Play Doh Party - All Ages

This was the party we did for my son who just turned 3 years old. This was such a fun party to plan. This party can be for a boy or a girl - and for all ages. This is a good one to have when you invite the whole family. Even adults like to play with Play-Doh.

INVITATIONS: I made invitations with all the party info on scrapbook max and handed them out with little mini playdohs. I got them at the dollar store (an 8 pack for $1 - awesome deal.) I printed a little label that said, "Please come to my party! It also had the playdoh logo printed on it.

PARTY FAVORS: I wanted to so something different for the goody bags. I wanted to make cans that looked like the playdoh tubs. My son is on a special infant formula and I had been saving the cans, so we had a lot and they worked out perfect. My husband spray painted the cans yellow, and the lids red, blue, and green. Use whatever colors you want or something you already have to save money. I printed the playdoh logo, cut them out, and spray glued them onto the cans. They turned out exactly like I wanted. I filled them with candy and more mini playdohs. I used the ones from the dollar store as well as some I got on clearance after Halloween. Halloween Candy on clearance is a great way to fill goody bags and pinatas!

DECORATIONS: We used red, yellow, and blue helium balloons and put them up all around the house. Everything we used for the party was also put up to decorate with - treat cans, tubs of playdoh, balloons for the games. You can use any bright colors to decorate with!

GAMES AND ACTIVITIES:
1.  Play doh Cookies: The first thing we did when all the guests arrived was to make playdoh cookies. The day before I made playdoh sugar cookie dough. I doubled the batch, divided it into 4 parts and used Wilton frosting dye - red, blue, yellow, and green-to dye the dough. It was very bright and looked exactly like play doh. We let the kids make there own cookie creations. We baked them while they started the next activity. Here's the recipe I used:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Play-Dough-Cookies/

2. Play doh Free Play: I purchased several packs of playdoh, which is relatively expensive. Next we let the kids choose some playdoh and just play with it - creating whatever they wanted to. I had lots of cookie cutters and other play doh tools for them to use. I also made each child there very own rolling pin.

ROLLING PINS: We bought 1" PVC pipe - Only $3 for 12 feet at Home Depot. We cut it into 6" pieces and painted them orange, blue, and green. I used tole paint- because I had it, but it might be easier to use spray paint, because they took several coats. We bought 1" wooden dowels, painted them yellow with tole paint and cut them into 2" pieces. We glued them into the PVC pipe, using clear PVC pipe glue. They turned out so cute. The kids got to take them home.

3. Competition Play Doh: We wrote different things on scraps of paper, like ice cream cone, Christmas tree, telephone, etc. and put them in a bowl. We had the kids draw out a piece of paper and then gave them 10 minutes to complete what was on that paper. We then judged them and gave out prizes. Everyone got a prize and we had little medals (6 for $1 from the dollar store) for the top 5 winners. The kids were so creative.

4. Balloon Freeze Dance: We had blown up several different size, different colored balloons and spread them all over the the living room floor. We played music. The kids got to dance in the balloons until the music stopped, then they were suppose to grab one balloon and freeze. I called out a color and whoever was holding that balloon color won a prize. We did this until everyone had a prize.

CAKE AND PRESENTS: We didn't do a cake. Instead we made funfetti cookies, frosted them, and put 2 together to make an oreo-like cookie. We served it with punch. Then the kids opened presents. Each kid went home with their play-doh can of goodies, rolling pin, and their Play-doh Cookies.

The was a really easy, but totally fun party. We had kids ages 2-13 and they all had a blast. 

Have fun creating at your play-doh party!

Thanks! 

Momma! 

My Party Ideas are Winners!!!

I am excited to say that my Star Wars Party idea was awarded

 Runner-up for October 2011

at birthdaypartyideas.com. Who-Hoo!

Previously my Zhu Zhu Pet Party got an honorable mention and my

1st Harry Potter got a special mention.

Have fun partying!

Lego Party

This party was for my oldest son's 9th birthday. We had about 30 kids come, including 5 preschool kids. (We used large building blocks for the little kids, rather than the small legos, and they participated in all games using these large blocks.)

