Category: Parties

Pony party ideas

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Your child’s birthday is just around the corner, or maybe you’re in charge of throwing an amazing school summer holiday party, but you’re not sure where to start. Why not have a Pony Party? Now, you’re probably thinking that this sounds complicated? But be assured It isn’t complicated.  So we have put together 4 essentials for any Pony Party to be a great success:

1. Ponies

You can’t have a pony party without the ponies! There are many organisations who will provide the ponies, trainers, and all the other bits for you! All you have to do is contact them, set up a date, and let them do the rest. Now, how easy is that?

2. Crafts

Of course all children like to draw, colour, and make their own arts and crafts. Setting up a craft table is a great way to keep the children busy when it’s not their turn to ride! Plus, with the right crafts, it’s easy to tie in your children’s party theme. How about getting some recycling bits of cardboard boxes and toilet rolls etc., as well as paint and googly eyes and get your guests to make a pony. Each child makes their own pony and at the end of the party the best one wins a prize. Don’t forget to give everybody a little token for taking part though!

3. Costumes

What would a Pony Party be without cowboy/cowgirl costumes? Get some fancy dress for the children while they ride! Hire a Photographer to capture the priceless sights!

4. Food

The children will have worked up an appetite after all that running around. Time to feed them! Here are a few simple treats. Keep with the pony theme by slicing up apples and carrots, and serve some mini shredded wheats (hay) set them out on a picnic table. But what would a children’s birthday party or any party be without sweet things? Ask your cake decorator to help you keep the theme with a cake or cupcakes!

Follow those directions and your Pony Party should be fun, easy, and totally memorable!

Hold a Minions party

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Despicable Me is a great film for any age, and the Minions were cute little helpers with a limited vocabulary, but they are ever so cute, that’s why kids love them (and adults)

However, if you’ve never heard of these ‘Minions’, the only thing that you really need to know is that kids love them. And if you’re planning kids a party, ‘Minions’ is guaranteed to be a popular theme. Here are some great ideas.

You’ll sure to find Minion merchandise in all the shops at the moment for you to copy:

Minion Food

When it comes to party food, you can really get creative with a Minions theme. Some great ideas include:

Minion Birthday Cake

Simply cover a sponge cake in white icing and then mould the Minion figures and shapes from coloured fondant.

If you’re not a confident baker, this single Minion birthday cake is the perfect choice. Simply coat the cake base in coloured frosting before decorating with black piped icing and fondant.

Minion Decorations

Minion decorations are all about the colour scheme. A great example is:

Blue, White and Yellow Table Decorations.  A blue table covering and yellow, white and blue tableware is the easiest way to get the look. On a side note, we also love this blue and yellow popcorn idea!

Minion Games

No party is complete without some fun games and activities – don’t forget to hand out prizes.

Stick the Goggles on the Minion;

A twist on the classic ‘stick the tail on the donkey’, ‘stick the goggles on the Minion’ is guaranteed to be lots of fun. First, draw a Minion on a large piece of paper (minus the goggles, of course!) and then draw some goggles on a piece of card and cut them out. Place some double sided tape on the back of the goggles, blindfold each child in turn and see if they can guess where to stick the goggles on the Minion!

Minion Fancy Dress

Fancy dress is always a popular party activity and Minion fancy dress is a great opportunity to get creative. The simplest outfits only require a long sleeved yellow top and dungarees. However, if you want to go all out, making goggles and decorating yellow hats will be lots of fun.

A Minion party theme is guaranteed to be popular with the kids – plus you can have lots of fun creating the food décor and activities.

A Princess party

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When your little princess has asked for a princess party, you have only got to give them the best. The colours you may decide on could be pastel palette of pale pink, icy blue, yellow and lilac, and you could use a princess silhouette and our custom patterns throughout your whole party.

When guests arrive, they can be greeted with two princess towers made out of balloons flanking the front door. A horse-drawn carriage will be the ultimate surprise and give the children rides around the venue. These ideas will create such a magical experience for the children and your beautiful princess will love every minute of it.

