Tag: organise

Budding archaeologists

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If your child is into ancient History, then maybe an Egyptian party would be just the thing;

You could ask your guests to come dressed as an Egyptian (not only would it be great fun but also very educational)

There could be lots of crafty making (seeing as the Egyptians love to build things) why not have a Pyramid building competition which cardboard recycling could be put to very good use. All you need it glue, glitter pens and the children’s imagination to build an amazing Pyramid!!  

PARTY GAMES & ACTIVITIES;

Mummy wrap game;

Divide the children into 3 teams and had them wrap one person as a mummy. Best wrap in 5 minutes’ win.  You will need lots of toilet tissue, try and buy the more expensive stuff as the cheap tissue will rip easily.

Next game is a scavenger hunt. Divided into teams and gave them hieroglyphic clues which they had to translate. There are a lot of websites that give ways to translate hieroglyphics, but not all of them use the same letter-to-hieroglyphic translations.  Tell the children that archaeologists weren’t always given complete information!

The first clue led them to an archaeological dig site (the sand box). They had to dig up a ring, necklace, gold coins, and their next clue. Use one of the pyramids to give instructions — particularly, one item per person; I wanted everyone to get one of each.

The second clue took them to buckets that they had no idea what was inside.  There were all sorts of horrible feeling things inside for example, Jelly, baked beans and custard and they had to dig deep to get their clues!!

The third clue took them to the Nile River. Planks were laid out in the garden and pretend water was underneath them.  The idea is that they balanced and didn’t fall. At the end of the Nile was a crocodile’s nest. They had to get the eggs from the crocodile’s nest for their next clue. 

Final stop was Tutankhamun’s tomb, for their prize there were sweets and prizes all stuffed into a treasure chest 

KIDS PARTY FOOD;

Sandwiches and crisps were laid out and ice cream scooped into bowls, so just had to bring it out from the freezer.  Oh and of course a Pyramid Cake!!!

A Circus theme or Clown Party idea

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PARTY INVITATIONS;

We used cheap white card and envelope.  Used red cardboard paper to make a big top for the front of card.  Square base and canopied top.  Square base to be glued on sides and bottom, top to be left open to create a pocket for admit ticket. 

PARTY DECORATIONS;

We kept decorations simple.  Used red/white crepe paper to make a canopy (big top) in the kitchen.  Hung paper clown faces (which were homemade) from the ceiling.   Bright tableware was placed around the cakes.  A lion cake and a clown cake were centre of the table.

PARTY GAMES;

We thought it would be nice for the children to have an ‘arty’ party so we put felt tips, glitter, glue etc. around and lots of coloured card paper so they could make their own circus/clown pictures. 

We also had a ‘face painter’ which painted each child’s face, we took a picture and printed each one off before the party ended and stuck it in onto their party bags.

Another children’s party game we played was each child took turns throwing darts at different coloured balloons.  Whatever colour you popped, got to pick from that “colour” toy pile. Each toy was in different coloured bags so the children knew which one they had won from. 

We then had an elephant game where you have to hook a ring around their trunks. Each child puts on an elephant mask and tries to pick up hoops with the end of their nose.  Of course no party is complete without the clown piñata.  

PARTY BAGS;

No party is complete without party bags so we filled them up with candy, crafts, prizes, and cotton candy bags.

 

Ice-skating party ideas

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My daughter is just celebrated her ninth birthday, and we were also moving at the same time so we needed something that wouldn’t require too much children’s birthday party planning, money, and most importantly – a house! 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 were they were given their choice of pizza, hot dog, 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 skated to cool music and 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!

A party for the 4th of July

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Join in the fun and celebrate the United States’ Declaration of Independence with all the fireworks, stars and stripes that go with it for your 4th of July party this year! All you need is an assortment of traditional patriotic foods such as apple pie, hamburgers and ice cream, and a firework-worthy location to create the most magical commemoration of American freedom you and your family have ever experienced. 

4th of July party besides the fireworks is fantastic food. You can start by pledging allegiance to your grill and making some of America’s favourite barbeque foods like hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, steak and chicken. Try adding an Independence Day twist to some of your favourite classics by incorporating an American flag or the colours red, white, and blue in each dish. For example, you can buy some toothpicks with an American flag attached from a party store and stick them in each of your hamburgers.