INVITATIONS: I made the invitations on scrapbook max.

DECORATIONS: I cut large rectangles and smaller ones from bright colored cardstock. My mom used a die cut machine to cut several 1" circles from the same colored cardstock. I cut small square foam pieces and hot glued them onto the circles, and then glued the circles onto the rectangles to make them look like legos.  The foam pieces made the circle pop out. I used a hole punch and tied a piece of curling ribbon onto the lego piece and hung them from the ceilings. I also printed several lego logos and lego heads and hung them as well. They turned out so cute.

Because we had about 30 kids, we put them into groups. We let them draw for groups – there were Team Red, Team Blue, Team Green, Team Yellow. They each got their team badge.

 We put 22 legos into a snack-size baggie to give to each child.

These were to use for the game, not to keep. My husband, mom, sister, and I each took a team and rotated the games. Each group will do each game. The child will earn one lego after each mini-game is passed off, and they put them into their baggie. After all the games they would end up with 30 legos at the end for the building competition.

GAMES:
1. LEGO COUNT – Have the kids guess how many legos (blocks) are in the jar. Whoever guessed the closet won a prize.

2. LEGO DROP – I had 2 #10 empty cans. Each child uses 10 of their LEGO pieces. The child had to put the LEGO piece up to his chin and drop it trying to get it into the can. (If time allows or if they do this game really fast, have them stand on a bench and do the same thing.)

3. RING TOSS - Beforehand, I took my younger sons Duplos legos, and made them into 3 different sized towers, and hot glues them to a large board. I had 6 large plastic rings. The kids toss the rings onto the towers of DUPLOS. Each turn they had to take a step backward to make the game more difficult.

4. LEGO HOP RACE - Have each child's baggie of Legos to the end area, past ths finish line and have them dump them into a pile on a bench past the finish line. Each child gets into a potaoto sack at the beginning of the race. Say go and they jump down to their own pile of LEGOS, get out of the sack, pick up their pile and race back to the start. If they drop any legos, they have to hop back and get them. Note; You can buy potato sacks at IFA or other country stores.

5. LEGO ON A SPOON RACE – There will be 2 bowls at the end line. Have the kids dump their legos in the bowl. The kids race down to their bowl and put as many LEGO pieces on a spoon and walk back to the start. The kids must get all their legos back into their bags. If they spill any legos on the floor, the Legos get put back into the bowl. Complete this until each child has a turn.

6. PIN THE MISSING LEGO- I found a picture of a huge stack of Legos and made it into a 11 x 17 print. I cropped one of the legos and made pieces for the game. I laminated the game. The kids are blindfolded and try to get the Lego to the missing piece. (kinda like pin the tail on the donkey.)

7. LEGO POP – This was the whole group.  I blew up lots of balloons and hid a lego piece in each one. The kids have to pop the Balloon to find the LEGO. Give each child 1 balloon. They must pop the balloon, without using their hands or feet to get the next LEGO piece.

8. LEGGO MY LEGO- This was the whole group. (Lego Musical Chairs) I used the large duplo blocks, and put them into the middle, with one less  block than  their were kids. The kids sit in a circle around the blocks. When you blow the whistle the kids scramble to the center to get a lego. If they don’t get a lego, they are out. once they are out they get one lego from their leader. Keep going till there is one kid left. That person wins 5 extra legos.

9. PINATA- Break open the large Lego to reveal treats. My husband made this from a rectangle box He took 6 plastic cups cut in half, and glued onto the box. He then painted it blue. It worked so well,

10. BUILD WHAT’S ON THEIR CARD – Beforehand I had printed up cards that has an object on it (car, phone, lady, etc.) The kids each drew a card. They take their baggie of legos and have 10 minutes to build the object on their card. After completion they move them to the judge table where they will be judged.

This is the little kids creations.

Here are some of the older kids. We gave each child a number, so the judges didn't know who's they were.
11. CAKE- The kids then go over and have their cake and Capri suns. During this time we have 2 people judge the creations while they are eating. My husband and mother-in-law made this cake. We were running late so we didn't get the frosting colors as dark as we needed to.

