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Quick Ideas for Themed Parties on Subjects that are Hard to Find
Sunday, August 10th, 2008My neighbor Jennifer had a party for her six year old daughter yesterday. The birthday girl wanted a Bambi theme, which presented a problem. Bambi party supplies are hard find since the original movie is so old (1942). But Jennifer’s daughter loves Bambi!
Being artistic, Jennifer created signs on foam board of the animals in the movies. She drew the animals and glued them onto the foam board. Then she cut out the figures and attached each one to a stick so she could stand them up in the ground outside. They lasted well throughout the day – so she’ll be able to remove the sticks and hang them in her daughter’s room as a wall decoration!
Jennifer also used her creativity to make cool t-shirts for party favors. She used iron-on transfers of Bambi and put them on turquoise shirts and surrounded them with pink gems. They look very pretty.
If you’re having a themed party with a subject that’s out-of-date you’ll need to use your imagination a little more, but Jennifer shows that it can be done!
-Mama Lisa
PS Feel free to let us know about any of your party ideas or tips in the comments below.
Kids Birthday Party Idea – Decorate Cookies
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008Kids Love to decorate cookies and cupcakes – I’ve used this as an event at two of my daughter’s birthday parties. When she turned two I had the kids decorate their own cupcakes to eat. This year she turned 7 and the girls at her party decorated cookies as one of the activities.
I made round sugar cookies in advance – two per girl. (If you want to cut down on your work you can buy the pre-made sugar cookie dough in the dairy section of the supermarket.) Then we prepared white icing. We made three pretty pastel colors for them to use – pink, lavender and yellow. (If it’s for a boy’s party I would make more boyish colors.)
Then I had fun toppings available for the kids to use: sprinkles, crystal sugar, M & M’s and chocolate chips.
The activity took about 15 – 20 minutes. We wrapped up the cookies on plates for the kids to take home.
The kids had a ball!
(This doesn’t have to be just for parties or holidays – you can do this on a rainy day just for fun.)
How to Make a Pretty Flower Cake – It’s Easy!
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008In my last post, I explained how I made a number seven cake for my daughter’s birthday. I also made a flower cake. This is even easier to make!
What you’ll need:
One box of cake mix
White Icing
Food Coloring
Chocolate Chips
Large Platter (Preferably Round)All you have to do is make one 8″ round layer cake and 12 cupcakes. You should be able to do this with one box of cake mix (at least in the US). Then you ice the cake. If you want it to look like a typical flower, you can use yellow icing on the round cake. You can do this by mixing a little yellow food coloring into white vanilla icing.
Then you can make the cupcakes have a different color icing for the petals of your flower. Mix another color food coloring with the white icing and spread it on the cupcakes. I made them pink by using a couple of drops of neon red food coloring. Then arrange the cupcakes around the round cake on a large round platter.
Then you can put the chocolate chips around the yellow icing on the cake to look like seeds.
That’s all you need to do to make a pretty flower cake!
Happy Baking!
Mama Lisa
Birthday Cake Idea – Make a Number Cake for Your Child!
Friday, August 1st, 2008It’s time for my daughter’s birthday. She’s turning 7 and she wanted a number 7 cake. It turned out to be pretty easy to make. You can choose any kind of cake you’d like to make. Prepare it as you would normally but bake it in a 9 x 13 inch rectangular cake pan. After it’s cooled off, place it on a large tray or cookie sheet. If you’re making a Seven Cake – cut out the seven as I did below.
1) First cut out a triangle on the left…
2) Then cut off the bottom right corner of the cake…
3) Then remove the bottom corner (you can put icing on it separately if you’d like)…
4) Put the icing on the cake…
5) If desired, you can decorate the cake (or let your kids decorate it like I did)…
Then you have a finished cake!
You can use different shaped pans depending upon what number you’d like to make. If you’d like, you can draw a template of the number using the backs of your pans and paper. Cut out the number on paper first then cut it out of the cake using the template you made.
Have lots of icing on hand – you’ll need more then usual, since it’s harder to ice cut cake. You might need to put thicker layers of icing to cover the cut portions neatly.
Happy Baking!
Mama Lisa
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Song with MP3
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006At my daughter’s 5th birthday party, the kids sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Now you can hear them sing it…
MP3 of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,
How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,
How I wonder what you are.Enjoy!
