Category: Parties

Roller skating party idea

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This party was inspired by a family who hired out a hall for a roller skating party, loads of fun was had by all and of course it wore everybody out!!

Invitations:

Invitations were homemade and drawn skates on each piece of card shaped into a ‘roller-skate’. The time and venue were written and also the duration etc.

The venue;

A hall at the local gym is able to accommodate ‘roller-skating’ and because it was a council run sports centre it was really reasonable as in price.  It was £50 for an hour and we had to include the food etc. 40 Children were invited and the children’s party venue was just the right size – not too big and not too small.

Glow necklaces were purchased for each child and as the lights dimmed everyone’s glow sticks started to glow.  They played the standard skating rink games of limbo and the dice game and each winner was given a “prize”. They skated for 1 1/2 hrs and then it was time for cake.

Food:

They had pizza delivered and had a cake. For the cake they made a girl with blond hair and blue eyes out of fondant. It was made sure she had on a pair of skates and an outfit to match what the birthday girl was wearing that day.

At the end the guests got downloaded pictures of the day and on the pictures read ‘Thank you for sharing in my 6th Birthday’.

Ice-skating party

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My daughter’s tenth birthday party was fastly approaching and we needed to plan a children’s birthday party that wouldn’t require too much money. That is when my daughter asked if we would be able to do an ice skating party. Of course, I thought this would be a great idea since it was not our home, so we wouldn’t need to clean up or plan much. So, the next day I called up the local skating rink and they told me I could rent a party room for 3 hours for only £80. This was great!

Then, my daughter and I picked up some nice stationary from a hobby craft shop and wrote all the information down on a piece of it – one for each guest (we invited 12).

The day of the party, we went to the rink early to set up the tables and decorations, and to rent the skates (we had called everyone in advance and asked what shoe size they were). The skates were complimentary with the party room.

An hour later, almost all of the guests had arrived so they got their skates on and met up with one of the rink instructors who would be leading the party. For about an hour, she showed them tricks and they played a variety of skating games.

Later, they were called to lunch where they were given their choice of pizza, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets. We also laid out hot chocolate so they could come back from skating to get some whenever they wanted.

When they finished lunch, they went back to skating and there was disco lights and music playing! They all had great fun and skated to a light show for about 30 minutes, when they got tired and decided to come back in and open gifts. Before they knew it, it was time to go.

They were each given their goodie bags which were supplied by the rink. They were a plastic bag with an ice skate on it, an ice skate keychain, sweets, ice skating pencil, and other traditional party bag treats.

This party was great – they had fun, there was no clean up, it was extremely inexpensive, and it required about 30 minutes of planning!

Children’s Parties on a budget

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Kids parties can be hugely expensive. With growing pressures to keep up with the Jones, kid’s parties can be a big stress if you’re on a budget.

The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to give the kids a good time. In fact, we’d even say the kids will quite possibly have more fun if you don’t!

When it comes to parties, kids love simplicity! They don’t need loads of different things to have a good time. It’s amusing to see, that often the more lavish a party is, the less the children enjoy it. Quite simply because there are too many activities competing for the kids’ attention: a bouncy castle in one corner, entertainer in the other, then a face painter, a mascot thrown in for good measure and why not a popcorn machine? Sounds amazing but it’s too much!

Kids will become frantic and not be able to concentrate on very much for very long and it’s usually a big stress and panic to squeeze it all into the 2 hrs.

The first thing is to decide what you want to do for your kid’s party. Give your child a few options and ask what they think they might like.

  • Themed parties have loads of mileage and give you a lot of room for creativity at very low cost.

  • Costumes- You can have a lot of fun making your kids costume and it will cost you nothing. e.g. a pirate costume -get out the scissors and snip away at an old white shirt and tatty old pair of school shirts/ trousers, and a nice red scarf around the head.

  • Or what about fairy wings cut out from cardboard and covered in pink wrapping paper and sprinkled with a bit of glue and glitter. These give just a few ideas of how to make costumes from very little.

  • Party Invites – if you are computer savvy and have a bit of creative flair you could do your own cool invites on the computer, of just do an Internet search for party invites and download free templates available.

