A zoo themed party can be a fun theme for a child’s birthday party. Send out zoo themed invites and ask guests to dress in the colors of their favorite animal and to bring along a stuffed animal for the zoo. When the children arrive use face paint to blacken their noses and add whiskers – with their parents permission of course!
Serve up some fun zoo foods by creating animal shaped sandwiches or mini pizzas using animal shaped cookie cutters. Make a big bowl of zoo punch by mixing one bottle of fruit juice with lemon-lime soda and one can of frozen lemonade.
Decorate using the borrowed plush toys along with your own and spread them throughout the party area. Use cardboard cutouts of animals, or print and color zoo animal coloring pages to hang in the area.
Place a small picture of a zoo animal under each plate at the table. Advise children that they must act like that animal by making the animal’s noises. Have the other children take turns guessing what each animal is.
End the party with a zoo theme cake and send the guests home with a small favor such as animal crackers.
For full party details and more ideas check out the complete Zoo Party article.
Throw a Yo Gabba Gabba themed party for the birthday child who is crazy about this Nick Jr. program.
For invitations, use colored cardstock cut into the shapes of the main characters. Cut the characters out of Yo Gabba Gabba coloring pages to use as a tracing template for the cardstock. Colors to choose include green for Brobee, red for Muno, yellow for Plex, Pink for Foofa and Blue for Toodee. You may also want to just have your child color in the coloring pages and write the party details on the back of the coloring page. Ask guests to come dressed in the colors of their favorite Yo Gabba Gabba friend.
Decorate with balloons and streamers in the colors of the characters. Combine these with Yo Gabba Gabba themed party supplies (found at the party supply store). Check out the Nick Jr. website for some free, printable party decorations.
Yo Gabba Gabba is very dance oriented, so be sure to have a lot of dancing activities at your party. Play games like freeze dance and do free style dancing to songs from the Yo Gabba Gabba CD. Every episode also features a special guest who makes up a “Dancy Dance” of their own and teaches it to the group (and the kids at home). Give each guest a chance to make up his own Dancy Dance, too! The kids will love coming up with cool and funny dance moves.
Go with any kid friendly foods to make up your party menu. When it’s time for birthday cake, a Yo Gabba Gabba theme cake is the perfect choice. Many bakeries feature a Yo Gabba Gabba option for a birthday sheet cake, but you can also create one of the character cakes with a little creativity and a lot of colored frosting. Use the coloring page (blown up to a larger size if needed) as a template to cut your sheet cake into the shape of the birthday child’s favorite character. Then decorate with colored frosting and assorted candy, fruit leather and gel icing to fill in the facial features.
Yo Gabba Gabba party favor suggestions include Yo Gabba Gabba t-shirts, coloring books, mini plush characters or Yo Gabba Gabba party favor packs available from party supply stores.
Fun for all ages, a video game party that revolves around a gaming system such as the X-box Kinect or Nintendo Wii may be one of the easiest gatherings you’ve ever planned.
Choose games to play at the party that will suit the crowd of guests. For instance, tween girls may enjoy games such as Dance Central while boys of the same age might prefer a driving game like Joy Ride. These games are just as much fun for adults and most of these games are not gender specific, so don’t think twice about using any game for a mixed crowd. (Just be sure to check the game’s rating to be sure it is appropriate for younger players.) Other fun games to consider are Carnival and Kinect Adventures. These can be played tournament style (with someone keeping score) if you have a large crowd. Another fun idea is to invite guests to each bring their favorite game and take turns playing different ones.
You can also host a gaming theme party. Music games such as Karaoke and Guitar Hero or Rock Band come to mind. These can be especially fun if guests dress up as rock stars.
For your x-box party, serve foods that people can eat at their own leisure between turns at the game. Chips, dip, cheese and crackers and fruit skewers are good choices for snacking. For more substantial fare, go with finger foods like mini pizzas, mini cheeseburger sliders, chicken nuggets, pigs in a blanket and quesadillas.
