Cousin Party 2008

It all started 5 summers ago... Jason's brother Jeff was living with us in Twin Falls. He and his wife had recently been divorced, but he was getting his girls for the week/weekend of Father's Day. Jeff was concerned that no one in his family would travel to come see his girls, while they were visiting. I said, "Hey, if we have a party they'll want to come!" So I sent invitations to all the cousins to come see us for a "Cousin Party". Everyone came and it was a success! Then Jason's sister Cathy said she'd like to volunteer to do the next year's party and a tradition was born.

We have pinatas, sleep in tents, do crafts, play games, enjoy one another's company and eat yummy food. As time goes on, themes have developed. We've had a Hawaiian party, a Western Round-up and this year a Red Carpet Event.

Everyone recieved a ticket to the Red Carpet Event, along with the CONFIDENTIAL script for their movie. Each person had an important part in one of our two moives; "Slurping Beauty" or "Spiderella". Everyone was to practice their lines, bring a costume and be ready to become a star.

Welcome! You're in Hollywood, Idaho.

A few of the celebreties that came to our event; Hannah Montana & Superman...
R2D2, C3PO and Cinderella.
Each person could be found on a Hollywood Walk-of-Fame Star.
This is our movie camera pinata that we enjoyed in the park.
Some of our decorations.

As everyone gathered we started with a Meet-n-Greet pizza party.


Everyone put on their sunglasses and feather boas to officially start the evening. Then everyone took turns walking down the red carpet and posing for the papparazzi (sp?).


Then everyone got dressed up and walked down the red carpet for a Fashion Show. Uncle Jason was the MC who announced the participants. Our Fashion Show canopy played runway music and lit up as the models walked down the runway.




That evening, when it got dark enough, we watched a movie on a big screen in our back yard. The movie of choice was a video Grandpa Smullin had created from last year's Western Round-Up, Cousin Party. The kids called out their names as their cute faces popped up on the screen. They loved seeing each other and remembering the fun times from last year.

When the movies was over, everyone got their pjs on and TRIED to settle down in the tents. Yeah, right. We had a fairly quiet Boy tent and a chit-chatty Girl tent.
Saturday morning we ate a continential breakfast of eggs, muffins, fruit and juice. Then we started on our Hollywood handprints.

As lunch time was approaching, we got our bathing suits, towels and sunscreen and headed to the park. We ate hoagie sandwiches, chips, cookies and soda.
--I had purchased 2 six foot sandwiches being promised that it would feed 40 people. We had 26 kids and 13 adults totaling 39 people. Let me tell you that 12 feet of sandwich feeds 24 kids and 13 adults for 3 meals, not just one. Sadly, we still have 1 foot left in our fridge, that I think will go in the garbage tomorrow.--After playing in the water and on the equipment we broke open the pinata filled with candy and prizes.

After the park, we headed home. The kids got their costumes on (Wow, what a production!) and prepared to become a star.

The first movie filmed was "Slurping Beauty". Everyone did a good job. My favorite part was watching "Director Cathy" giving forgotten lines to the actors, from underneath the table.

Next, "Spiderella" was filmed. This movie was a bit longer and took much more time. Some lines were cut, so that we could finish production in time for dinner. --Whew, filming a movie is hard work...especially with so many young actors!-- With each take Cathy would yell, "Quiet on the set!... Action!" Then when the scene was over she would yell, "Cut!" And when all was finished,... "That's a wrap!"
Here's a ballroom scene from "Spiderella". Trinity is a bee at the ball.

When dinner was over, kids got their pjs on and laid out their sleeping bags in the upstairs movie room. They watched, "The Muppets Go To Hollywood" as they drifted off to sleep...some before others.

The next morning was a hustle and bustle of finding, packing and loading everything into cars. By 1:15pm everyone was gone and our "5-star Hotel" was quiet and nearly empty. We relaxed and remembered the fun times during the weekend. Then sat down to watch the un-cut, un-edited version of our movies.

Uncle Jason is in the process of editing the movies and will hopefully have a release date in a week or so.

***Please forgive the mis-spellings, disjointed thoughts and grammar errors.***