  • Make your own Cake – the sky’s the limit when it comes to cake ideas.

  • Decorations – balloons are very cheap and usually all you need to create a super party atmosphere. Just have lots of them!!! You could also make your own colourful paper chains, or get some reasonably priced party decorations from any online party store.

  • Entertainment – every party needs some sort of entertainment. You could of course do the kids party entertainment yourself but you’d need to be confident you could lead a group of kids through sufficiently fun activities for 2 hours. If you can’t then this is something you might want to budget for. if you are hiring a Children’s entertainer then this is likely to be where most of the cost of your party will go, but you needn’t spend a fortune – if you went for a weekday after school, then entertainers are far more likely to give better deals as weekdays are not as busy as weekends. or a morning slot like 11 am – 1 pm.

  • Food – parents can work tirelessly in the kitchen to create the most amazing party food but you’ll be surprised how little kids can eat at parties so do remember this before buying loads or going to loads of trouble. If you want to keep it cheap and simple, sandwiches and crisps and a few finger foods like sweets and small fruit like strawberries, grapes etc. is perfect. Finger food is always best. But if the creative guru in you can’t resist to try and dazzle and amaze, then you can be super creative and theme your food in so many different ways whilst still sticking to your budget.

  • Party bags often go in the bin or get left lying around the minute kids get home if they’re just cheap toys, so you might want to settle for a piece of cake and a small but decent quality toy.

 

Joint Birthday Parties

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Admittedly, children’s entertainers and children’s magicians can be quite pricy, and that’s only half the cost. With the credit crunch still looming, a great way to save money can be to have a joint children’s birthday party with another parent. That way you don’t lose out on the fun of having a children’s entertainer at half the cost. Aside from the cost benefits, you can also share the organisation and work load that goes with planning a children’s birthday party. That said, does sharing a children’s birthday party with another parent create a headache in itself?

Common problems can be found amongst parents trying to jointly organise kid’s birthday parties, like not being able to decide on what type of party to have. Children’s party entertainers alone can be a tricky thing to decide on. Do you have a themed children’s party or children’s magician, clown, etc.? Kids party entertainers can be one of the trickiest things to decide on when having to liaise with another parent. As your child might want something entirely different to what the other parent’s child wants.

Additionally, many parents can find that they have to compromise more than they bargained for, or workload is not shared out equally, and then after having spent a great deal of time and effort organising most of the children’s birthday party, the parent they’re sharing it with isn’t entirely happy with what has been arranged and in the end you’re left wondering if it would have been better to spend a bit extra and be left to organise your own children’s birthday party.

If you’re planning on sharing a children’s birthday party with another parent, it’s best to do it with someone who has the same ideas as you and who is in the same class as your child so the numbers of children don’t instantly double, otherwise your costs go up and you’re saving is far less.

When organising kid’s birthday parties together, the key thing is to have a clear idea of what you both want right from the start. Have a budget set and decide who is going to do what. Look at different types of children’s party entertainment packages that are on offer.

You’ll also need to figure out who you’re inviting to the party, will it be at home or in a hall, who will organise the food, or if you’re sharing it who will do what. Once you’ve set a clear outline for what you’re going to have and who will do what, that should help prevent there being disagreements along the way.

It can be a great thing for kid’s birthday parties to be organised together. The initial liaising with another parent can definitely be worth the saving, as kid’s birthday parties are not always cheap. Kids party entertainers alone are usually a large part of the cost, so halving that cost can be very helpful. If the workload is shared equally that helps a great deal too. You might also find you can benefit from the expertise of another parent who has organised kid’s parties before. Just make sure you both know if you want similar things before you get too far down the planning stage.

 

Don’t lose sleep

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Children’s party organisation is something that many parents lose sleep over. Where do you find something that will keep your kids busy and engaged for the whole duration of the party, and something that they haven’t already seen before? It’s a challenge most parents would gladly forgo, so Kiddy Zone is here to help. We have access to an eclectic mix of party games, party entertainers and a fund of children’s birthday party ideas that are new and different.