If the party is celebrating a birthday, cut a sheet cake into the shape of the gaming unit, cover with fondant and decorate accordingly. For a simpler cake in the X-box theme, simply cut a sheet cake into the shape of the letter X. If your party revolves around one of the musical games, make the cake in the shape of a guitar or other musical instrument.
A wine tasting party can be a fun way for adults to get together, taste wine and socialize. If you’ve thought about hosting a wine tasting party but have hesitated in the past, don’t put it off any longer. Planning a wine tasting party isn’t as hard as it seems.
Begin by inviting several friends to the party. Choose people who enjoy wine, even if they are not necessarily connoisseurs. Not everyone likes wine, so it is important to make sure you invite people who do.
In order to choose the wine for your party, you will need to decide what type of wine tasting you would like to do. For instance, you can taste several different types of wine all made by the same vendor or you can taste several merlot wines, each made by a different vendor. Another option is to taste the same types of the wine, each from a different region.
Purchase the desired wine before the party. Wine can be very expensive, so set a budget before you shop. You can buy inexpensive bottles for your wine tasting party. You should plan on having six different types of wine in total. Each bottle of wine will serve ten to twelve guests. Have enough wine glasses for the party – you may want to be able to offer guests clean glasses for each new wine; even if that means washing them in between. Wine glass markers such as wine charms will help distinguish each guest’s glass. When pouring the wine, only pour about 2 oz in each glass. That’s all that is needed for tasting.
Keep the food simple. Assorted cheeses and fruit are commonly served with wine and won’t affect the wine tasting, but will give your guests something to eat. If you plan on serving hors d’ouevers or other food, consider having it before the wine tasting portion of the party. Dessert can be served afterwards with a dessert wine.
Provide paper and pens for guests to jot down notes on each wine they taste. After the tasting, have a discussion about which wines were more flavorful and which ones were bland. Ask guests which wine they preferred overall.
Favors are certainly not required, but are always a nice gesture. Some ideas for wine party tasting favors are mini bottles of wine, wine glass markers, bottle stoppers or coasters.
Whether you are hosting a shower or a little girls birthday celebration, a vintage tea party is perfect for girls of all ages!
Visit the craft store for supplies such as vintage paper and lace ribbon. Create your invitations by cutting the shape of a teapot out of cardstock paper with a vintage pattern. Write the party details on the back. Glue strips of lace ribbon to decorate the invites. Ask guests to come dresses in vintage attire. Another idea is to visit the vintage clothing shop and pick up a few dresses and hats for guests to wear when they arrive. This is especially fun if your tea party guests are young girls who enjoy playing dress-up.
Set the table with an antique lace tablecloth. Use the vintage patterned cardstock to make place cards. Use old fashioned porcelain china teacups and saucers. If you have a set of rose patterned or antique style tea cups, use them. If not, search online or yard sales for an eclectic collection of vintage china.
Fresh flowers should have a place on the vintage tea party table. As a matter of fact, a garden setting is perfect for this type of event. Inside may be more practical however, and decorating the party room in the style of an old fashioned parlor room will provide just as lovely a setting.
Brew the tea and pour into porcelain tea pots for serving. If you prefer guests to make their own tea, wrap the tea bags in vintage print paper and place one or two at each place setting. For children, serve decaffeinated iced tea or lemonade. Serve finger sandwiches on antique-style platters lined with lace doilies. Other menu suggestions include fresh fruit, muffins, fresh baked bread and biscuits with a variety of jams and spreads.
For vintage tea party favors, jars of preserves can be wrapped in burlap and tied with a lace ribbon. Use the vintage print card stock to add a little “thank you” gift tag.
There are many options to choose from for your unicorn birthday party invitations. You can create invites using cardstock note cards and unicorn themed rubber stamps, stencils or stickers. You can also use a unicorn coloring page, colored by the birthday child with the party details written on the back. Cut the unicorn shape out of the coloring page to make a template with which to trace the image onto the paper style of your choice. Trace with pencil and then outline with glitter pen. Color the image in with more glitter or colored markers.