Rose centrepieces can be put on tables and your guests can be invited into the “Fairy Godmother’s Dress Shop” where dress-up clothes, magic wands, jewels, crowns & tiaras, can be worn.

The princess’s table can be decorated with a striped table runner with the princess silhouette on each end, white chairs can be accessorized with colourful stars, and a centrepiece that can be magical: dense rose vases (wrapped in gold glitter paper. Milk bottles can be dressed up with glitter, and each place-setting says “make-your-own-necklace” kit on our cellophane bags with custom bows.

Guests can be treated to a delicious lunch buffet, set up in the dining room.  Decor can include a large princess silhouette cling on the mirror, large rose centrepieces in white vases.

The dessert table will steal the show!  The table can be draped in pink satin, and flanked by two oversized pink balloons with hanging tassels.  The custom fabric backdrop featured our pastel star pattern with your little princess’s name on with a glittered crown. A princess cake will take centre stage, with candy necklaces and bracelets, colourful cup cakes, cookies, and various sweets.

Helping your children with social skills

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Strong friendships are also important for their self-esteem and sense of belonging. Here are some ways you can support them in this area.

Help your child to discover his strengths and interests to help him choose the right place for him to learn social skills. Whatever your child enjoys, it is likely there are opportunities to teach social skills in your community and for him to join with others. For social skills teaching ideas, contact community resources such as the local library, church youth group, or other clubs or community parks.

Your child will benefit from social skills teaching inherent in social interaction outside the school setting. With your encouragement, even reluctant and shy children can be taught social skills through interaction with others through activities. Many relationships he builds will flow naturally back into the school environment.

Teach social skills by rehearsing social situations ahead of time. Role play meeting a new person with each other. Take turns being the greeter and “greetee.” Teach your child the art of getting others to talk about themselves. Help him see that by doing this, he can learn about his peers and find common interests. Kids can use friendly and polite questions to encourage kids to talk and break the ice. Focusing on others will also help your child feel less self-conscious. Help your child learn how to choose good friends to develop healthy relationships.

Teach your child social skills needed to make friends by helping him learn and practice children’s games and activities at home that are popular at school. Aside from being a good way to practice skills such as reading, counting, and fitness, learning these games will help your child participate in them with other children

Create a circle of friends by encouraging playtime with a few neighborhood children. Invest in some quality time and snacks, and you’ll grow friendships that may stay with your child throughout high school, maybe even for life. Friends from the same class at school can provide important social and emotional support.

How to deal with Hayfever

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When the summer sun is high in the sky, we all feel better and have more energy.  That is, of course, unless you are one of those unfortunate people for whom summer means just one thing – hayfever.  For kids, it can be even worse as all they want to do is play outside and enjoy the warm weather but their own bodies work against them.  So what can be done to help children with hay fever during a children’s party?

Symptoms

Hayfever typically started when kids are around seven years old and is worst from this age until they are in their teens.  Others retain the sensitivity into their adult years.  The symptoms are familiar to all of us, whether as suffers ourselves or seeing someone who is – sore and itchy eyes and a runny nose, sometimes the eyes, as well as lots of sneezing.  Nose bleeds are a common symptom as the lining of the nose is scratched and rubbed.

Hayfever season can start as early as March and finish as late as October and the symptoms are easy to confuse with a virus – the main way to tell the different is the length of time involved.  Normally a virus will last a week or two but if symptoms continue longer than this, it is more likely that the child is suffering from hayfever.

Around two thirds of sufferers of hayfever also experience problems sleeping due to the condition.  Nicknamed ‘insneezia’ this is the symptoms normally experienced during the day breaking up sleep on a night as the allergens settle in the cooling air. This can range from itchy eyes and a blocked nose to waking up sneezing.

Diagnosing

Having the hayfever diagnosed by your doctor is an important step to dealing with the condition.  This is primarily in case the cause of the condition isn’t hayfever but an allergy to something else the child is encountering.