It’s quite challenging thinking up every year of something ‘special’ and different for the right reasons for your child’s/teenagers birthday this is why Kiddy Zone hold the key to taking the stress out of trying to think of something unique.

Why not book some entertainment, where you can hire the best kids party entertainment, for any age group, which can thrill, enthral and astound the audience; from balloon modellers to magicians, street dancers to caricaturists and even green screen photography entertainments, plus a whole series of indoor and outdoor games which include:

Indoor –

  • Dance Machines,

  • Table Football,

  • Air Hockey and Skittles.

  • Bubble and Smoke machines

  • Karaoke

  • Balloon Modellers

  • Face Painters

Outdoor –

  • Funfair Stalls,

  • Giant outdoor games Connect 4, Kerplunk etc.

  • Giant Scalextrics.

  • Bouncy Castles

  • Fairground rides

Make sure you check out the entertainer’s policies so everything runs as smoothly as possible to get the best out of your kids party.

Teenage ideas for Halloween

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Halloween party games for teenagers are super to add to any teen party or even just a family party where teens will be present. Though teenagers can be easily bored, these Halloween games for teens will keep them entertained all night long! Games that require preparation are also fun to plan and think up! If you need a few ideas for Halloween party games for teens, take a look at the list below:

Bob for apples: That’s right—though this classic game may seem childish, it’s actually fun for people of all ages! Just set up a big barrel full of water and apples to challenge your teenagers to see if they can pick the apples up without using their hands!

Costume dance contest: This is a quick and easy way to get everyone on their feet. You can do contests such as the limbo or just award funny prizes for guests’ costumes. Make sure to have prizes on hand!

Murder mystery: This game requires a lot of thought and planning, but it is well worth it! It’s similar to a live action version of clue. For this game, you’ll have to create a story, character list and solution to a murder mystery. Just be sure not to tell any guests about it! Assign everyone at the party a “part” and hide clues around the house. Have them act out the story as they figure out who’s the murderer together!

Halloween night sweet hunt: Plant sweets around the outside of your home. Once it’s dark out, have guests go on a night-time sweet hunt. Give them bags for the sweets and flashlights and split them up into groups of 3-4. See how daring they’ll be on Halloween night!

Halloween Fear Factor: For this game, play a guessing game! Blindfold guests and have them put their hand into a bowl or jar filled with something horrible to the touch. Then have them guess what they just touched. Some ideas include Jelly, peanut butter and crushed biscuits. Award prizes for the people who have the most accurate guesses

Halloween trivia: Before the party, make up Halloween movie, TV show and history trivia cards. During the party, host a trivia session complete with prizes!

These Halloween games are just a few ideas to get your teenagers party started. These ideas are also Halloween party games for tweens too, so feel free to get as many people in the family involved as you can!

Trolls party

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Trolls is the newest animated movie from DreamWorks and it is going to be this season’s biggest hit. The trolls are led by their fearless leader Princess Poppy who believes the world is made of cupcakes and rainbows. Trolls love to dance, sing, and hug so keep that in mind when putting together a Trolls themed children’s party which your kids will love! Grab your karaoke machine and get the Trolls party started!

Invitations

Princess Poppy does love her glitter so add a little hot pink confetti to the invitations. Who doesn’t love confetti in their invitations?

Decorations

Rainbows rainbow rainbows! The movie is bright and colourful so have fun with colour. Mini balloon flowers can be made out of water balloons and attached to the backdrop and the table for added colour and whimsy.

Princess Poppy is pink so the dessert table is a nod to our favourite Troll. A pink plastic skirt was secured to a fabric tablecloth to add a feminine touch. It is also perfect if your tablecloth isn’t quite big enough for your chosen table…no one will ever know.

Food

More rainbows! The dessert table is fit for a troll! Rainbow layered jelly can be prepared the day before and rainbow slushies, made from frozen popsicles, can be prepared several days in advance and left in the freezer. Rainbow fruit cups include (from bottom to top) blueberries, grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, and raspberries. Prepare about two hours before the party. You do want these to be as fresh as possible. Poppy loves cupcakes so rainbow cupcakes were a must!