-Lisa
Princess Party – Wrapping It Up – Part 5
Friday, September 8th, 2006Previously, I wrote about having a quest as part of a kids party. At my daughter’s party, we did a crown craft after the quest, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. If you’re going to do a craft, I’d recommend doing it before the quest. After the quest the kids are all excited and not as interested in sitting down to do a craft.
Finally, we sang happy birthday. I had made a castle cake, using a castle Bundt pan I had purchased. It was a quick and easy way to make a castle cake, since time was an issue for me. I added McCormick’s Neon Pink food coloring to white cake mix and white icing to make both pink. We decorated the cake with wafers, jelly beans, and other candy. I found tall thin candles which made the castle look more majestic.
I also had purchased stuff for ice cream sundaes in case there was extra time at the end of the party before the parents arrived. We did end up making them.
I think it’s a good idea to have extra activities in case your party ends early and the parents aren’t there to get their kids.
I have to say I’m very happy to have held a kiddy party in our house for my daughter. I think it gave her a nice opportunity to interact with her friends all at once, at our house, at a special event that was planned just for her.
Judging by the smiles on the kids’ faces when they left, they all had a good time too!
Have a Quest or a Treasure Hunt at Your Kid’s Party “+ Part 4 about Holding a Princess Party”
Friday, August 25th, 2006Previously, I wrote about holding a Princess Tea Party as part of a Princess Party. The next event at my daughter’s party was a quest.
My husband, Jason Pomerantz, ran the quest, so I asked him to write a post about it. Here’s what he wrote…
Whenever a group of princesses get together, it’s traditional that they be presented with some sort of quest. My daughter’s princess party was no exception.
The basic concept was that we would scatter clues around the house, each of which would lead to the next. The final clue would lead to some sort of grand prize.
The first thing we had to decide was what would the grand prize be? We choose the heart shaped “princess piñata” Lisa had bought.
The next step was to prepare the clues. Originally, we had considered making very elaborate, colorful envelopes, with streaming ribbons or what not. Maybe we’d roll sheets of paper into little scrolls and tie them to princess figurines.
As it worked out, the reality of time constraints set in and we couldn’t get nearly that fancy. I just hand wrote most of the clues on plain paper and folded them into simple envelopes. Each envelope was labeled “Clue 1″, “Clue 2″, etc. Since the princesses were all around five years old, the lack of ornament didn’t really make any difference.
We decided where the clues would be hidden and I wrote each one so that it contained a very simple hint where to find the next. Nothing at all complicated since my daughter and her guests were still very young. I carefully kept a separate list of where each clue should be placed.
To do the quest right, it’s helpful to have confederates. In my case, they were my twelve year old son, a family friend, and my mother. While Lisa conducted the Princess Tea Party, I made plans with my son. At my signal, he would sneak out of the house and lie an envelope containing “Clue 1″ by the door. Then he’d ring the bell several times and run away.
It worked perfectly. As the tea party wrapped up, I gave him the signal. A few moments later the bell rang and, in my loudest, most hammy voice I said “What’s that? Someone at the door? Let me see who it is.” All the girls turned to watch. I opened up and said “Why, no one’s there! What’s this? A letter? Let’s see what this is.”
I stepped back to the tea party table, opened the letter and began to read. “Dear Princesses, The Heart of the Princess has been lost! Can you help find it? Follow the clues. The first clue can be found on the fence in the back yard. Love, the Fairy Godmother.”
When I finished, the little girls got very excited and they all leapt up and ran to the backyard.
I had given my son the pile of clue envelopes and the list of the locations where each should be hidden. We agreed that he would stay a few steps ahead of me, and carefully place the numbered envelopes in the appropriate places around the house and property. So, after he had rang the door, he had run to the fence and scotch taped the envelope there.
The girls arrived, screeching and squealing, and soon spotted the envelope. Since they were too young to read by themselves, I had them hand it to me. “Good work!” I read. “You’ve found the first clue. The next can be found on a soft place where a princess rests her head.” They had to think about this for a while, but, eventually, with a little prompting from me, they hit upon the pillow on the bed in my daughter’s room, where, sure enough, my son had placed the next envelope.
