Tag: happy

Toy story party ideas

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Decorate your Toy Story party to look like Woody’s Roundup, Andy’s Room, a toy store or outer space! Here are some other ideas to inspire you when planning a children’s party.

  • Hang paper airplanes from the ceiling with fishing line so the planes look like they’re flying.

  • Use toys and green plastic army men as balloon weights.

  • Use a Buzz Lightyear or Woody pillowcase as a chair cover for the birthday child.

  • Decorate in lime green, blue, white and red for a Buzz Lightyear party or red, gold, cow pattern, and denim for a Woody party.

  • Have the birthday child or adults dress as characters from the movie.

  • Set up the room like Pizza Planet and offer arcade games like skee ball, electronic basketball, bowling, foosball, plastic darts or air hockey for the kids to play. Hand out gold coins to use as game tokens.

Easily incorporate Pizza Planet into your Toy Story party by ordering or making pizza for your guests. Another option is to have a cowboy barbecue with Woody over a campfire with hotdogs and marshmallows. Here’s one Toy Story food ideas for snacks and dessert.

 

  • Mr. Potato Head Rice Krispies Treats. (Use Cocoa Krispies cereal in the batter. Form into flat oval shapes then add marshmallow eyes. Use gum drop for ears, feet and hands.)

    Toy Story Party favours

Thank your guests with a variety of cool party favours! To find a large variety of Woody and Buzz party favours, visit the store and click the “Party favours” tab or the “More Fun Stuff” tab. Some of the favours we have include:

 

  • Mini Slinky Dogs

  • Buzz Lightyear flyers

  • Army men

  • Toy Story 3 stickers and temporary tattoos

  • Toy Story punch balloons

  • Cowboy and cowgirl hats

  • Fun-shaped candy and lollipops

 

EUROCAMP HOLIDAYS

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Where is it? Travelling by P&O Ferry from Dover to Calais on a one- hour crossing, then drive the 210 miles to Duinrell in three and a half hours through France and Belgium. You can also travel from Harwich to Hook of Holland (26 miles) or Zebrugge (139 miles)  or do fly-drive to Amsterdam ( 22 miles away).

A two-bedroom Eurocamp mobile home cost £571 for a seven-night stay at Whitsun week, for two adults and up to four children, including the Dover to Calais ferry crossings. Prices range from £260 for a tent at the beginning of May to over £1,017 for a week in a mobile home in peak July/ August weeks.

Where? Netherlands

Staying in a Eurocamp mobile home, which was comfy and well-equipped with a kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. The pitch was wider than other sites with a broad deck, which meant loads of room for the kids to ride their bikes.

The Duinrell site has so much there on tap, you’ll find the kids will be exhausted and sleep like logs – and you may even get a lie-in!

The adjoining theme park had everything from non-scary rides suitable for toddlers to heart-stopping white-knuckle water plunge rides and roller coasters for adrenaline-seeking teenagers (and adults). Think Alton Towers or Chessington without the huge queues and mortgage-your-home entry fee.

The queues aren’t as long as at UK theme parks and the beauty of the free entry was that you can go back as many times as you wanted. It is more suitable for older children and teenagers entertainment, but there is a high buggy count in the theme park.

Favourite spot for toddlers and parents is the indoor carousel ride (free!), which is surrounded by tables where coffees and ice creams are served.

The site has a well-stocked supermarket with reasonably priced food if you wanted to eat in.

The indoor Tiki Water Park (with some of the longest rides in the world are good for wet days; you get up to two hours free to ride the Lazy River, flumes and plunging slides. There’s even a sauna if Mum or Dad want to sneak off.

The campsite has 1,500 pitches and a mixture of Dutch/ British and German visitors, with English widely spoken. It is adjoined by a nature reserve that provides a welcome escape.

Cycle rides to Wassenaar beach, a clean and spacious stretch of sand with bars and cafes, is one of the highlights of the trip.

Amsterdam is only 22 miles away, you can drive to a Park and Ride site just outside the city, and pay five Euros to park all day (this bargain price included two return train tickets to central Amsterdam). Children’s fares were a very reasonable two Euros each.

Conclusion:

A great place to go even if it rains you don’t have to sit in the caravan listening to the rain drumming on the roof – non-stop children’s entertainment is right on site.

Have a sleepover party

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Invite your friends for an extra cool sleepover birthday party!

Crafts, Makeup, DVDs, Midnight Feasts, Birthday Cake, Sleeping Bag Races – what more can a birthday girl ask for? The girls are coming round for a sleepover! Birthday party girls just love to make things with their friends.  Get creative and make something really special like a funky t-shirt or some cool jewellery:

T-shirt painting is always a popular kids crafts activity and a great idea for a sleepover. Give them a blank white t-shirt and a bunch of fabric pens and paints, some sparkly bits and pieces to stick on and see what new fashion they can design. They can really let their imagination go wild with fabric painting.

Having a ‘girlie night in’ means only one thing- time to get your nails painted, create cool hairstyles, have fun putting on each other’s make-up and get all dressed up ready to show off your artistic expression ‘ designed by yourself’ new T-Shirt.

  • Roll out the cat walk, load the music, flick on the spot lights and have your very own

  • fashion show!! Catch it all on camera for some great memories.