12. AWARDS - Certificates were given to all the MASTER BRICK BUILDERS and prizes awarded to the top 3 that most resembled their card. Also prize is awarded to person who guesses closet amount of legos in a jar.

13. TALLEST TOWER - We didn’t have time to do this, but it would have been fun. All Lego creations are dismantled and put into large bucket (after pictures are taken of course) and then divided into the 4 teams. The 4 teams then compete to make the tallest tower.

GIFT BAGS - These turned out so cute. I made them just like the decorations. I used red and blue colored paper sacks. I printed a cute lego topper and stapled in on the top. It was filled with candy and party favors.

Thanks for checking out my party!

Momma!

Zhu Zhu Pet Party

My 3 oldest sons love the new toys, Zhu Zhu pets. I decided to throw a Zhu Zhu pet party for my son who was turning 2. After searching the internet, I found almost nothing on this, since they are relatively new. I did find some fun ideas and came up with even more. This is how my party went, and it was so fun. We had about 20 kids ages 2-12 at this party and they all had so much fun. We had each child bring their Zhu Zhu pet if they had one. If not, I brought some of my son’s extra ones. We made sure each one had their name written on it. Because it was for a 2 year old, (but mostly because I was 7 months pregnant, I had just moved into my new house, and it was the week of Thanksgiving) I didn't do any decorating. And really it didn't need any.  The kids had a blast.

 

Invitation: I created this on my scrapbook max program, and personalized it with a picture of my son. I make them 4” x 6” and save it as an image. I send them to Walmart to get printed as a 4 x 6 print and it is only 9 cents an invite. The invitation has the Zhu Zhu hamsters on the bottom and it said, “It’s a Zhu Zhu party with lots of fun things to do, please join us on this special day as child's name turns 2! Zhu Zhu zoom on over”-and then the party details. I personalized it with a picture.

GAMES:

1. Hamster Naming: The kids get to decide on a new name for them-selves. They choose a name that starts with the first letter of their real name. Then write their chosen name on a name-tag. This is what they are called the rest of the time at the party.

2. Find the Hamster’s Food: We took a large box with shredded paper. We took mini carrots and mixed them into the paper. The kids took turns trying to see who could find the most carrots. The older kids thought they would find a lot, but it was much harder than it seemed, but the kids had a lot of fun anyways.

3. Pass the Zhu Zhu Pet: This game is played just like Hot Potato, but instead we used a Zhu Zhu pet.

4. Pin the Party Hat on the Zhu Zhu Pet: I printed a large picture of Num Nums Zhu Zhu pet and laminated it. I printed 20 party hats and laminated them to. This is played just like pin the tail on the donkey. We blindfolded the older kids.

5. Hamster Dance: We downloaded the Hamster Dance song and put it onto a CD. We just let the kids dance to it. All the kids loved to dance to this song. It just makes you want to get up and dance!

6. Zhu Zhu Pet Race: This was a HUGE HIT! I took long 8' Styrofoam pieces, (could use 2 x 4 boards) and made 4 or 5 lanes by just laying them on the floor. Each person uses their Zhu Zhu pet and they race to see who hamster makes it to the finish line first. We had to do this in 4 rounds and then the winners of each round raced again for a top winner. It was so fun because each hamster has a mind of it’s own. The zhu zhu’s would take off and be winning and them all the sudden stop and turn the other way.

7. Zhu Zhu Battle: This was the ALL TIME FAVORITE game of the night. After the races, we moved the Styrofoam piece to form a large square. All the kids sat around the square and when we said, “Go” they pushed the button on their Zhu Zhu and stepped back. The kids were not allowed to touch their Zhu Zhu once the battle began. All the Zhu Zhu’s would move wherever they chose to. They would run into the others and knock them over. Whoevers Zhu Zhu was the last one up was the winner. It was so fun as the Zhu Zhu’s would get knocked over, then another Zhu Zhu would run into it and tip them back upright. Sometimes the Zhu Zhu would stop and another Zhu Zhu would run into it and make it start again. It was really like watching a demolition derby and never knowing what was going to happen. We played the hamster dance music while the battle was going on. The kids cheered their Zhu Zhu pet from the sidelines. We had to do several battles.

