys had a weapon of some sort. They got out in the yard & divided into to two armies & the battle was on. Noah of course dressed up in his costume & all the kids had a great time.

We then had a sleep over for the boys who could stay & sent them all home the next day. It was a great birthday!