Building the castle walls (and stuffing the dragon)

Mr. W had a very busy weekend preparing for Our Little Helper's dragon birthday party. After we moved we decided to save all our cardboard moving boxes to use as a castle for the children to play in at the birthday party.  I had heard somewhere that you can buy plastic rivets for assembling boxes.  My internet search turned up Mr. McGroovy. Not only does he sell rivets, but he also has floor plans. I didn't think I needed those, I was able to come up with a general idea based upon the photos of castles on his website. The little rivets snap together fairly easily, but they have to be lined up just so.

We didn't really have enough of the large wardrobe boxes and we weren't about to go out searching for more boxes in order to have the appliance boxes so we improvised with the large moving boxes. We went back and forth on the best arrangement for the boxes, this was our result.
I was expecting to pay a ton for spray paint cans, but Mr. W had the brilliant idea to purchase a paint sprayer. He figures there will be plenty of painting the exterior of this house in his future so it was a worthwhile investment to him. I thought it was a great idea.
 
He primed it first.

Then added a top coat of battleship grey.
 
Now I will have the task of painting all the mortar lines. Yesterday MLH and I ran a bunch of errands for his birthday (as well as someone else's upcoming birthday that I have to plan.) I purchased black poster paint and now just need the motivation to go outside and begin.  I'm thinking Baby Boy's nap time is the right time to do it.
We also went to the Scottish Country Shop to purchase little Welsh flags to decorate the 4 corner towers of the castle.  Both the Scottish and Welsh flag feature a dragon and I got the idea when we were at the Highland Games.  I thought the cost of $3 a flag was worth the time saved for me to go to the fabric store and sew my own flags and somehow get a dragon image on them.

The other thing MLH and I got on our errands was more prizes for the dragon shaped pinata.  We went to the Learning Palace which caters to school teachers.  I got another tub of these knight figures.  I think they are great because they go with our theme, but it occurred to me that they also will look like the dragon ate a bunch of knights.  Somehow I think the little boys may find that funny.

We also have a giant pile of saltwater taffy from our recent trip to the coast.
 
And we finally found some dragon stickers.
 
I think this is a good mix of treats and prizes.

 I poked a hole with an exacto knife into they back of the dragon.  It took a little while before I could hear the balloon inside snap and then deflate pulling itself free from the paper mache. Happily the pinata remained intact! I cut out a small rectangle big enough to get the knights inside.
 
MLH enjoyed filling up the pinata, he's so excited for his birthday! And it is finally right around the corner!