Lost my marbles

I - who like to consider myself not a little organized but SUPER organized - waited for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW too late to book Tomas' birthday party anywhere. Last year - T.G. the bowling alley squeezed us in ... this year... bowling alley has been demolished to make way for a Wal-mart. (Don't get me started!)

The only person who was available was the magician... $300. Nope, that ain't going to happen. SO, I decided that we could have a science party. Here. In my house. Ha ha ha ha (insert maniacal laughter here). What the hell was I thinking?

OK OK, I know what I was thinking - even if I spent $100 on science supplies I'd still be $200 ahead of the game. I figured there'd be lots of ideas on the Internet. Steve Spangler is my hero but how am I going to keep 10 7-year-old boys interested in this day and age when they all surf the Internet (today Tomas was swapping ".COM" urls with our neighbour), spend their summers at science camps run by professionals and are generally 7 going on 17! [I thought I'd try the coke and mentos after school yesterday but Tomas had a play date over and the kid said "I made mine go higher at camp last summer!" Gee thanks. ]

The party is Saturday. It is Wednesday night. Any cool suggestions are appreciated. Or white dress shirts - also appreciated. (I went to Value Village to buy "lab coats" but both men's and children's are priced at $3.99 - forget that!)

Alas, all my research has not been for nothing. When I was googling tonight, Tomas was helping me and he learned how to armpit fart. Oh Joy.