Time for Dinner:

Why not make your own Pizza? The kids will really enjoy making the pizza dough (most supermarkets have an easy packet pizza base mix that takes 5 mins to mix up) and then add lots of great toppings e.g. tomato, ham, pepper, pineapple, pepperoni, olives and lots of cheese.  Children love to eat their own homemade dinner.

Chocolate Fountain Dessert:

How about the kids cutting up lots of different fruits and dipping them in some scrummy melted chocolate!!

Get cosy:

Grab your sleeping bags and pillows, get comfy in your pj’s or onesies and settle down in front of the TV to watch a great movie for a little quiet time and don’t forget your popcorn!

What makes our children happy?

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We all want the same things for our kids. We want them to grow up to love and be loved, to follow their dreams, to find success. Mostly, though, we want them to be happy. But just how much control do we have over our children’s happiness? Research clearly shows that happy, optimistic children are the product of happy, optimistic homes, regardless of genetic makeup.” What can you do to create a home where your child’s happiness will flourish?

The easiest way to promote your child’s lifelong emotional well-being is to help him feel connected — to you, other family members, friends, neighbours, teachers, even to pets. “A connected childhood is the key to happiness,” a feeling of being loved, understood, wanted, acknowledged. If a child has just one person who loves him unconditionally, that’s the closest thing he’ll ever get to an inoculation against misery. It’s not enough, however, simply to possess that deep love; your child must feel it, too. Hold your baby as much as possible; respond with empathy to his cries; read aloud to him; eat, snuggle, and laugh together.

It’s not just the quality, but also the quantity of the bonds: the more connections your child makes, the better.

Be a happy parent

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We love parenthood, and we love our kids, but let’s face it: Parenthood is hard.

While recent studies about parents’ happiness levels have produced mixed results, one thing’s certain: It takes some work to be able to say, “I enjoy parenting, I really do!” without crossing your fingers.

So, what are the secrets of happy parents? Regardless of whether you have a screaming toddler or an eye-rolling teen, scientists and researchers in the field of positive psychology have found strategies that can help you appreciate your role as a parent, and improve your relationships with your children—starting now:

As parents, we think there’s always more we could do, more time we should devote, more love we are capable of giving—and so we feel we’re constantly coming up short. But this kind of thinking is unhelpful, at best. Come up with some of your children’s main needs and think about what you have done to satisfy them. Or reflect on decisions you’ve made that have resulted in better outcomes for your kids. Whenever you’re feeling like you’re not doing enough, think back to these achievements.

We’re at our happiest when we’re engaged in leisure activities. Remember, your emotions will rub off on your kids—not to mention everyone else around you, so if you’re tired and overstressed, think of how that will affect the way you interact with your family. It’s key to schedule some “me” time each day (or at least most days!), where you can devote time to something that makes you happy, whether that’s reading a suspense novel, jogging, or gardening. If we spent even half the time scheduling our own play time as we do our child’s, we’d all be happier.

Easter party ideas

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Easter is a time to celebrate the renewal of life with flowers, eggs, rabbits and chicks as you and your family celebrate Easter!  Easter commemorates Jesus’ resurrection and the coming of the Spring season when flowers begin to bloom and baby animals are born.  What better way to embrace this special time of year than with an Easter party? 

Easter Decorations – Decorating for Easter can be lots of fun! You can keep things simple by incorporating traditional baskets around the house filled with eggs, toy animals and spring flowers. Or if you enjoy getting a little more creative, try hanging colourful eggs from a tree, making flowers form tissue paper or even creating an Easter centrepiece by surrounding a candle with decorative grass and tiny blue robin’s eggs.  There are countless other ways to get into the spirit of the Easter holiday just by using materials found around the house and tapping into your artistic side. 

Easter Egg Colouring- There is a basket full of fun activities to choose from in preparation for Easter that you and your friends and family can enjoy.  The first and most popular one that comes to mind is egg decorating. It is amazing how many fun things you and your kids can do with eggs that include dyeing, painting and decorating with everything from glitter and stickers, to stencils and tissue paper. In addition, newspaper or string Papier-Mache can be handy materials to create model eggs, bunnies or chicks which can be painted spring colours after they dry. These children’s party activities and many others are a great way to welcome the Easter bunny and embrace the coming of the Spring season.  

Easter Egg hunt and games – There is only one way the children can know for sure that the Easter bunny has come to visit their home: when there are eggs hidden in the garden to snatch up and collect in their baskets! Not only is the “Easter Egg Hunt” the most traditional children’s party game of the Easter holiday, but it also allows for a variety of ways to play it.  You can have the children in your family collect eggs that they have painted, or plastic ones which you can fill with yummy snacks, chocolate or candy for a sweet surprise. But besides the egg hunt, there are countless other games you and your family can enjoy such as a bunny hop race or Spring art contest to celebrate Easter Sunday. 

Easter egg snacks and treats- All those blissful games and activities wouldn’t be the same without a smorgasbord of savoury Easter dishes and sweet treats to fuel the festivities.  In fact, when most people think of Easter, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and cream-filled eggs easily come to mind! The Lamb roast is an easy choice for a traditional Easter feast, as well as spring vegetables and new potatoes and of course a simnal cake.