Mostly Perfect Portal Party

"Hey Mom, do you have everything ready for my party Saturday?"  My oldest came down as I was finishing up my day at my home office.
"What party?"  I asked still focusing somewhat on the task at hand.
"My birthday party."  He said with marked panic.

Oh. Fudge. Balls.

I am not the Mom that fails at party planning.  Nope.  I have everything nailed down tight with names two weeks before.  I have the cake baked, decorations done, and Pinterest envy themes.  Except this year.  There I sat, facing my computer so he couldn't see the deer-in-the-headlights expression and panic I was exhibiting. "Uh, yeah, sure Buddy.  You said you wanted a Portal theme right?"  He nodded happily.
"I knew you had everything.  I just wanted to make sure."  His faith in me was crushing at this moment.  In my head I began to pray, "Dear Jesus, Please let Pinterest have LOTS of cheap ideas for me."

Party City has ZERO Portal video game birthday party theme ideas.  You have to make things up.  I was sweating bullets trying to figure out how on earth I planned to pull this off.

Sure enough, Pinterest had a few Moms that went over the top and was able to piece together colors, and a theme in two hours of printing and cutting.  The result was perfect.  The kids thought I had spent hundreds of dollars, and weeks of prep work.  Neither of which was the case.  I spent the most at Party City, but it was still sub $50.00.  But I had to have the balloons with his name on them. 

I don't have pictures of the rock candy and matching M&Ms which were not cheap, but I didn't have time to sort through king sized bags for the two colors I needed. All cutlery, plates and napkins were from Dollar Tree.  I got silly string there, because 12 year old boys are too old for traditional party goodies, but not too old to LOVE silly string. 

These are propulsion and repulsion juices.  Whatever that means.  I found eight pack blue and orange blank juice bottles at Dollar Tree and attached a stretched out Aperture logo.  I will warn you, these juices aren't the best tasting, but they matched the theme and the boys thought they were genius. 

These images were found by looking up "printable Portal images."  I neatened up the lines, used color pencils, and painted four canvas art squares with "Gunmetal Gray" acrylic. Once the paint was dry, I used Modge Podge to attach the print-outs.  They look really nice in person.    These are nice because after the party, they went up in his room for art.  When you are 12, that is "cool."

Someone posted a Companion Cube with the images.  I filled them with the "goodies" i.e. a compass ring, mini slinky, and one of those half ball things that flips in the air.  I added a few pieces of candy for good measure.  The boys actually took great care in opening the cube, because all them intended to keep it.  Whodathunkit. 

I didn't have enough time to bake a cake, so I prayed.  It is the random prayers that get answered and let you know that God cares enough to send you a chocolate pudding cake marked down to $3.49 at your local grocery store.  I made the chocolate frosting at home, and used cream cheese frosting to write.  The cherries were frozen.  This is a replica of the "bribe cake" they use in the game.  I guess the cake is a lie.  Still don't know what that means. 

What is a party without balloons and streamers?  I went with blue and orange since that is what I could find at Dollar Tree, and the big boy approved.  I used a blue table cloth.  As with all parties, I suggest putting a Sharpie marker out by the paper cups so people can write their name on the cup.  No one wants to share cooties. 

So, I pulled off a party in two days, nine hours, and fifteen minutes.  New record.  Not that I plan on doing this again.  Next time, I will have my stuff together.  But it's nice to know that in a pinch, I can pull off the impossible (a.k.a. the time Before Pinterest).

Copyright March 30, 2015 all photos and ideas herein are property of H.Jennings.  If you would like to use my images, please contact me FIRST.  Do not spin, translate, use in any way, shape, or form without full written consent.