And so it went, for several clues. One was hidden in the “coldest place in the house”, which turned out to be the refrigerator. One was “beneath a comfortable place to sit”, in other words, under the couch.
For the last two clues, we did something special. We have a room we use as a sort of combination office and playroom. In it, there’s an electric piano and a computer. The hint for the second-to-last clue said “It’s hidden on top of something that makes music”.
My mother plays the piano and, earlier in the party, she had led the girls in some songs, so they all knew where to look.
They ran upstairs and found the envelope right away. It said “The last clue will be on the computer screen, after you all sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star‘.” I had planned this out with my mother, so she had come up with us and was ready to play. The girls sang with great enthusiasm. (It could have been any song. I just wanted something simple that they were all sure to know.)
When they finished, we stepped over to the computer and I turned on the screen. Earlier, I had typed the message in Microsoft Word. I had set the characters to a fancy font, and made the letters very large and simply left them on the screen with the monitor off. I knew it was unlikely that any girl would turn it on by themselves.
The message said “Congratulations! You’ve solved all of the clues. Now you can find the Heart of the Princess. Just look outside on the swing set!”
All the girls ran downstairs and out to the backyard. I had arranged with our family friend to hang the heart-shaped princess piñata there while the girls and I were upstairs. Of course, they were very excited when they saw it, and they immediately set about attempting to retrieve as much candy as they could.
The Princess Quest was a success!
Thanks Jason! I just wanted to add that my daughter still asks if the fairy godmother really came to her party! I’d say The Quest was the highlight of the party. I’d highly recommend fitting some sort of quest or treasure hunt into your kid’s party, whatever the theme may be.
-Lisa
Tea Party Recipe for Apple and Cream Cheese Finger Sandwiches on Cinnamon Bread
Monday, August 21st, 2006I served these delicious finger sandwiches at my daughter’s Princess Tea Party. The adults all loved them! I think they would be great to serve at a brunch celebration too.
Apple and Cream Cheese Finger Sandwiches on Cinnamon Bread
1 package (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 loaf Cinnamon Bread, crust cut off
2 Apples peeled, cored and sliced (I used Gala apples)
1 tablespoon Orange JuiceBeat cream cheese, brown sugar, and vanilla together with an electric mixer, at medium speed, for about a minute, until well mixed.
Brush apple slices with orange juice to keep them from turning brown.
Spread cream cheese mixture onto a slice of cinnamon bread and place 4 apple slices on top. Cover with another piece of bread (you can spread a little cream cheese on the second piece of bread if desired). Cut in fours, making sure one slice of apple ends up on each finger sandwich.
Bon appétit!
Lisa
Planning Your Kid’s Birthday Party: Having a Tea Party + “Holding a Princess Party Part 3″
Monday, August 21st, 2006In my last post about holding a kid’s party, I talked about the importance of playing up your theme when writing out invitations.
Before you sent out the invitations, you probably decided if you’d be serving either a meal or a snack, depending upon the time of your party. The events of your party can be planned around your meal.
When I planned my daughter’s Princess Party, she was still in camp until 1:30 pm. So I made her party from 2 – 4 pm.
I figured that most of the children would already have had at least a light lunch before the party. So I decided to serve snacks. This made the Princess Party a perfect opportunity to hold a tea party with little tea sandwiches on pretty trays. A very princess-like thing to do!
The tea party was the first event. I decorated the table with a princess tablecloth. I used my daughter’s “real” china tea set, placing each cup on top of a pretty little doily.
I didn’t have enough cups, so the day before the party, I went to a discount store called Marshall’s, and purchased some pretty espresso cups that were on sale. They’re just about the same size as the cups in a child’s tea set. That let me have the right amount of “real” china cups without spending a lot of money.
Since it’s summertime, I didn’t want to serve hot tea. So I served Snapple peach iced tea and apple juice. Before the party I put them into china tea pots to serve them from. I gave them princess-like names, staying within the theme. The iced tea became Princess Peach Iced Tea and the apple juice became Snow White’s Apple Juice. Here’s my whole menu…
***
Princess Tea Party Menu
Drinks
Princess Peach Iced Tea
Snow White’s Apple JuiceTea Sandwiches
The Queen’s Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwiches
Pocahontas Peanut Butter and Jelly Triangles
Royal Peanut Butter Squares
Jasmine’s Jelly Rolls
The Frog Prince’s Pringles
Ariel’s Apple and Cream Cheese on Cinnamon Bread
***
The adults who were helping me with the party mainly ate the cucumber sandwiches. The kids preferred plain slices of cucumbers. They all enjoyed the peanut butter and jelly triangles – I’d highly recommend this as a choice for a children’s tea party. It’s easy and most kids will eat it. The peanut butter sandwiches and jelly rolls (jelly spread on bread, rolled up and sliced) were put out for the kids who don’t like PBJ.
