The Davy Crockett Party!

For Justice's 8th birthday, we finally did our Davy Crockett party that we've wanted to do for several years--but the timing never worked out. 

This year, because of when my grandad was sick and passing away, Justice opted to postpone his party until later in the summer--and it worked out beautifully that he did! As we had been going through things with my Grandad, we discovered toys and gear from the 1950s and 60s that had belonged to my late uncle. My Grandad loaned it to Justice to gently play with before he passed, so it was incredibly special to use those items as part of the decor for this party. In addition to that, my grandad was very impressed when, a few years ago, he was able to visit the Alamo--then when we got to take the kids to the Alamo a year or two later, he and Justice were able to reminisce and discuss the importance of the site together. 

The independence of Texas and the pioneering of the west is a huge part of our family's history and heritage through my great-grandparents, so I felt that God's Providence, which had saved this party for this year, was perfect as we had just said farewell to Justice's Great-Grandpa; a farmer, rancher, true cowboy, and child of the West. 

How special that we could bring a lot of these things together in such a fun way! 

The party day dawned hot and perfect for a party including lots of WATER FIGHT plans!

 If you want to know how we put together this fun party, check out my party prep poste here. 

The first activity was a Boat Race. Since we aren't anywhere near the mighty Mississippi river, we settled for our cow tank pool--each kid made a boat with a butter dish, popsicle sticks, and a rubber-band wind-up motor. They mostly just sank or ran in circles, but it got us started splashing around and laughing!

Next, we moved into the Shootin' Match, with BB guns. We had two, and pairs of contestants matched off, getting three shots at the soda cans lined up 30(ish) paces away. The cans made a nice, satisfying ping! when they got hit. (This activity had all the dads supervising and keeping a close watch on everything! After the kids, finished, I know the dads enjoyed a little match between themselves, too!) The winner of the kids' match received a copy of Davy Crockett's autobiography! (If you've never read it, it's quite the cultural commentary and a fun look into early American culture, worldview, and pioneer linguistics!)

Next was our water Battle of the Alamo, with water balloons and the trampoline all decked out as the Alamo mission fort! Justice and a couple of buddies made their last stand and, as one might expect with 18 other kids attacking with unlimited water-power (from the hose) and the pool for refilling guns, it was a massacre! (By the way, if you can find these water balloons instead of the traditional, single fill ones--it is SO WORTH IT--we found some patriotic colored ones on clearance it was PERFECT.) If I had this to do over, I might suggest a BYO-Water Guns option; though we had plenty and the kids were happy with the little single-shooters from the dollar store; the big water blasters were obviously the hottest item, and more than one kid mentioned that they wished they'd brought their super-soakers from home!

The kids eventually took a break for dinner and cake, but a continual water fight and playing in the pool basically kept everyone cool and happy the rest of the evening! 

At the end of the party, the kids took home a little water gun and baggie of gummy bears (because we are so happy we could, "Grin down a bear!")

I think the party was exactly what Justice wanted, and all the kids had a fun time--and the grownups did, too! 

Final thoughts on the Davy Crockett Party:

This was a ridiculously fun party to plan. There are so many elements of Davy's life that have become classic American-little-boy pastime kinds of things (like bears, hunting, picnicking, the shootin' match, "cowboys and indians" type games, battles, bows and arrows, cowboys, the old west, boat racing, and more) so the problem was narrowing it down to suit our space/time/expense constraints! Having a good selection of both vintage and modern cowboy and Davy Crockett toys and memorabilia definitely helped make the decorations and planning of this party a cinch! The patriotism of Davy and the timing of this party, headed into the 4th of July season, was really perfect.

Justice wanted his friends to appreciate the history of Davy as much as he did, and that was why we came up with a little history booklet/invitation (see the post including a sample to the invitation here)--and Justice was instrumental in helping to write it up and picking which highlights from Davy's life to include! This was yet another chance to practice a life skill with the kids that will come in handy--research and writing! And they had NO IDEA how educational this was, bwahaha! 

Though there were, of course, cultural norms back in Davy's era that we now consider to be wildly inappropriate (and in some cases, even evil), Davy himself stood for equal application of the law for all people and integrity in leadership. His adventurous spirit, curiosity, courage, and sense of humor continues to represent some of the best qualities that are quintessentially American. I genuinely love that my boys have spent their formative years latched on to this model of heroism and manliness. Not that there is no value with superheroes or other models of masculine heroics; but I dearly love that they can see not only the model of a man trying to do the right thing, but the historical repercussions his actions had; things that still impact us today! As Davy would say,

Be always sure you're right, then go ahead!