8. The Hamster Ball: My mom had a large inflatable wheel where the kids sit inside and hold on while someone rolls it.

PRESENTS

CUPCAKES: I had my local bakery make cupcakes that looked like some of the Zhu Zhu pets. They colored the frosting with pink, chocolate, vanilla, and yellow frosting. They piped on ears, eyes, and mouths. The looked exactly like a hamster. They could also be made at home using mini m & m's or candies.

GOODY BAGS: I used a brown paper sack as the goody bags filled with treats and little prizes. I printed a topper with the Zhu Zhu pets and it said, “Thank You for coming to my birthday party!” on it. I stapled it to the top of the bag.

This party was fun for all ages. I wish I took a picture of the goody bags. They turned out so cute.

Zhu Zhu pets rock!

Thanks!

Momma!

Surprise Princess Party for my sister

So I always wanted to do a princess party, and since I have 4 boys, I realized it just ain't gonna happen. So I decided to do a surprise princess party for my oldest sister. I loved spending almost 3 months in planning, but it was hard not sharing all the good deals I was finding with her. As the party got closer, it was much harder to make sure she didn't find out. I think she was really surprised, and it turned out exactly as I had pictured it. A special shoutout to Jenn for her awesome catering skills-be sure to see all the fun goodies she made for the luncheon!

INVITATIONS: I made scroll invitations. I lucked out and found 24 wooden candle holders at our local thrift store, then I bought dowels to fit into them. I glued them together and then spray painted them gold. I printed the invitations on clear vellum paper. It read:
“By royal summons of the kingdom of Cedar, (the town we live in I had this next to a fancy letter C) Princess Stephanie Lynn Harris of Westview (Example name ) your presence is requested at the royal banquet hall on DATE for a royal surprise celebration in honor of Princess Clarissa Jane Jones of Lake Mountain, the royal chariot will pick you up at TIME. (I arranged for a limo to pick up each of the 12 guests) Please come dressed in you finest regal attire. Your crown and jewels will be sent to you. (More on this in costumes) Please acknowledge your acceptance by calling PHONE NUMBER.”
I personalized eac invitation with the names for each lady who was invited, the older ladies were queens and the younger ladies were princesses, and they were the princess of the street they lived on.
I cut the dowels to 12” and glued the wooden candle holders on each end. Then I taped the paper invitation across the top and rolled it around the dowel. I tied it with a pink ribbon. My husband dressed up in a tux complete with cumber-band and bow tie, and we hand delivered the ones we could and mailed the rest.

This pic has has the personal info changed.

I made a separate invitation for the birthday girl, it read:
“Princess Clarissa Jane Jones of Lake Mountain, (example name)
Your presence is hereby requested
at the royal banquet hall,
for a royal birthday celebration
in your honor.
The Royal driver will pick you up at
Approximately 1:30 PM

COSTUMES: Each princess was to come dressed up. I had sent "save the date" emails a month earlier so they could start looking for a dress. I wanted every princess to have a crown tiara, rhinestone necklace and bracelet, earrings, and a large rhinestone ring. I bought all of them on eBay. The tiaras I got were real, not the kid party kind and they were cheaper too. (under $3 each)

I went to the shoe-store and got kid size shoe boxes, spray painted them gold and glued jewels on them. I cut some foam to fit the box and covered it in  red velvet material. I placed the jewelry inside the box, on the velvet, and made a label with each princess’s name on the top of the box. I forgot to take a picture of the inside with the jewelry.

DECORATIONS: I wanted this to be super fancy. We have a dance studio, and we had our “royal banquet hall” here. We had 2 large banquet tables. I covered them with white satin tablecloths and used pink squares and cloth napkins. I used my china with gold rim- plates and cups. Silver platters and tiers held the food. I draped pink fabric (bought pink sheer curtains from the thrift store) from the ceiling. I had some other pink fabric with flowers on it that we draped as well. I bought diamond confetti (1000 pieces for $1.45 and free shipping on eBay) and sprinkled them all over the table. We had a throne at the end of the table for the birthday girl. We got an old chair at the thrift store. It had intricate designs all over the wood back. We spray painted it gold, then sprayed gold glitter on it, then glued rhinestones (I bought lots of rhinestones from eBay for 1.50) all over. We took the cushion off and covered it in gold material. It looked real nice.