Pastel colors work well for the unicorn theme. Rainbows and stars are also commonly associated with unicorns. Go with pastel colors for tablecloths, paper goods, balloons and streamers. Fill the balloons with helium and group them as bouquets. Weigh them down with unicorn statues or beanie-style plus unicorns. Tie a balloon to the back of each chair. Tie several balloons with long lengths of curling ribbon. Allow the balloons to float up and cover the ceiling, so that the ribbon curls stream overhead. Cut stars and rainbows out of cardstock. Paint them with craft paint, allow them to dry and hang them from the ceiling with varying lengths of ribbon. Add white and pink holiday string lights to enhance the magical appeal of your party space.
Star, rainbow and unicorn cookie cutters are your best tools for preparing unicorn themed party food. Sandwiches, marshmallow cereal treats and cookies are a few items that can be cut into these shapes. If you can’t find a unicorn cookie cutter, use a pony shape and add pretzel sticks as the horns. For more enchanted menu items, borrow from the fairy or princess party ideas.
A unicorn cake mold is perfect for baking the birthday child’s favorite cake recipe. Once the cake has cooled, simply decorate with items such as colored frostings, gel icing, sugar crystals, mini marshmallows, fruit snacks, candy kisses and m&m’s.
Face painting, temporary unicorn tattoos, a unicorn piñata and a game of pin the tail on the unicorn are activities to consider for the party. Craft ideas include decorating a unicorn shoe (horseshoe cut out off cardstock) or making a unicorn horn and mane. For this magical unicorn party craft simply allow guests to decorate a cone style party hat with items such as paint, markers, glitter, jewel beads and stickers. Once all of the hat paint and glue is dry, staple or glue gathers of colored yarn or lengths of ribbon so that they stream out from the inside of the hat.
For party favors, make individual package of “unicorn feed” for guests to take and enjoy at home. Unicorn feed can be any kind of cereal mix (most unicorns especially love oat cereal) or trail mix. Add unicorn pink mini marshmallows, white chocolate chips and a few rainbow sprinkles to the mix. Place the wrapped bags of Unicorn feed into colorful mini beach buckets.
Other Unicorn birthday party favor suggestions include unicorn stickers, bubbles, pixie sticks, glitter pens, unicorn coloring books and crayons, unicorn story books and plush, beanie sized unicorns.
Planning a party for tweens can be difficult. Most have outgrown character theme parties, and yet they are too young for teenage parties. There are plenty of party ideas for tweens that will help them feel like they aren’t having a traditional kiddie party.
For girls, consider a makeover party or a spa day which can easily be done at home. If you prefer to have the party out, allow the birthday girl to select a close friend or two and treat them to manicures at a local salon, then pizza and cake afterward at a nearby pizzeria. A craft party (scrap booking, jewelry making, painting etc) is another idea for a party that you could either host at home or at a chain-type arts & crafts store which usually has party facilities and will provide a craft lesson for the girls. Sleepovers are always a hit with girls of all ages.
For boys, you can have a baseball party either at home or take the boys to a local batting cage so they can hit some balls and treat them to hot dogs and ice cream afterward. If you have a minor league baseball team that plays nearby (or even a local group that plays softball) get tickets and go see a game.
For parties that include both boys and girls consider a scavenger hunt at your home. Ask a few neighbors to help out and let the kids go door to door at select houses looking for items or performing tasks. Make list before hand of things for them to do and look for, assigning points to each item on the list. The harder the task, the more points it should earn. Set boundaries for where they can and can not look for items and keep them supervised at all times. There are plenty of scavenger hunt ideas available online – be sure to pick items that are age-appropriate and can be done within the boundaries you have set. This might mean that you need to “hide” a few items in inconspicuous places.
There are other options that would be appropriate for tweens such as a karaoke party, laser tag, miniature golf, bowling, movies, ice skating or roller skating. Check with local venues about hosting a party and be sure to ask your tween what she thinks she & her friends would have the most fun doing.
For the coolest party in all the galaxy go with a space theme! Your little astronauts and aliens will have a time that is out of this world!
Use black card stock and neon markers to create your invites. Add stickers of cosmic elements like stars, moons and planets.
Cut the shapes of stars, planets, moons and rockets out of cardboard. Wrap with aluminum foil or paint with glow in the dark paints. Hang from the ceiling in your party room. Use fishing line to make them look as if they are floating on their own.
