Any Excuse to Party
Apr 16 '07
The Bottom Line I believe the best parties are those that the hostess can attend so I try to get as much done ahead of time as possible.
Who needs an excuse to party when there are so many options -
A Come as You Are Party
A Come as You Were Party (fill in a Date)
A Basketball Party
Pool Party
Super Bowl
House Warming
Burn the Mortgage
Showers
Holiday Open Houses
Graduation
an Academy Awards Party
St Patricks Day Party
A Costume Party for Halloween
An Oktoberfest
A Luau
TGIF
Tuesday
And naturally Children's Birthdays
With 3 sons (now grown with my middle son having a child of his own) I’ve had lots of experience with birthday parties. Themes usually centered around an action figure or a sport.
My favorite party was planned around a theme –
Games
I learned from my years as a scout leader that the more structured the time was the better behaved the boys were. I wanted to have a party at home rather than the Roller Rink or Laser Quest as in years past.
Invitations were sent out announcing all the usual details. I had fun printing them up on the computer as if they were awards.
Prizes
What are games without prizes? I had one for every participant, including the birthday child. They were displayed unwrapped for all to see. I set the games up with a point system so that whoever ended up with the most points got first pick of the prizes.
Suggested Games:
1. Balloon Basketball – I used balloons and a waste paper basket. This was scored as with basketball except I deducted 5 points for broken balloons.
2. Grab Bag – There were good photo opportunities with this game. I filled a pillow case with an assortment of old clothes - the sillier the better (hats, helmets, sports equipment, stockings, scarves, suspenders, vests, etc.) This game is played like musical chairs. As a whistle blows the child left holding the bag took out an article of clothing and put it on. Scored on amount of clothing worn.
3. Balloon Blowing - Each child got a balloon to blow up. The first balloon to break was the winner.
The prizes were picked up at the dollar store and didn’t cost an arm or a leg.
I also made ribbons for every participant. Using wide blue ribbon I folded the top to a point, attached a metal eyelet and threaded tassels made with embroidery floss. I wrote the name of each child vertically with fabric writers in white. The prizes didn't seem as important to the kids as the cake and ice cream but I believe everyone had a good time. I would recommend having more games than you will have time for so you can adapt the games for each party.
As they got older we had fewer parties but a Teen Pizza Party was also a big hit.
The invitations were sent out to look like coupons done on the computer.
To keep it simple I used pre-made dough. Everyone was invited to assemble their ultimate pizza such as:
The classic Italian combination of tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil with available toppings such as mushrooms, onions, olives, pepperoni, and green pepper.
A Hawaiian Pizza combination of honey-baked ham, pineapple chunks, and monterey jack cheese.
A Tex-Mex combination of Salsa, ground beef, kidney beans, onion, green pepper, with cheddar, monterey jack, and muenster cheese. Add Black olives, sour cream, and chili peppers were also available.
We also had a garden salad, munchies, soda and for dessert...
A Chocolate Pizza – a cookie crust topped with choc chips –baked and immediately cut into small slices.
For my grand daughter’s first birthday we had the most fun photographing her eating her very own (small sized) cake. The party included family and friends and we had plenty of finger (kid friendly) foods.
Themes are my personal rule for any party. Once a theme is chosen (games, pizza, Elmo, poker night, Oscars, Valentines day, whatever) everything seems to fall into place for me. I enjoy making the invitations, setting and decorating the table, printing up menus (which I save in a scrapbook), cooking, and entertaining.
This year Cinco de Mayo falls on Derby Day so I’m already planning quite the party. Come one come all but ladies must wear a hat. (it's a derby tradition) I'll have the mint juleps waiting.
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Member: Fresca
Location: Lexington, Kentucky
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