PICKUP OF PRINCESSES: As this was a surprise party for an adult, we didn’t play games, but we wanted each lady to feel like a princess. One hour before the party, I had my son and husband, again dressed up, deliver the invitation scroll to the birthday girl. We gave her a dress, shoes, and jewelry so she could get ready. Of course my memory card was full so I missed a perfect picture opportunity. My sister was so surprised! Right after we pulled away I got a call from her wondering what was going on. We had a limousine pick-up each princess at her home.

Each princess was dressed as a real princess. We took pictures of each princess and my husband handed them their jewelry box.

The limo pulled up to the “castle.’ I had a large sign printed with the Cedar Crest I created and it read, “The Kingdom of Cedar.” We hung it on the side of the building. I had a red carpet leading from the front door to the parking lot.

My husband ran our speakers out the front door. We downloaded the royal fanfare onto his iphone and he played the music loudly and announced each princess, "Princess Stephanie Lynn Harris of Westview," as they walked the red carpet. We had some family there to take pictures.

The limo picked up the birthday girl last. It brought her back to the royal banquet hall. All of the other princesses (guests) were there lining the red carpet as she was announced and walked the red carpet.

The princesses then went into the royal banquet hall. We took pictures with the birthday girl.

FOOD: Our party started at 1 PM, so we had a luncheon. We had chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate eclairs, cream puffs, chicken salad croissants, chips and ranch salsa from Chili’s, bacon and cream cheese pinwheels, and cream filled cupcakes with a pink chocolate butterfly on top. This was set up right before we picked up the princesses so it was ready when they got there. The food was made by my totally awesome cousins’ wife, Jennifer, who should be a caterer. She really outdid herself!

Chicken Salad Croissants

Bacon and Cream Cheese Pinwheels

Jennifer made these chocolate butterflies by hand.

The cupcakes had a Delicious frosting and were filled with white chocolate.

Look at these chocolate covered strawberries. YUM!

Paper Flower centerpieces

Diamond Confetti

GOODY BAGS: I bought satin organza drawstring bags for each princess to take home and filled them with real rings, earrings, necklaces. (I got 50 assorted rhinestone rings for $8 and necklace/earring sets for $1.25 each)  I ordered several lots of jewelry off eBay. Each princess was able to choose the rings she wanted and I had enough for them to have several. I bought 12 little crown pendants that said “princess” on them (.99 cents) and a chain for them to go on (2.33 for 30) rolo candy, and candy bracelets, rings, and necklaces from the dollar store. I placed the goody bags on the plate along with name tags.

The princesses opened these before we ate.

We just visited while we ate and then the birthday girl opened her presents.

 Each princess got the royal treatment! (Surprising note: Of all 12 princesses who came 7 of the guests had never ridden in a limo before, so it made it extra special)

Thanks!

Momma!

SpongeBob Party

This was the party we did for my son's 5th birthday. We did it in August, so we had a party with water games. The kids were asked to come in there swimsuits.

INVITATIONS: I made these invitations on my computer on Scrapbook Max.

I bought message in a bottle invites from orientaltrading.com. They came with an invite(which I threw away) sand, little shells, little sunglasses, and a small umbrella. I put this invitation inside the bottle.

 I printed this on sticker paper and put in in the bottle.

DECORATIONS:
We bought blue plastic tablecloths at the $ store and stapled them along the whole front of our carport. We slit them into strips so it was like the kids were walking into the water, or under the sea. I had purchased a lot of Spongebob toys on Ebay and we used these to decorate with. I also found some Spongebob and Patrick stuffed toys at the DI that we hung around the carport. I bought fish and crabs cutouts from the party store. We used blue tablecloths on the table. I bought real colored starfish from oriental trading and we used the small ones as confetti on the table, along with seashells I got at the $store. We hung fishing nets from the ceiling. We downloaded a Spongebob music cd from amazon.com and we had it playing throughout the party.