Your 4th of July party success depends largely on the location of your family gathering, whether it is a cosy barbeque or fun picnic for the kids and all the family.

Since this sunny holiday takes place in the summer, it is wise to select a party location where you and your patriots can enjoy the beautiful weather and even a firework show after the sun sets. If you aren’t willing to host your 4th of July bash in your garden, try staking out a spot at the beach or the park where you can best enjoy the sunny weather. Although many cities do not allow fireworks to be set off to avoid accidental fires, there is always the option of driving the family over to a park where fireworks are not prohibited. And don’t forget to be safe and bring a bucket and some water to ensure that all the fireworks are properly extinguished.

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.

Hire a Limo for a teen party

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The birthday diary of a teenage girl….

Three girls, 2 boys. We got picked up on a Friday night in a Limo supplied from my dad. We all rode around for a half hour making lots of memories by taking pictures. After that we rode to our favourite place to hang out a big shopping centre complete with restaurants, movie theatre, and tons of shops.

We went to dinner at TGI Fridays We enjoyed the 50’s feel of the restaurant.

We had burgers, fries, and milkshakes. At 6 o’clock the waiters and waitresses all danced to the song “stayin alive” We all enjoyed and started singing along. After this we all went to the mall. We all shopped and hung out at the mall. This is where they used their money.

Then after this we went and caught a movie. We all laughed through the movie. After this we went outside to and ice-cream parlour where we had ice cream and I opened presents. I also handed out the gift bags.

For the boys they had sweets and these really cool sport pens. I had trouble finding things so I also gave them these cool posters of skateboarders and skate board keychains. For my girlfriends, they all got sweets, lip gloss, nail polish, eyeshadow, keychains, a bracelet, a necklace, and I bought us all matching shirts that said “Best friends”.

After the boy’s parents arrived my Mum took my 3 friends and I home to sleep over. When we got home we talked, read magazines, did each other’s make up and painted each other’s nails. Each girl used the stuff provided in her gift bag to do her makeup and nails. I bought them in special colours for each girl.

I had the best teenage Birthday ever and my Mum and Dad are just brilliant at organising and they also gave me my privacy.”

A teenage beach party

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It’s tricky when the children reach their teens, you want them to have a teenager birthday party but they are not too keen on grownups being there.  If you live by a beach and your teenager’s birthday party is in the Summer, weather permitting too, it would be great fun to organise a beach party for your little grown up.  Here is an account of one such beach party which you will see he really enjoyed:

“For my 14th birthday, I had the most AMAZING party! I invited 14 people, 7 girls and 7 boys. Everyone met at my house on the morning of the party around 10:30am. At 11am, a limo came and picked us up and drove us to the nearest beach, which was about half an hour away. We blasted the music in the limo and took a load of pictures from our smart phones. We had a lot of fun. We arrived at the beach around 12:15. We rented a room for the day at the coolest little hotel opposite the beach. The hotel had a pool, lounger chairs, tables and a refrigerator in the room to keep drinks and stuff in.

When we got there, we had lunch. We got burgers and chips. We also had sweets, cookies and stuff to munch on. My mum and dad set up our spot where my mates could sit and chill on the beach. By our wind breakers we had plenty of towels, drinks, and sunscreen.

After we ate lunch and changed into our bathing suits in the room, some people from a surf team came and taught us how to surf! We had 6 boards and 3 instructors and everyone took turns. When they went surfing, we were playing in the ocean or tanning. After the surf pros left we all played in the sea some more and had a huge sand fight! After that Everyone got into teams of 2-4 people and we had a sand castle building contest. 

 We had just the most amazing day and it was so cool!! My mates talk about my birthday all the time and I am pretty chuffed that my Mum and Dad arranged all of this, they are the best parents EVER!!”

Throw a World Cup Football Party

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With the World Cup just around the corner, we’ve all been given the excuse to don our England shirts once again, gather around the TV in the middle of the day and wait with baited breath to see if this could finally be our year?

However, what about the little ones in your life? The World Cup is a great opportunity to throw a fun, football-themed party for your kids and their friends. It’s also a handy opportunity to get them thinking about different cultures, as well as potentially getting them into a new sport.

