Junktacular: Winnipeg Jets Birthday Party

Our son Shay loved hockey long before the return of the Winnipeg Jets, but having our own NHL team back in town took us from the "Star Wars" phase to "all about hockey" real quick. He was determined to have a Jets party.
Having both a daughter and a son, I must admit that I learned very early that boys parties seem to be better handled when there is an activity focus for the party (and preferably not in my home.) I was one of those mom's who was strictly interested in doing at home birthday parties, until I discovered how much easier a destination birthday is (especially for very active boys). That being said, we were able to rent a newly built community centre in our area for $85. This included the 2 hour party plus an extra half hour for set-up. It had kitchen facilities and was perfect for this type of a party.

Invitation:
For the invitation, I created a document using "Smilebox" and emailed it out to all of his friends. I used a template for a "Sports Illustrated" Magazine cover and imported a black and white close-up picture of my son that extended the entire magazine cover. There was a small red band diagonally across the top right corner that said "There's no defence against what is coming…", issue date was that of his birthday month, the heading said "Shay turns 8!" and the column outlining the magazine details along the side read: "It's game on! Top shelf, short side, slap shots too, backhand or five hole, stick handle through! Come "lace-up" for a game of floor hockey @ _____________. Game time: the date Puck Drops: start time for party Final Whistle: end time for party

Loot Bags:
I bought small red gift bags from Dollarama and made skates to decorate the outside of the bag. The loot consisted of a homemade Jets jersey sugar cookie, a Hockey News book from Scholastic, a homemade hockey bookmark that said "We Jets love to read!", a hockey pencil and ruler, a Stanley Cup sharpener and of course, a "Skor" chocolate bar.

Decorations:
I didn't do much as we were not having the party at home and didn't have much time to set everything up. I purchased a little triangle banner for the cake/loot table, made a hockey ice table cloth for the kids' table and a birthday banner for Shay. I also bought navy blue cups and put the kids' last names on the cups along with the number of a Jets' player. The boys thought this was cool. We had the room set-up with benches turned on their sides to act as the boards around the play area.

I had planned to serve pizza, but the oven was not working, so we just skipped it. The boys were so engrossed in their hockey game, that they didn't even really want to stop for snacks, cake and to open gifts. The party was very easy to manage and the boys had a great time.