Activities & favours

 

  • Poppy really loves to scrapbook so creating a scrapbook station would be a great activity. If you have a portable printer you can print pictures on the spot and give each child a picture to remember the day.

 

  • Hair chalking is also a really fun activity and one that the kids can do for each other.

 

  • Pinatas are always fun! If your guests don’t want to hit the piñata you can always choose the pulling string type.

 

A Lion King inspired party

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It’s difficult to watch Disney’s classic movie The Lion King and not fall in love with all the characters and music. If your child can’t stop singing “Hakuna Matata” then it may be time to invite your favourite little animals over for a royal birthday celebration! Below are some ideas for you to pounce on including suggestions for Lion King children’s party invitations, decorations, food, favours and games.

Lion King Party Planning & Invitations

In addition to basic jungle party supplies, like plates, cups, napkins and decorations, you may want to consider purchasing, borrowing or renting the following items for your Lion King party:

  • The Lion King on DVD or Blu-Ray

  • The Lion King music from the movie or Broadway show

  • The Lion King stuffed animals

  • Animal costumes such as our lion headband.

  • A petting zoo

  • An animal shaped pinata

 

If our personalised invitations just aren’t your cup of tea, you can invite your favourite little animals to join your pride for the day with creative handmade invitations! Here are some Lion King invitation ideas you can make yourself or with the help of the kids.

 

  • Record a video of your child singing one of the songs from the Lion King. At the end of the song your child can say “please come to my Lion King party” along with the date and time. Copy the video onto a CD and mail to each guest.

  • Mail each invitation with a small Lion King figure or a CD of songs from the movie.

  • Dress your child in a Simba or Nala costume and take a photo. Upload the photo to your computer to make an invitation by using photo software. On the front of the invitation you can add the words “I Just Can’t Wait to Turn 5!”

    Lion King Party Decorations & Food

Turn your home into a jungle fit for a king with the following Lion King decoration ideas.

  • Play music from the movie or Broadway show quietly in the background to add ambiance.

  • To create a jungle canopy, hang a lot of green, lime green and brown crepe paper streamers from the ceiling.

  • Use silk potted plants and flowers to decorate the floor and table of your Lion King party.

  • Place Lion King figurines and stuffed animals around the room.

  • Draw Simba on brown craft paper to hang around the room. You can use the symbol Rafiki draws on the tree as your example.

 

In addition to pizza, chicken fingers, hamburgers or hotdogs, you can add some Lion King themed children’s party food into the mix. Here are some fun food suggestions that will tame your ravenous lion cubs.

 

  • Hakuna Matata: Turn tater tots into bugs by drawing faces, antennae and little legs on each tot using ketchup.

  • Mini Cheese Steak Subs: Lions love to eat steak but since your cubs aren’t fully grown we suggest serving Steak ‘Ums with cheese on small sub rolls.

  • Banana Pops: Insert a Popsicle stick into the bottom of a halved banana. Pour chocolate syrup over the banana. Roll the chocolate-covered banana in a thin layer of nuts. Freeze before serving.

  • Bug Bowl: Set out bowls and fill each with different gummy insects.

    Lion King Party favours

Thank your guests with roaring party favours! We carry Lion King party favours as well as some general jungle party favours. To find a large variety of jungle party favours, visit our store and click the “Party favours” tab or the “More Fun Stuff” tab. Some of the favours we have include:

 

  • Squirt toys

  • Mini stuffed animals

  • Animal shaped rubber bands

  • Animal wind-up toys

  • Jungle animal stickers and temporary tattoos

  • Fun-shaped candy

 