Look for a black or dark colored tablecloth in the dollar store. Use metallic markers to draw cosmic elements on it. Scatter glow sticks and candy stars around the tabletop. Paint craft store foam balls to look like planets. Use these as centerpieces and party decorations.
Serve star shaped cookie cutter sandwiches. Other ideas for space themed foods: moon pies, crescent moon pizzas and flying saucer ice cream sandwiches. Decorate a round cake to look like a moon or planet. Or cut a rocket shape out of a sheet cake and decorate with frosting and candy. Let guests make their own alien cupcakes. Simply set them up with plain cupcakes, frosting, gel icing and assorted candies to make facial features and antennae. Serve alongside the rocket ship cake.
A moon bounce is the perfect backyard activity for your space party guests. A refrigerator box that has been painted to look like a rocket ship will also provide lots of fun for the aspiring astronauts.
Favor suggestions: moon sand, space stickers, space themed coloring books, neon crayons, glow sticks, Milky Way bars, starburst candy and moon pies.
Use card stock cut into the shape of CD’s as your party invitations. Write your name as a party band’s name so maybe it will read something like “The Peterson Party Players.” Add the party details in numbered fashion, as you would find the play list on a CD. You can even purchase paper CD sleeves to mail them in!
Use more cardstock CD’s to decorate the party space. Hang them from the ceiling with ribbon. Purchase inflatable instruments to scatter around the room. These interactive props can be fun for guests to pick up and “play.” Break out some old vinyl album covers to hang on the walls. Rock and Roll Posters, concert t-shirts and musical instruments are more suggestions for hanging on the walls. Fill some of the inflatable instruments with helium to use as rock ‘n roll party balloons.
Ask guests to come dressed like rock stars. Let them decide if they want to come in a celebrity costume or just put together their own rock star look. Either way, the attire will be a hit!
If you want to feed guests typical rock ‘n roll food, think about the kind of menu items you would find at a rock concert. Pizza, nachos, chicken finger, burgers, hot dogs, French fries, beer and soda come to mind.
Music is an integral element of the rock ‘n roll party theme. Hire a band, ask friends bands to play or enlist the services of a professional DJ. You can, of course, do the music yourself, just be sure you have a great sound system and an extensive play list. Karaoke is a fun way to entertain guests. You can buy or rent a karaoke machine or use a karaoke game on a home gaming system such as the X-box or Wii. Use the gaming systems to entertain with games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero as well.
Send guests home with a cool rock ‘n roll party favor. Suggestions include CD’s, sunglasses, concert t-shirts, guitar keychains and i-tunes gift cards.
In Latin culture, Quinceanera is a celebration of a young girl’s fifteenth birthday which marks her transition from child to woman. A Quinceanera has religious significance celebrated through a Mass in the family’s church. Afterwards it is common to have a big party, which resembles an American Sweet Sixteen party.
Formal gowns are usually worn by the Quinceanera along with a tiara. It is not unusual for the girl to wear white, although it is not a requirement. Parents and relatives also dress formally.
Invitations for Quinces, as they are commonly called, should be sent well in advance to allow guests time to plan to attend and for out of town relatives to make travel arrangements.
Finding a venue is also important. Although it is not uncommon to host the party at the parent’s home or the home of a close relative, if the guest list is extensive a party room will provide more room.
An important aspect of this special event is that the girl chooses her “Court of Honor” which is composed of siblings, cousins and close friends. The Court of Honor can be all girls, all boys or a combination of both. The Court plays a special part in the celebration as they share the limelight with her and often, the Quinceanera and her court dance together in a special dance at the reception, The Court of Honor dresses formally, often in ball gowns and tuxedos.
There are several traditions that are closely followed at a Quinceanera. “The Changing of the Shoes” is one of them. In this custom, the father (or another close male relative such as a grandfather or uncle) changes the girl’s flat shoes to high heeled shoes which symbolize her transformation from girl to woman. The “Brindis” is another tradition where the Quinceanera is toasted with specially decorated toasting glasses.
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