It is also important to find out whether the child has the seasonal or perennial type of the condition.  This is because there are some other nasty symptoms that can accompany the perennial version that need to be watched out for.  These include sinusitis, where the cavities within the skull fill with fluid and cause pain and infection.  Younger kids can also get glue ear from this that can result in temporary hearing loss.

Usually, diagnosis by a doctor will involve a few tests such as an examination of the nose to see what is causing the allergy and if hayfever is to blame.  On occasions, an in-depth examination may be needed.

Triggers

The most common trigger of hayfever is allergens from grass, trees and plants.  This seems to effect kids while at school, due to the proximity to school fields.  Some sufferers are affected by a certain type of pollen and have a ‘season’ during which they suffer.  Others can be sensitive to a range of allergens and therefore have the symptoms during the entire year.

People with an allergy to tree pollen such as birch trees tend to find their conditions are worst in the spring while those allergic to grass pollens are worst in the summer.  Others can be effected by moulds, which result in symptoms all year around.

Treatment

Treatment for hayfever is crucial for kids to be able to make the most of spring and summer and minimalize their suffering from the allergens. If left untreated, it can even lead to other serious conditions such as asthma and could lead to the child being afraid to go outside due to the discomfort they experience

Treatment starts with medication.  These include nasal steroid sprays and drops that treat the inflammation caused by the condition without absorbing very much of the drug into the system.  Eye drops are also an important part of treating kids with hayfever.  It is best to administered these when kids are lying down, adding a drop to each eye and letting the blink reflex do the rest.

Of the medication normally given, antihistamines are the most well-known and can be bought from shops and pharmacies without prescription.  Some can make users drowsy but most will state on the packaging if they are non-drowsy.  There is tablet form but also liquids or syrups for younger kids and a pharmacist can offer their advice if you are unsure which type is right for your child.

Advice for preventing symptoms

Over the years, hayfever sufferers have tried all sorts of ways to ease the symptoms of the condition and some have proven to be quite effective.  These include staying indoors until after noon where possible to reduce the exposure to the allergen and wearing sunglasses to help protect the eyes.  Many people avoid going outside when grass is being cut, particularly in their own garden and avoiding being outside on windy days or in the aftermath of a thunderstorm when there is a higher amount of allergens in the air.  When your kids come home, consider either bathing their eyes with a wet washer or even having a shower to clear away any pollen that may have adhered to them while travelling home.

Some families have planted low allergen plants in their gardens while others have found and removed any plants that their child is particularly sensitive to.  Keep the windows closed in their bedroom and when driving in the car and use re-circulating options on the air conditioning to stop the allergen getting into the car in the first place. Parents have also found that hanging clothes up to dry in the house stops pollen from collecting on them to then be worn or put on the bed of a hayfever sufferer.

Outdoor party ideas for children

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1. Kids Olympics Party

Cabin fever may be setting in after all the April showers and being stuck in school, so get the kids outside and burn off some energy! Tap into their competitive side and set up a Kids Olympics party! “Active” is the name of the game with this theme. Discus throws (using Frisbees), obstacle courses, balance beams, or hula hoop contests are great choices for a children’s Olympics Party. You can also encourage teamwork with relay races or a team sport like whiffle ball or kickball. At the end of the party, give away small prizes or even have a medal ceremony to bring the festivities to a close!

2. Sensory Party

Younger children are always curious about the world around them. Why not embrace it and host a Sensory Party? Tell your guests to wear some “play clothes” or provide souvenir T-shirts. Then, prepare to get messy! Set up stations that help kids explore all five senses. For example, a sand creation table will let kids make art out of brightly-coloured sand. It also helps them use their visual creativity to make something unique! Auditory stations can include simple instruments like drums or recorders. Since it’s outside, the sound won’t drive you as crazy! Or, make some Rainbow Foam for a tactile station. It’s easy to make and allows children to get messy while exploring a fun texture.  Just remember, the messier the better for your outdoor kid’s party ideas!