Here are our tips for throwing a World Cup party this summer.

Setting the Date

It just wouldn’t be right to throw a football party without watching a football game. You can find all of the England team’s upcoming fixtures throughout the Cup on the Web.

Fancy Dress

Get all of the children to come as a famous footballer – past or present – from a different competing country. You can find out all the nation’s taking part and you can buy replica kits from most sports shops or online, or the kids can get crafty and put together their own.

Invitations

Making your own invitations is a great way to put in that little bit of extra effort. You can also use the invites as the big reveal, to let the kids know which nation’s kit they’ll be dressing up in.

Write the names of all of the competing nations onto bits of paper and place them in a hat. Get your child to help you randomly pull out a piece of paper for each guest who will be attending. You can then theme each invite based on which team they will need to be dressed up as – decorating them with the specific nation’s flag is a great idea. 

Decorations

When it comes to decorations, flags are the obvious way to go. In the spirit of embracing different cultures, don’t just stick with the England flag. Cover the children’s party venue in flags from all of the competing nations, for a colourful display.

You can also get themed table-ware such as a goal table setting.

Food

The food is where you can really start to get adventurous – and get the kids to try something new as well! Get busy in the kitchen and make a variety of dishes from competing nations. Here are some great ideas:

England

Fish and chips is the go-to-dish and is guaranteed to go down well with any fussier kids. For an easy option you can try fish fingers.

France

Great French dishes to serve include a yummy Provencal omelette cake (great for vegetarians too!) and French Toast.

Spain

Try serving some tapas dishes to bring some Spanish flavour to your party. Simple dishes such as potato chunks and salsa tortillas are usually safe bets. Italy

If you’re looking for child-friendly party dishes from around the world, you’d be silly to leave Italy off the list. Make some large pasta dishes such as lasagne for everyone to tuck into and try your hand at some home-made pizza.

Children’s Party Activities

Five-a-Side Football

The most obvious activity – if it’s not chucking it down – is five-a-side football. Split the kids into teams, set up two goals and let them burn off some energy!

Football Relay Course

Buy some cones online and set up a relay course. Split the kids into teams – the first team to have every member dribble a ball around the cones and back wins.

Penalty Shoot Out

Split the kids into teams and put an adult in goal. Each child gets two attempts to score a goal – the team that achieves the most goals wins.

Guess the Flag

Turn the decorations into a fun learning activity and get the kids to guess which country each flag represents.

Hand out prizes to the winners.

Party Bags

Handing out themed party bags at the end of the event is a great way to thank everyone for coming and make sure they have a reminder of the day. 

The World Cup is a great excuse to throw your kids and their friends a party they’ll love – plus you can use it as an opportunity to get them learning about different cultures and trying something new!

Party games for children 2 – 3 years

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Air Balloon (3 upwards)

This is more of a time filler than a game with a winner and is enjoyed by everybody because it doesn’t matter how good or bad you are! It’s a good way to start a party whilst you are waiting for everybody to arrive. Before the kids party, insert a small, light-weight gift such as a Stretchy Smiley Men into the opening of a balloon before inflating it. Then, blow air into the balloon and repeat until you have a balloon for each guest. The children have to try keeping the balloon in the air for as long as they can just be using their head. Once given the go ahead they can enjoy bursting the balloon and retrieving their prize!

Pass the Parcel (3 upwards)

Before the party wrap a gift into a layer of paper. Now wrap it in another layer and repeat until you have the same number of layers as you do guests. (If you have more than about 15 guests it’s more fun for your guests if you play the game with 2 parcels). Seat everyone in a circle and play some music for a short time. When the music stops, the person holding the parcel removes ONE layer of wrapping. (Have a bin bag ready so you can keep tidy from the start!) Repeat until the last layer of wrapping has been removed. The winner keeps the present.  Three variations include:

1. Putting a forfeit in each layer e.g. name 2 animals beginning with p, count from 20 backwards, kiss somebody wearing blue….

2. Putting a gift in each layer. Have a look at our really special made up pass the parcels which save you a huge amount of time and inspiration. If you make up your own, choose fairly small gifts to stop the parcel becoming unmanageable and you might like to follow your party theme if you have one. 

