Hey Dads!

Hey Dads! Have you hosted a birthday party lately? Maybe your kids are older and those parties and games are behind you. Maybe your kids are still young and get excited about balloons. With 10 kids in our home we have a birthday almost every month. Sometimes no party, sometimes just some family over, sometimes a multiple-group-birthday party.
A few weeks ago we had a party for Arrow, our 8th child, for his 8th birthday. He had a list of friends he wanted to invite. If you’ve been around 8-year-old boys you’re probably familiar with LEGO, Nerf guns, and water guns. Arrow’s party had all of those things and more. As we got ready for the big event there were buckets being filled with water, tables being moved outside and children climbing trees and ladders to hang balloons for a game. I was not informed about this balloon hanging and popping game until the party started and my patient wife instructed me to go facilitate the balloon popping game. It was a simple game for a simple man so I got right to it.
Along with Nerf guns there are these other Nerf Vortex things that you may have seen. They are like a small foam football with a tail and fins. You throw the projectiles (like a football), the tail fins keep it straight (like an arrow), and sometimes they make a whistling sound (like a whistle). We picked a few up at the dollar store for the balloon popping game. The rules, as previously stated, were quite simple. Throw the vortex-footbally missile at the balloons hanging in the tree and pop as many as you can.
We had not tested this game so the results were less than optimal. Yes, a few balloons popped but not too many. We need sharper footbally things! This was the moment for dad to shine. Throwing sharp objects happens to be one of my favorite things to do (and I watch Dude Perfect vids on YouTube with the kids). We needed thumbtacks! Tape them to the front of the footbally things with the points sticking out and let the popping proceed! Did we have any thumbtacks? No! Did we have staples? Yes! And they worked almost as good…until they fell off into the grass somewhere (We’ll look for them later. Wear shoes kids.). Birthday boy Arrow brought some toothpicks out and had the genius idea to jam them into the foamy front end of the footbally things. Great idea! Balloons were popping. Since I was the guy standing by the balloons returning the footbally things to the kids I had to really keep my head in the game. For now it was an extreme sport of avoiding getting impaled by pointy projectiles. The new system wasn’t completely foolproof. Tiny wood toothpicks may snap when they slam into tree trunks but by this point most of the balloons were popped and kids were wandering off to play other games and such.
It was a great birthday, dad! Maybe there’s something you can toss around the yard with the kids. I don’t recommend sharp, pointy objects but a regular football or baseball would suffice. Time flies, dad! Make every moment count! Even the pointy ones.
Jason Weening tries to avoid injury when his 10 kids and one patient wife throw things at him. Read more in his book, “Yes, Dear…I’m Watching Them” on Amazon.