 3. Just Add Water Party

Looking for a way to cool off in the summer heat? Just add water! Have your guests bring their swimsuits, towels, and sunscreen for a day of fun in the sun. Activities like Slip n’ Slides or sprinklers are easy ways to add a little H2O to your outdoor party. 

4. Animal Party

While we’re all fans of furry creatures, sometimes the thought of having them inside is a little daunting. That’s why animals are the perfect addition to an outdoor party! Does your child dream of riding a pony or holding a hedgehog? An animal party can deliver! Most petting zoos or pony parties only need a small amount of space outside, like your garden. Reptile shows are great for Jurassic Park or jungle-themed parties. The animals are usually enough to hold the kids’ attention, but animal games can be a just as fun! 

Musical Chairs. Each time the music stops and a child is out, designate them as “it” and let them choose their favourite animal. If they say “horse,” the remaining kids can gallop around the circle of chairs until the music stops. Kids love animals, so this party should be a hit!

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5. Outdoor Movie Night Party 

Bring the movies to your garden! Your kids and their friends of all ages will love being able to pile onto blankets in the grass and watch a family-friendly film. Rent your own outdoor movie screen or make your own by stringing up a white painter’s canvas. Most rented screens come with a projector, or you can buy a decent one for around £100. Not a bad investment if you plan to use it a few times throughout the summer! Set up a movie snack bar with popcorn and classic sweet choices. Set up tin buckets filled with ice and bottled pop to bring out the nostalgic vibe. Outdoor kids party ideas don’t have to be complicated; sometimes it’s just about spending time together

Skateboard Party

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This was done for a 9-year-old boy’s birthday who was made about skateboards. There were girls and boys.  The theme was Skateboard Olympics. 

Invite: 

Cut-outs of skateboards telling them to skate on over to “name” 9th Birthday bash! I asked them to bring their skateboards or rollerblades and safety equipment. As each child arrived they got a large # for the back of their shirt and a score card that listed all the activities that they were going to be judged on. 

Games: 

There was a ramp and as they were called they got 2 chanced to freestyle on the ramp, a few of the guests were chosen as judges and they held up large numbers, their scores were wrote on their score cards, etc.  

The 2nd was a bean bag toss on the skateboards, the buckets had points on them and they got 2 chances to make it in to the bucket of their choice, the scores were put on their cards, 

3rd activity was skateboard limbo, the each time the stick dropped they got 5 points, their totals were put on the score cards, 

4th was Skateboard trick, again we used the judges and score cards. After all of that was done they were totalled them up while they were hitting the skateboard piñata.  

They played balloon pop (kids used their heads and a needle) they picked a balloon 1-20 and that’s the one they had to pop. The balloons were filled with, water, flour, confetti, skateboard cut-outs that had on the back what they won, etc. It was a lot of fun! 

A skateboard shaped cake and sub sandwiches. After the gifts and cake was done they had all of the kids sit in a circle so they could have an award ceremony and pictures. The birthday boy gave award & prizes out as their names were called, and they took their picture with the Birthday boy.

Prizes:

Computer made certificates, ribbons, mini trophies, skate board keychains, ramps, grab bags, etc. at the end of the award ceremony the Birthday boy tossed confetti on everyone it was great.

Mad about Mario

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This particular boy loves Nintendo, especially Mario, so for his 9th birthday party he had a Mario themed Birthday party.   

Mario desktop wallpaper on Nintendo’s website which was used to make invitations. On the front with the picture it said It’s a Mario Party and Josh is turning 9 won’t you join us and have a good time?”. On the back was a map to out place as well as all the party info. 

It was an outdoor party so for decorations there hung blue plastic tablecloths along the fence and placed cut-outs of Mario goombahs coin blocks and hills that was drawn on poster board. 

Music was downloaded from the games which was copied to CD and was played in the background. When the children arrived they were given a fake moustache. They were also given red visors with the letter M painted on it (like Mario’s hat) which was really handy since it was so sunny outside.  

