Science Birthday Party ~What a hit!~

Today was the big party day for our oldest son (11). His birthday is just before Christmas. Typically we wait until January to have his party. This year he asked for a science party. A friend of ours, Brian, came over for the afternoon to be the scientist. He was amazing! I had a program on my son's laptop that was supposed to greet each kiddo and welcome them into our laboratory. My son was going to do an eye scan with a glow stick while the program talked. Big glitch! The program would not load. When it finally did....most the kids were already here and they were ready to start eating lunch. We had bologna sandwiches, cucumber & cream cheese sandwiches, jello jigglers, potato chips, and tang (with dry ice in it for a super cool smokey effect).  My husband and I had decorated the garage last night. But, as you know, it rained! Why was that a problem? Well...we just learned that our garage floor is not sealed. So, moisture came up through the floor. Our streamers had been perfectly hung and now they were sagging and looked like they had been soaked in water all night long. Ugh! What's a parent to do? We decided to pull them tighter so that they were no longer hanging from wall, to knee, to rafter level. Trust me...it looked amazing last night and this morning it looked like we hired a toddler to decorate. No offense to the toddlers out there.
Our scientist had so much fun with the boys. I think he was from Germany...or was he related to Schwarzenegger...it was hard to tell. His accent was so unique and the kids loved it! They liked that he counted in German. Their favorite was the number 5...funf (fuenf). I received a glare at one point because I broke one of the rules. I was talking while it was his turn to talk. Lol!
The kids did a lot of experiments. I appreciated that he had them in groups and they talked amongst their group. Why did that happen? What do you think is going on? It was really neat to hear the ideas that the boys had. Their explanations were quite interesting. Here are some of the experiments that they did:
1. Two empty soda cans and a straw. They were using the straw to blow cans across the table. The cans cans were to stay connected as they went across the table. If you accomplished this...it made "music". Hmmm...I thought that "music" was right up there with fingernails on a chalk board or a fork scraping a metal bowl. But the kids loved it. One kid was able to get it right quite often.
2. Next they had a bent straw and a cheese puff. There were a lot of cheese puffs. The kids were challenged to make the cheese puff hover in the air above their straw. We saw a lot of cheese puffs in the air...a few kids were able to get theirs to hover.
3. The kids were each given a piece of aluminum foil. "Al is your pal!" See - I was listening. They made boats and were asked to put them in a bucket of water to see if they would float. The name of our scientists boat was the USS Sinkalot. One of my sons made a flat boat. He called it the USS Laptop. Guess what....it floated. Then they crumpled them up and tested again to see if they would float. Last, they stomped on their aluminum crumpled up boats. Then they tested it again to see what would happen. You want to know...don't you? Too bad...guess you will have to try it yourself and see what happens. : )
4. Two liter bottles were attached at the neck. He had beads and glittery stuff in them. The kids made whirlpools/tornadoes with them. They observed the motion of the beads and glitter. They had a great conversation about air pressure.
5. My son was sent into the house to grab his highest amount bill. He came back with a $10. He handed it over to our scientist who set it on fire. And....it was just fine. But, the price on my son's face was priceless.
6. He asked my son for a $1. They had a deal. He was going to walk through the dollar bill. If he could not walk through the dollar bill...he would give my son $2. If he could was through the dollar bill...then he would just give it back to him. He then proceeded to cut the $1. He tried to walk through it and decided to have my oldest son give it a try. Brody was able to walk through the $1 and he received $2 in the end. He is now the proud owner of a $1 necklace.
7. Two eggs in separate containers of water. One sunk and the other...well...it eventually floated up to the top.
8. Diet coke and mentos! Need I say more? The kids loved it!

My son asked for cupcakes. He wanted neon frosting on the side; so that the kids could decorate their own cupcakes. We also put sprinkles and chopped up cookies into neon colored test tubes. The kids had so much fun. I could not believe how quickly the time flew by. It was "ultra epic cool" according to one of the boys at the party. I'm sure this party will be remembered for years to come.