Barbie Birthday Party Ideas

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Throw your Barbie girl and her friends a dream Barbie birthday party that will have everyone tickled pink. Read on for our suggestions on Barbie party invitations, decorations, favours, games, and more
In addition to basic Barbie party supplies, like plates, cups, napkins and decorations, you may want to consider purchasing, borrowing or renting the following items for your kids party:
Pink feather boas
A moon bounce
A Barbie Dream House and other Barbie accessories
Costumes
Barbie Birthday Invitations
Make invitations using bright pink card and die-cut dress shapes or house shapes.
Print invitations on paper with a pink gingham border.
Print Barbie pictures from the computer or take photos of your child’s Barbie dolls to paste on the invitations. Better yet, take a photo of your child with her favourite Barbie doll.
Sprinkle glitter or stickers in the envelope for an extra special touch.
Ask guests to bring their favourite Barbie dolls and accessories. You may also want to ask the girls to bring dress up clothes and makeup if you’re planning a makeover session.
Barbie Party Decorations
Sprinkle sequins on the table and add pink candles.
Cut flowers out of bright pink construction paper or poster board and hang on the walls.
Brighten up the table with a Barbie centrepiece.
Barbie Party Food
Make sure to decorate in Barbie’s favourite colours – pink and lavender. Use plenty of balloons and streamers in these colours to fit your Barbie party theme!
Place a sign or personalized banner at the entrance of your home saying, “Welcome to Barbie’s Dream House.”
Tie pink ribbons around vases and around other items in the room.
Place Barbie dolls, furniture, cars, and other accessories around the party area.
Hang Barbie posters on the wall.
Sandwiches cut with heart and star cookie cutters
Mini-hot dogs
Pink macaroni and cheese (just add food coloring)
Strawberry yogurts
Strawberry ice cream and cake
Pink lemonade
Cupcakes with pink frosting and sprinkles
Barbie Party Favours
Thank guests for coming to your children’s party by filling small purses or pink lunch boxes with favours like:
Barbie stickers
Pencils
Temporary tattoos
Pink feather boas
Barrettes and other hair accessories

Throw a Pokemon party

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Do your little ones love to follow the adventures of Pikachu and Ash? Maybe they love to watch the TV show, play the video game, or trade the cards? Then throw them a unique party with Pokemon Party Ideas! We have ideas for everything from invitations to activities that will make it as easy as possible to plan the perfect children’s party

Pokemon Party Planning & Invitations

Your first decision will be where to host your Pokemon Party. If you host the party at your own home, you can be a little more creative with decorations, activities, and food that fit your theme. However, many choose to host the party in a different location, such as a restaurant or recreation center. For a Pokemon Party, you may want to base your location on your child’s favourite Pokemon product. If he or she loves the video game, hold the party at an arcade. If your child is more into the movie, attending the movie theatre or renting a projector and watching the movie outdoors might be more fun.

 

Basic party supplies include tableware, such as plates, napkins, cups, and cutlery, as well as a tablecloth, streamers, and balloons. You can stick with the basics, or add other items to fit your theme. For example, for a Pokemon Party, you may also want to consider renting or purchasing the following:

 

  • Pokemon Trading Cards

  • Pokemon DVD, Video Game, or Board Game

  • Pokemon Masks

 

If you have the time to make your own invitations, here are a few ideas to consider:

 

  • Draw your child’s favourite Pokemon character on the front of a side-fold card. If drawing isn’t your strong suit, cut his or her favourite character out of a coloring book and paste it on the front of the card. Write all the party details inside and decorate with Pokemon stickers.

  • Give each guest a Pokemon identity to assume at the party! Let them know who their chosen character is by pasting that image on the front of their invitation. Write “You are invited to [birthday child’s name]’s Pokemon Party… And You Have Been Chosen to Come as [character name]!!” on the inside of the card, along with the rest of the party details. Send your invitations with a name badge and an identifying costume accessory (such as Pikachu’s ears or Ash’s cap) to wear to the party.

  • Cut round circles out of white card and colour half of the circle red to resemble a pokeball. Draw on the details with black and silver marker. In the white space, write the party information. For a different take on this, purchase foam balls at the craft store and colour one half red. Write the party details on the white portion of the ball and hand-deliver to your guests.

    Pokemon Party Favours

Put a smile on your guests’ faces by sending them home with party favours that fit your theme. You could give one large favour, such as a Pokemon DVD or game, a Pokemon backpack, or movie tickets; or combine smaller favours such as wrist bands, sweets, stickers, and Pokemon cards in a nice favour bag.