After all the children had arrived they played a balloon pop game. There were also stuck gold plastic coins or pictures of goombas and other villains in balloons and inflated them. The children had so much fun popping the balloons! The children with the most coins won a little Mario toy that was bought.

The next game was Mario Party musical “chairs”. Instead of chairs they put a picture of each character on a piece of construction paper and put them on the ground in a circle. 

Next the children decorated their own Mario sun catchers. There was a piece of masking tape on the back that could write each children name on so we could tell them apart when the paint dried.   

For the cake it was covered on a sheet cake in green icing and put a Mario figurine on top. To make it look like a scene from the game then added mini marshmallows for clouds mini chocolate bars for blocks a gummy mushroom and premade cake letters that said “Joshua 009” like the score keeper on the game. 

After cake the gifts were opened and the children got to take turns playing Mario Party 5 on two of the GameCube’s or Super Mario Brothers on the NES that was set up around the house.  

Horror Movie Party

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This is quite simple and inexpensive, the only thing you parents have to do is put up with the screams of some of the kids, and definitely DON’T turn the lights on!!

This teenager was struggling for a great idea for her 14th birthday party, and she was looking at all the themed parties, but she wanted it to be a little bit different; so she decided to use the Blair witch project as the theme.  

We know what you’re thinking, and that’s why Blair witch? Well if your teenager is into creepy thriller movies then it’s great to base the party around that.  

So anyway to have this party you will need a big tent to sleep in to create the mood of the film, you can invite as many people as you want depending on the size of the tent.  

Now you have to decorate it with creepy things, which were in the movie such as; the doll made from sticks, the stones and all the other weird decorations you can think of.  

You can also ask your mates to come dressed as a character from their favourite horror film or even from Blair witch.  

Now lastly the movies and food; you can order in pizza or have party food the choice is yours, and don’t forget the popcorn for the movies.  

Now pick your horror movies and the scene has been set.   

The girl hasn’t had her party yet but we are sure it will be great and her mates will think so too, and if you decide to go with this party theme, you will never forget this party.

Night club disco theme

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13 is a big birthday (welcome to the teen years!) and this girl wanted to do something really fun to celebrate it! This teenage party theme is definitely not only for 13 yr. olds. It can be adapted for any age group! This party is just going to be between me and eight of my girlfriends. That way we can just be crazy and laugh and just hang out without having to worry about impressing any boys.

INVITATIONS: I’m just going to e-mail my friends their invitations.

ACTIVITIES: My friends are going to show up at my house, eat dinner (pizza), have snacks (crisps, peanuts etc.) and drink some coke or lemonade and stuff like that. Then we’ll eat cake and open presents.

After that, my family is going to drive my friends to the local cinema to go see a movie. Once the movie is over, we’ll come back to my house, and just party! They will stay overnight and leave at 10:30 the next morning.

DECORATIONS: When my friends first arrive at my house, the furniture will be rearranged a little bit. Because my dad plays in a band, he owns lots of stage lights that will be set up. Those will be the only things up. However, while my friends and I are at the movie, my family will be hard at work turning my house into Club 13″.

Once my friends arrive back at my house there will be glow-sticks hanging from the ceiling the room will be dark and the stage lights will be flashing! There will be some Christmas lights lining the room too. I’m going to borrow a huge disco ball from a friend as well as a couple little ones and hang them from the ceiling. I will also borrow a fog machine from my dad’s friend and use that just to add something really cool. I want a strobe light really badly so we’re going to look and see if we can rent one!

GAMES: There won’t be too many games available but we will be doing karaoke. When things start to wind down we can play low-key games.

Party Bags. my party bags will be filled with sweets and snacks that the girls can take with them to the movie. Rather than buying expensive popcorn at the theatre I’ll fill some bags up with a bag of popcorn some sweets some little chocolate bars and a bag of crisps. The girls will also get the choice of a can of coke or a water bottle to take with them. That way they can really enjoy their party bags and my family won’t have to break the bank! I hope that my party turns out really well and I also hope that I inspired you for your next party!!!”