Science Party for about $45

We did this party for my oldest son's 8th birthday and it is one of my favorites. I was afraid it would be too much like school, but all the kids had a blast. I modeled this party from an article I saw in Family Fun Magazine. I took several elements from this party and added some of my own stuff.

Decorations

For the decorations, I made a poster for the door of an fictional scientist on my computer. It said welcome to Bryson Laboratories. I also made colorful splotches on my computer and placed them randomly around the house. I had my heart set on making this Lab test centerpiece, I had all the ingredients, but I ran out of time.   If you decide to make this, it is very inexpensive. Gelatin runs a couple of dollars for a package of 8. And you use toys that are just lying around the house. 

Props/Favors $20

• As each child came in, the received a pair of goggles and lab coat. 
• The most expensive part of this party was the "lab coats". To make lab coats, cut large adult-size white T-shirts down the middle, fold the collars back to form lapels, and secure them with double-sided tape. Stick on name tags with "Doctor" or "Professor" before each kid's name. From Family Fun.     I found 5 pack t-shirts for $9. I also used Adult  size medium, so my husband could wear the leftovers. I tried to use the double sided tape. But it just came undone while all of the "mad scientists" were working. You could try hot glue or fabric glue.  
• For the goggles, you could order them at discountsafetygear.com for $1.24 a pair. For about two years we have been taking our boys to Lowes Build and Grow workshops. They are free workshops on the 2nd and the 4th Saturday of every month. For participation in the workshop, the boys get the project, apron, patch and safety goggles. So after workshop I collected the goggels and set them aside.  We collected about 15 of them, plenty to share at the party.
• I decided not to get the gloves. I used most of budget on the shirts, so I was out of money. I also figured the kids would get tired of wearing very quickly.

Activities 
Total cost less than $10

Party guests thought the bubbling brew was cool. (no pun intended)

• After the young scientist were properly fitted, we proceeded into the laboratory. Which was the kitchen. I set up each experiment before hand, putting the proper amounts in baby food jars and other small container, so that we could move through each experiment smoothly. 
• I bought Styrofoam bowls and plastic spoons to aid in the experimentation. Cost was about $4.
• Most of the experiments I did came from Steve Spangler Science. 
• Our first "experiment" was carbonating juice, to make sparkling cider for our punch. I took a two pound block of dry ice, which I found at HEB Plus for a little over a dollar a pound, and placed it in a large bowl. Then I poured two 64 oz containers of apple juice over the top, as the children watched. Make sure you wear rubber gloves. I was pretty nervous about this experiments. I thought for sure a child was going to freeze off of finger. But I only had to give one warning of the danger and they proceeded with caution.  Now this block lasted for over an hour, I would suggest using a much smaller piece. All the kids thought the smoke was very cool.
• Next we did the classic baking soda and vinegar. I collected empty water bottles for each child. I placed each water bottle in a bowl to minimize mess. I bought some funnels at the dollar store and asked the guests to bring their own, so we had enough for everyone to have their own. I filled pitchers with warm water to put in the bottles, but I gave each child a baby food jar with vinegar to pour themselves. I put the baking soda in small bowls and they used the plastic spoons to put a spoonful of baking soda in the bottle.

Eruption in a Bottle
1. Pour warm water into a plastic bottle until it's three-quarters full. 
2. Add some drops of food coloring and 1/4 cup of vinegar. 
3. With a funnel, quickly add a heaping teaspoon of baking soda. Instantly, the mixture will fizz and overflow from the bottle. (from Family Fun)

My boys making their eruption in the bottle

• Next we did the Color Collision.  If you want to know how it works, check out Steve Spangler. We used the bowls for this experiment too. I put the detergent in baby food jars.

Color Collisions
1. Pour some milk into a bowl.
2. Add a drop of food coloring.
3. Pour a small amount of dishwashing soap into another bowl. Dip a toothpick into the soap, then into the drop of food coloring floating in the milk. The drop of coloring will instantly spread into a ring, repelled by the soap. For another fun experiment, try adding drops of several food colors to a single bowl of milk.

From Family Fun

• We then made slime. The kids loved this experiment. My kids played with their slime until it was dead, about two weeks. I suggest stocking up on elmer's glue at back to school time when it is only $0.25. If not it normally runs about $0.88. Borax runs about $2, I keep it around the house for cleaning. This is the recipe we used:

Ingredients:

1 bottle of elmers school glue
water 
food coloring
1/4 borax
1 gallon size zipper bag per child


Squeeze entire bottle of glue into bag. Fill bottle with warm water and pour into bag. Add desired color of food coloring to mixture and seal bag. Shake and squeeze bag to mix glue and water. Add borax to mixture and continue mixing. Continue to add borax a tablespoon and mixing until you reach desired consistency. 

Our soda geyser

• After making the slime, I took all the kids out to the back yard to do the mentos and diet coke experiment. You can find the full experiment at Steve Spangler Science. Before the party, I took a lid from a used bottle of soda and drilled a hole in it, only big enough to put a pipe cleaner through. I then used a nail to poke a hole into three mentos. I poked a pipe cleaner into the lid, slid the mentos onto the pipe cleaner under the lid. Folded the pipe cleaner around the mentos to secure them and pulled them snugly under the lid. Then I secured the pipe cleaner on the outside the lid and clipped the access.  When I was ready for this experiment, I took the full soda bottle outside, took off the lid and replaced it with the doctored lid. When I was ready, I pulled the pipe cleaner out and dropped the mentos into the soda. This experiment cost about $2.

Food 

Total cost $16

• In keeping with the experiment theme, I did not buy ice cream, we made our own. I thought I could replicate the ice cream ball to make ice cream. I took two tin cans, one small enough to fit in the other. I think one was a cookie tin and the other a popcorn tin. I placed the ice cream ingredients in the smaller tin and placed it into the larger tin. Then I packed ice and rock salt around the smaller tin. The idea was to roll the tin around the table for ten minutes and then have ice cream. First the lid popped off, then the kids got bored. So one of the parents stirred for ten minutes and we got our ice cream. It was a soft serve type. We told the kids it was a failed experiment and even the most brilliant scientist have failed experiments. Also a lot of the things we have today started from a failed experiments, silly putty, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream to name a few. The ingredients cost about $5.
• I did cake I did was the Fantastic Flask cake from the Family Fun party. This cake took a lot of frosting, at least two batches. Altogether I think it only cost $2 for the cake mix, frosting and cotton candy.
• I just did a happy birthday table cloth, plates and napkins, and cups from the dollar, $5.
• The juice and dry is was $4, but I recommend a smaller block of ice, so you could do it closer to $3.
• I did not do any snacks for this party. After cake and ice cream we opened presents. This party was so much fun, the kids are still talking about it 6 months later.