Outdoor Twister and other Birthday Madness

So Saturday was my 18th birthday. Around here (and probably everywhere) teens celebrate by going to the casino, buying a lottery ticket, smoking, drinking,...whatever. I guess its sort of a right of passage. It sounds kinda cool, I mean who wouldn't want to throw their money into a giant hole while giving themselves cancer?

OH WAIT NOT ME

I have priorities and goals that would definitely not benefit from any above mentioned stupidities. So, I spent my birthday doing things I love, which include bonfires, last minute beach parties, and DIY Twister :). It was one of the best birthdays I have ever had!
Here are some of the pictures :)

Adding the paint :)

The madness begins...look how clean everyone is!

All the guys are synchronized 

competitions getting slim

The gang...no longer clean 

the paint after :)

Like what you see? Here's a quick DIY! 

You need:

• 40 heavy paper plates (I used 40 because I had 10 people playing)
• green, blue, yellow, and red paint (the big bottles from Walmart work great)
• 40 long nails 
• hammer
• twister spinner 

Out on the lawn, nail down the paper plates. You need 4 rows (for the 4 colors) and however many columns to suite the number of people playing. The nail in the center of the plate was not a big deal for my group of older teens. Pour the paint in the plates (use it all!). Play Twister :) 

I also had a large canvas out next to it so the players could print their hands (or feet) on the board once they were finished :). 

In addition to the games, I also had a bonfire. All my guy friends are pyros.

That was all Friday night. Saturday, my actual birthday, my friend Lauren and I went to see our friends' band play in a local Christian rock fest.

Waiting on Winter 

The Following (Oh how I love Brady's Spiderman mask :D )

The best part of it all was definitely the last minute beach party. There's just something about reconnecting with an old, missed friend that just beats everything else. Plus, I never have been a 'fly by the seat of my pants' kind of person...I'm very calculated and plan almost everything, so when that friend suggested a random beach bonfire, I was pumped! There were supposed to be a whole group of people there, but it ended up just being me, my friend, and his brother (oh and a bunch of fireworks haha). It was fantastic :)