11.11.11

This Friday is 11.11.11!!!! Nerds like me love this kind of stuff.    (I always wanted a kid born on a perfect date, but the closest I got was 05.15.05.  That is probably why I like him so much.)

As I was expressing my excitement for 11.11.11 and how I wanted to celebrate the day with my kids, my sister mumbled under her breath… “It’s just another day…”  Well, bahumbug to you too.  I was not going to let her lack of excitement sway me from my goal. Plus I have had a week of bad news, so I need an excuse to celebrate something.

I got to thinking and came up with 11 different ways to celebrate 11.11.11 with kids:

1. Let the kids have a late night with 11 friends.  Scream and blow horns (just like New Years) at 11:11 PM. Then send them all home.

2. Make an “11 Dinner”.  This could mean your food looks like an 11: 2 hotdogs, 2 breadsticks, 2 carrot sticks, 2 celery sticks, 2 pieces of licorice, etc.  Or you could serve an 11 course dinner or have 11 items on the menu. Pizza with 11 toppings would be yummy for the adults.

3. For dessert serve icecream sundaes and have 11 toppings to choose from or make a cake with 11 candles.  Blow them out 11 times.

4. Do an 11 craft project. Give the kids 11 pompoms, 11 beads, 11 feathers, 11 pipe cleaners and 11 buttons, etc. and see what they can create with the materials they are given.

5. Go on an 11 hunt around the house to find all the different ways to make 11- like two pencils together or two knives or two toothpicks.  I am sure they would come up with some interesting stuff.

6. Study the numerology of the number 11.  Supposedly it is a powerful number.  Or study 11 multiplication tables or all the different ways you can make 11 with adding.  Or just learn to count to 11.

7. Play an 11 version of Scattegories.  Name 11 cities, 11 teams, 11 colors, 11 desserts, etc.  Then compare and cross off when someone has the same as you.  The winner is the one with the most unique answers.

8. Make your kids a list of 11 reasons why you love them.  Put the note in an “11 Lunch” with 11 grapes, 11 apple slices, 11 chocolate chips, 11 pretzels, etc.  This will for sure embarrass them, but that’s part of our job, right?

9.  Play a game with dice where you have to do something crazy if you roll an 11 (totally appropriate of course).  Or you can play the candy bar game but instead of having to roll doubles you have to roll an 11.

10. Have the kids make 11.11.11 with their bodies on the lawn and take a picture.

11.  And Alicia over at  A Magical Childhood suggests making an “11 Memory Book” with your kids that represents them right now.  The titles of the pages could be: 11 things I’m good at, 11 people who love me, 11 things I want to do someday, 11 places I want to go, 11 foods I love to eat, 11 things I know are true, etc.

Does anyone else have any 11.11.11 ideas?

I have strep throat today so I am not sure what I will be able to pull off or how we will all feel by Friday,  but I wanted to pass on the fun ideas in case someone else is a nerd like me.  And life is about celebrating the little things, I don’t care what my sister says.