The Apple and Cream Cheese on Cinnamon Bread was truly delicious. (Click on the link for the recipe.)
I served Pringles Potato Chips at my daughter’s request. They all went pretty quickly.
When we served the tea and apple juice we would say something like, “Princess Ariel, would you like some Princess Peach Iced Tea or Snow White’s Apple Juice?”
The kids loved that.
Once the kids had settled in, and were on their second round of drinks, I let them pour their own tea (under a little guidance). They loved that too!
I’d say the tea party lasted about a half an hour.
It was very cute and a lot of fun for all!
Next Post About Children’s Parties: Take the Kids on a Quest!
Invitations to Kids Parties: Create the Mood + “Holding a Princess Party Part 2″
Sunday, August 13th, 2006The other Day I wrote about the importance of having a theme for a kid’s birthday party. Once you’ve chosen your theme, it’s time pick your invitations. The important part of choosing your invitations, and writing them out, is to play up your theme.
There are many sites on the internet that will tell you how to create your own invitations on your home computer. I chose to buy ours, since I felt that a Princess Party called for a more formal invitation. I also didn’t have much time, and after all, invitations at the store only cost about $3.50 for a pack of 10.
Our invitations were made by Hallmark. Here’s what they looked like…
On the inside they say:
Princess
_____________ (Child’s Name)
invites you
to attend
her royal celebrationon ________
at___________________ o’clock
at __________________________
____________________________
RSVP ______________________In the section that says “at”, I wrote The Royal Palace at + our address.
On the outside of the envelope I wrote each child’s name as Princess + the child’s name.
I also wrote at the bottom of the invitation, Dress in your favorite princess ball gown, if you’d like. (My daughter has several of these gowns, and I told parents that, if their daughters didn’t have any of their own, they were welcome to use one of hers during the party.)
I can tell I had piqued the kids’ and parents’ curiosity when they called to R.S.V.P. All but one kid said they would come. Which was much better than I had expected given that our party was held in the summertime.
The important part of all this is to play up your theme, whatever it may be.
If you’d like to share any experiences you’ve had with planning kids parties, feel free to comment below.
Next: Decide what meal or snack you’re going to serve at your child’s party. If it’s a snack, why not make it a tea party!
Birthday Parties for Kids: First Choose a Theme + “Holding a Princess Party Part 1″
Friday, August 11th, 2006My daughter’s been talking about her 5th birthday party for the past six months. Early on, she decided that she wanted it to be at our house. She wanted her friends to meet each other and see her room and play with her toys. This was something new for me as my son always wanted his party to be at Chuck E. Cheese’s (a party place for kids in the US).
Chuck E. Cheese parties were always easy to plan. All I had to do was make a reservation and send out invitations. They did the rest – they provided the entertainment (mostly arcade games and small rides), food, cake and goodie bags.
Where we live, most kids have their kiddy parties at places like Chuck E. Cheese’s.
So when my daughter said she wanted her party in our house, I was a little apprehensive. Would my house survive an onslaught of 10-15 little girls? How would I entertain them? What would they eat? Etc., etc., etc.
I mentioned all of this to my sister-in-law Dale who used to work in a preschool. She suggested having a Princess Party.
I thought that was a great idea. My daughter and her friends love to play princess dress up, so I knew they’d enjoy it. Making it a “Princess Party” gave me a theme to plan the party around.
Once I had a theme I was able to buy the invitations, decorations and piñata and to start finding stuff for the goodie bags.
Now I realize the first thing to do when planning your kid’s party: Choose a theme! It makes it much easier to plan the party.
If you’d like to share any experiences you’ve had with planning kids parties, feel free to comment below.
Next: Invitations – How to make them fun!
________
Copyright ©2009 by Lisa Yannucci. All rights reserved.
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