This year I decided to stick to our family's every-other-year birthday party rule, but it was hard. When I had two little kids just two years apart, the rule was welcome; we needed the break. Now things are different. With a daughter away at college for the first time and a son feeling his high school sophomore oats, a retreat into kid party planning was probably the distraction I needed. But it has always worked better in our house if the kids realize that a big birthday party is a special treat and should not be expected every year.

This time last year I was busy brainstorming for Kid Cool's Robot-themed 5^th birthday party. The invitation put the Robot Factory idea into motion. Big Sister sketched a colorful robot, we scanned it, printed the party details on the back, and then we cut the robot into puzzle pieces and mailed them out. The party guests had to put the puzzle together to see the party details.  We used the same robot from the invitation to decorate craft paper goodie bags.

On the morning of the party, we turned the house into a Robot Factory. Decorating was easy. With Kid Cool's help we made Greeter Robots out of different sized boxes covered in bright wrapping paper. Toilet paper and paper towel rolls were perfect head 'bolts.' We covered the coffee table with craft paper and Big Sister drew robot heads, arms and legs. Then we placed square trays filled with snacks in the middle to finish off the robot 'bodies.'

Once the guests arrived and donned their yellow hard hats, they began moving from station to station, earning chocolate coins along the way for their hard work. There was the 'Creation Station,' where the kids crafted robots from Foamies and edible robots from marshmallows and pretzel sticks. Next stop was 'Construction Junction,' where the kids made robots using Lego and K'nex. At the 'Game Station,' the birthday boy and guests played the Rockin Robots wood balancing/stacking game, EeBoo's Build-a-Robot puzzle and spinner game and took turns putting together Vilac's wooden robot puzzle trio.

The afternoon ended with a game of Pin-the-arm-on-the-Robot and robot brownies with red licorice arms and legs. The guests left with Create Your Own Robot sticker books, Rock Em-Sock Em mini robot rings and a candy bar with a personalized robot wrapper.

Thinking back, that was a fun day, but it was also an undertaking. Think Kid Cool and I will just take this year's birthday gift out for a spin. Playing Jada's Laser Tag Battle Machines RC cars is a less daunting means for getting over today's onset of (big-kids-growing-up-and-out) blues.