3. Cinderella Pass the Parcel – another special pass the parcel but more of an effort for you. You need a pair of Cinderella type dressing up slippers and as man y girly gifts as you have guests. First, wrap one slipper with a girly gift. Repeat wrapping individual layers and tuck a girly gift in each layer. About halfway through the number of layers you choose to use, insert the other slipper and a girly gift, and keep wrapping. Play the game in the normal way. Continue until the first slipper is unwrapped. Then, reverse the passing order until the second slipper is uncovered. The 2 girls holding the slippers then ball room dance around the circle, wearing one slipper each.

Animals (2 upwards)

This is game is fun for small children who are naturally intrigued by animals and can’t cope with the intricacies of a more complicated game. Have a selection of animal masks or small wild animals– the same number as you have guests. Hold one up, one at a time. Ask all the children to imitate the animal. Continue, changing the animal just as soon as you feel the time is right! At the end of the game, give a mask or animal to each child. This could be a good ‘going’ home game if you’re brave enough not to hand our party bags!

Sleeping Lions (3 and upwards)

Surprisingly loved by a huge age range, this is a great ‘calming down’ game before handing your guests back to their parents. Ask the children to ‘sleep’ on the floor like a sleeping lion. The moment anybody moves they are ‘out’. In reality, you can ignore the odd twitch and your guests can stay ‘sleeping’ until somebody comes to collect them! You will look marvellously in control and the children will have calmed down into a contented and peaceful state.

Teenage Party Ideas

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Ask any parent what the trickiest age for kids is and they’ll often reply ‘teenager’. Not quite grown-up, not quite children, throwing a party for your early teens or tweenagers, (as 10-12 year olds are sometimes known), can be tricky.

The important thing is to get the balance right between a children’s party and something a little more grown-up. Here are our tips to help you get it right.

Themes

Rock Star Party

A rock star themed party is a great way to bridge the gap between child and teenager. Ask the kids to come dressed as their favourite diva or guitar hero, or alternatively, a glam rock theme can be a big hit.

Essential Activities

Air guitar competitions and karaoke, of course.

Party Bags

Any self-respecting rock star has an impressive array of tattoos.

Spa Party

For many (not all) girls, it’s their tweenage or early teenage years when they first develop an interest in fashion and beauty. If this is something your child is interested in, a spa party could be the ideal theme.

Create a calm, clean and relaxing environment, with plenty of towels, seating, easy access to a bathroom and different ‘stations’ for activities. You could also play relaxing music and provide healthy snacks, such as fruit smoothies.

Essential Activities

Facemasks with cucumber slices for the eyes, foot spas, manicures and makeovers.

Party Bags

Fill your spa party pack with lots of girly pampering products, face masks, lip balm or bath bombes.

Cinema Party

What could be better than a party including all of your favourite films? Get all of the children invited to suggest an age-appropriate film, and then vote on the ones they want to watch. All you need to do is provide a comfy seating area and plenty of cinema-themed snacks, such as popcorn, hot dogs, nachos and mixed sweets.

Activities

Film watching! You could also play a movie trivia quiz and movie-themed Pictionary.

Pizza Party

The great thing about teenagers and tweens is that they’ve reached an age where they can do more complex activities – still under supervision, of course. Throwing a pizza party is great fun and it results in lots of yummy home-made snacks.

Get the guests to form teams and design their fantasy pizza, using any toppings they like. Once all the pizzas are cooked, get everyone to try each other’s – whichever team’s pizza is voted the most delicious, wins.

Activities

A pizza making competition! You could also put together a quiz on Italy – the homeland of the pizza, or try blindfold pizza tasting to see who can guess the toppings.

General Tips

– Give them some space – early teens and tweens are at an age where they’re going to want some privacy when they spend time with their friends. Make sure you’re nearby and available if there’s a problem, and pop in every now and again to make sure things are OK.

– Don’t treat them like children – OK, so they’re not grown-ups and still require a certain level of supervision, but suggesting children’s games such as musical statues probably isn’t going to go down well.

– Get an extra pair of eyes – monitoring a teen/tween party without making them feel babied is a balancing act. Make sure you have someone to help you – if you know a trustworthy older teen, they could be a great asset.

With the right theme and some tactful supervision, you can get the balance right at your teen/tween party.