GAMES:

PATRICK’S DOORPRIZE: Upon arrival I had the kids write their name on a piece of paper and put it in for a door prize drawing. I had a basket of toys from the $store that they could choose from.

SPONGEBOB PASS: I bought some cheap sponges at the dollar store. I had a bucket of water. The kids are in a line, the one at the front of the line dips the sponges into the bucket and passes it over their head and hands it to the child behind them. The next child passes it through their legs and passes it to the next child. We had music playing. The object is to not be holding the sponge when the music stops.

MR. KRABS TUG of MONEY: I got a piece of rope. I printed a large dollar bill and laminated it and then hooked it to the rope. The kids were divided into 2 teams. The game is played like Tug of War and they try to bring the dollar bill that was hanging on it, to their side. In the middle, there was a kiddie pool filled with water.

SQUIDWARD'S BALLOON SQUISH: I filled green and orange balloons with water before the party. We put the kids into 2 teams. We tied the green balloons to one team's legs & the orange balloons to the other team's Legs. The teams try to pop the other team's balloons without getting theirs popped. The team with balloons left wins.

JELLYFISH FIELDS: This game was lots of fun. I took pink balloons and filled them with helium. I took pink streamers and taped them down from the balloon to make them look like jellyfish. We tied the balloons to ribbon and different lengths to make them look like they were floating. Once the game begins we turned on the sprinklers around them. The kids were given nets to try and catch the jellyfish.

SOAK PLANKTON:
I printed a large picture of plankton and laminated it and hung up onto a board. I filled small water balloons before the party. Each kid was given 5 water balloons to try to hit Plankton. (if they didn't soak him by the first or second balloon, we let them get closer)

BUBBLE BABIES: We gave each child a small container of bubbles and let them blow bubbles.

PATCHY the PIRATE TREASURE HUNT: For this game I used common nursery rhymes for the clues. I wanted to do easy ones since the kids were young. Here are the Clues I used:

One two buckle my shoe, three, four shut the _______. DOOR


(on the DOOR) Jack & Jill went up the hill to fetch a ____________ of water. PAIL


(on the Pail) Here we go round the mulberry _______________. BUSH


(on the Bush)Baa Baa black sheep have you any wool, yes sir, yes sir, _______ Full. 3 Bags


( on the 3 bags) Rock a bye baby on the ______ top, When the wind blows the cradle will rock. TREE


(I had 3 brown bags that I filled with sand and had hidden)


(on the Tree) Little _____ blue come blow up your horn. The sheep's in the meadow, The cow's in the corn. BOY (I had this clue taped to my older son’s back)


(on the Boy) A little boy with wooden spade Went digging, digging in the ______ (Sand)
This is a lesser known rhyme, but the kids got it right away as we had a large sandbox. I had buried a treasure chest piñata in our sandbox-attached to the piñata was a note from Patchy the Pirate to say, “Arr Mateys, Ye have done it – Ye have found me treasure. ENJOY!"
We then let the kids break it open.

We served pizza, cake, and capri suns to drink.

CAKE: I ordered a “Crabby Patty” Hamburger cake from the local bakery and my husband put the spongebob drink  topper on the front. It was so cute.

Goody Bags: For the door prizes I bought these SpongeBob backpacks from ebay. I filled them with misc. candy, gummy crabby patties, SpongeBob lollipop rings, and real colored starfish from oriental trading (These were Patrick’s friends.) They also put their candy from the pinata in their bags.

We opened presents and I also drew for the door prize .
Here is another game idea, one that I didn’t use, but liked:

Mr Krab’s Money Pit-Put a bunch of pennies/nickels into the sandbox. You can also put some seashells and ONE gold coin. Let the youngest kids go first and set a time limit of 2 minutes to dig for money. The older kids can do this blindfolded. The gets the gold coin can get special prize.

This was a fun water party on a hot August day!

Thanks for reading my party ideas.

Momma