Hosting a Jeopardy! game show party for kids

Our sweet Jack is soon to turn 10, and this year he, as ardent a Jeopardy! fan as his father, requested a Jeopardy! game show for his birthday party.

As was the case when he turned 5 and was hell-bent on a police-themed fiesta, I came up short when searching online for ideas. "Police party" yielded scantily clad women and bondage materials, and Jeopardy simply brought me to Wii games and the official website.

Tom and I thought about making a paper board but quickly realized just how much work that would be AND incorporating the Jeopardy! music and anything like audio and visual clues would be tough.

A Google search lead us to this fabulous Jeopardy Game PowerPoint template into which you type your categories, answers, and questions. It allows you to upload audio and visual files (helpful for categories like "Name That Tune" and "Famous People" identification) and have Daily Doubles. We were able to Air Drop this entire thing live to our TV (via Air Drop/Apple TV) for a real-time game show experience. 

We had a blast thinking up all the categories, answers, and questions that would resonate with Jack and his friends, and I'd like to send a special shout-out to one of the kids' 4th grade teachers who not only led them through a study of Chinese culture, language, topography and history this year but also sent me the China category clues. 

Single Jeopardy; below, one answer/question from the China category.

Double Jeopardy (we couldn't figure out how to double the monetary amounts); below, an answer/question from Star Wars, and a "Famous Person" visual clue.

We made three contestant podiums out of TV trays and a table, white newsprint, and blue posterboard. Easy and inexpensive as we already had the TV trays and borrowed a small table from Tom's mom. The posterboard came from a local party store and the newsprint was leftover from our move.

Because we were to have three teams of three players each, Jack created single "contestant" names by picking his favorite elements. I do not know why two of them are radioactive and horrible, but I'll chalk that up to #boys. The newsprint was great because it protected the tables, gave me something other than the tables to affix the posterboard to, AND the kids could right their Final Jeopardy wagers and answers directly on it, much like real Jeopardy! contestants do.

two of the three podiums with buzzers

I bought these battery-powered buzzers on Amazon for $16. Made by Learning Resources, the pack comes with four buzzers, each of which lights up a different color and makes a different sound, two features that I knew would be helpful in determining which team buzzed in first. The kids thought they were terrifically fun.

Tom was Alex Trebek, and had it not been 90 degrees here, he would have worn a suit to more closely resemble the host. I suggested we powder his hair to "go gray," but sadly, he declined. His podium was a box with a Jeopardy! print-out taped on yet another piece of newsprint.

Mom got roped into being a contestant, and Tom's mom kept score while Tom hosted and I filmed the whole thing. The kids were awesome, and the whole thing was hilarious. Plutonium ended up winning by betting bravely in Final Jeopardy.

Then we grilled burgers and hot dogs, served bowls of gumbo and watermelon, and wrapped things up with chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. All in all, a GREAT way to celebrate a birthday!

Pie, kids, cooking, to bed

I cooked all day, minus a quick trip to the farmers market. By and by, it was lovely. 

A sautéed mushroom, cheddar, speck and egg sandwich for T's Father's Day breakfast, lobster rolls and farmers market salad -fresh red leaf lettuce and snap peas and tomatoes- for lunch, chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches for Jack's birthday party tomorrow (Jeopardy; it's going to be epically fun), cold potato salad with tiny new potatoes and mustard-caper vinaigrette, and this gorgeous, scrumptious strawberry balsamic pie.  

A friend gave me the Four and Twenty Blackbirds cookbook for my birthday, and, having just bought two quarts of strawberries at the market, I wanted a special way to use them. 

This pie perfectly fit the bill, and it did not disappoint. Good thing as it took about three hours to make.  

I picked the boys up around 5. What a joy to see them, and how loud and kinetic our home now feels again. Here's hoping things are a bit quieter tomorrow. 

Happy Father's Day to all the dads, uncles, male teachers and mentors out there! 

On the night she is finally well

They celebrate their last night sans kids
with cocktails
on the deck.

applejack rabbits

It is a humidity-free night, a breeze whispers past their shoulders and through their hair, a full moon hangs low and pregnant in a clear sky. The heady, earthy scent of newly laid mulch is subtle and lovely.

tonight's moon

Inexplicably, but also because it makes complete sense, chicken stock simmers on the stove, liquid amber redolent of leeks and celery and a happy bird. The bones leave each other, the skin slips, the broth is golden; never having boiled, it is not cloudy. 

A pizza sizzles on the grill, another round of cocktails boogie with icy cubes in a silver shaker. They show their age by dancing madly, wildly, happily, freely to the Summer of '69 and You Shook Me All Night Long stations on Pandora.

Fat Bottomed Girls, Jessie's Girl, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Right Now, Dream On, Paradise City, Your Love, House of the Rising Sun scream from the speakers; anthems for two who came of age in the 80s, that time of awful hair, leg-warmers and great music. 

Their cat watches with gimlet eyes. What does he think? He flicks his tail imperiously, knowing he is beloved.

They dance and twist and spin and breathe heavily; they are not in their twenties anymore. They are glad. 

Their boys are coming home tomorrow, and they can't wait to wrap their arms around their tan little bodies but they will also miss this sort of time. 

The Mamas and the Papas sing about the leaves turning brown and winter's days. The Stones paint it black, the cocktails are drunk, the stock starts to cool, tired bodies take to the couch, the cat joins, purring.