It's a sesquicentennial party!

Saturday was Kansas Day, and not just any Kansas Day, but the day Kansas was celebrating 150 years of existence! holler!!! Sherlynn and I thought this was a perfect reason to celebrate, so we threw a birthday party for Kansas! Throughout the day, in order to prepare mentally for the festivities that were about to unfold, I sang the state anthem ("Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play..."), watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie, and took an online quiz on Kansas facts. (As a side note, the state anthem has a special place in my heart. Every time I sing it, I picture Mrs. Olsen rocking back and forth drunk while singing it. I can't remember what episode of Little House on the Prairie this was, but it was HILARIOUS!) If you are anxiously awaiting to hear how to throw an authentic birthday party for Kansas, here are a few ideas:

- make cornbread, cut them into little pieces, stick toothpicks in them, and provide molasses for dipping. (This is to represent authentic pioneer food. Don't expect the molasses to be a fan-favorite!)




- make a cake, ours was a chocolate-chip-cookie cake, and cut off the corner to make it resemble the state. (Most people thought that Sherlynn and I had already started eating the cake and that's why some was missing. I can assure you, this was NOT the case!)




We had candles and everything!




- play cowboys and indians. (Okay, we didn't really do this, but I proposed it. I thought it would be fun!) Instead, we played a group game of Fish Bowl and everything had to relate back to Kansas.

- bring a opposum. Technically, we didn't bring him. He appeared outside when the guests arrive. How a live opposum shows up in the middle of an apartment complex is beyond me. No worries, though, the police were called.

- watch the animated movie Home on the Range. When we went to Family Video to check it out, it was already rented (proving the idea genius!), so we opted for Chicken Run, since it takes place on a farm and Charlotte's Webb is just too sad.

I hope this is helpful for when you plan your own Kansas Birthday Parties in the future!