I think my ten year-old son, Kevin, might end up being a glass blower when he grows up. He loves to blow bubbles and blow up balloons. He even makes animals and strange shapes out of them. It was no wonder he wanted ‘bubbles’ to be the theme of his birthday party.

We had the party information printed on balloons which Kevin sent to eight of his friends in a plain envelope. The invitation could be read when the balloon was blown up. Quite an ingenious idea I thought. The place, date and time of the party were all listed and the kids were also asked to bring a permanent marker with them.

We bought nine inflatable chairs from a party wholesaler. Of course, Kevin wanted to blow all of them up himself ! It took him the entire evening and morning before his party to get them all done. He said there would be enough balloons around during the party and besides, the inflatable chairs were much more interesting to look at.

A couple of folding tables were set up in our garden with bubble blowing tools of different sizes, bowls of bubble liquid, a box of magic markers for decorating the chairs, and lots of bubble gum. I decided I would take the photos myself instead of hiring a photographer.

As soon as the boys arrived they got to work decorating their inflatable chairs. Kevin drew a really good picture of Aquaman with bubbles coming out of his mouth.

After they had finished decorating the inflatable chairs, Kevin started the bubble making contest outside. The boys tried to make the biggest bubble with a large bubble maker. They kept splashing the bubble liquid out of the bowls as they rushed to dip the bubble maker in for another try. I told them the contest for the biggest, not fastest, but they didn't listen. They were having too much fun. The prize for the winner was a battery powered bubble gun.

After lunch came the cake and ice cream. I had ordered a cake with a bubble gum flavoured filling from the bakery. The icing was decorated with different sized pieces of bubble gum.

The boys challenged each other to stuff as much gum as they could into their mouths and see who could make the biggest bubble. One the boys got twenty pieces in! His father got thirty! The bubble he blew was gigantic and it popped all over his face. What a mess! I was glad I managed to catch the moment with my camera.

After the gum blowing I said that I had a surprise for everyone, but they would have to behave during the half-hour van ride. The boys were really excited, but managed to contain themselves until Kevin saw a hot air balloon in the sky. A few minutes later we arrived at a local hot air balloon launch site and everyone got a chance to take a ride in a balloon. The kids could hardly contain their excitement. The view was spectacular, but Kevin was more fascinated by the burner above our heads. I was surprised, and very proud, by the number of questions he asked the balloon pilot. It was a fantastic finale to a great party.

It was getting dark by the time we got back to our house. The boys were all tired and ready to go home so it was perfect because all their parents were waiting. When Kevin went up to his room he found another surprise: An inflatable couch with inflatable pillows. He loved it.