Disco Birthday Party

Okay, I must admit that the birthday parties are getting much easier as the kids get older and just want to hang out and do their own thing.  I like that I am not stressing about every detail and spending hours making props and decorations, but I also miss the fun of planning and executing a true full blown theme party that has every detail planned out. (Of course, I miss that as I am a raging Type A and am all about the details.)  Some of the best parties I did were pre-digital and all the shots were captured on my 35mm.  Too bad! Maybe someday I can have them transferred to digital form.

My daughter's most recent birthday was probably the easiest yet.  Aside from the invitations, banner and cake….I really didn't do much else.  Here are some pictures from her party.

For the invitation, I made a record and attached the outfit to the front.  I cut the outfit out of old jeans and some fabric left over from my daughter's Halloween hippie costume.  I printed the party details in  a circle shape on the computer and then printed them out on purple paper that matched the shirt and glued the info on the back.  They turned out really well.  The envelope was made out of white card stock.  The shoe was made on my cricut.

The invitation is the record with the disco outfit on the front, to the left is the envelope I made for it.

My traditional birthday banner!

The disco cake - I think one of my best attempts at fondant!  I might finally have it down pat.  I have found that the marshmallow fondant works the best.

Star Wars Birthday Party

My son's 6th birthday party had a Star Wars theme.  When planning a birthday party, I basically plan according to this:
1. Invitations - design the invitation, decide on the timeline and get them sent out
2. Decorations - table cloth, center piece, banner
3. Activities/Games
4. Food/Snacks
5. Design, bake and decorate the cake(s)
6. Loot Bags - I am not a fan of dollar store junk or candy.  I rarely include any in my loot bags unless their is a really good link to the theme.  I tend to buy one or two more expensive items as opposed to many little items.


Here are some of the things we did for his Star Wars party:

Invitations:
Okay, we made really cool DVD invitations.  I used iMovie to create a movie that was done like the words that scroll at the beginning (or is it the end?) of Star Wars movies.  It began with a starry sky and that led into the words in the invitation that scrolled while the movie (and Stars Wars theme song) played.  At the end, I had all the details again along with a Star Wars Picture my son had drawn.  I tried like crazy to upload the video, but couldn't get it to work.  So here is my lame attempt at sharing  - a photo of my computer screen, yep, pretty high tech hey??

The actual font colour was yellow, but it doesn't really show here.

Here is what the invitation said, in Star Wars language.

In a galaxy far, far away, on the morning of June 4, 2004, a baby boy was born.

The Jedi Council named him Shay Alexander Roy and they knew he was the chosen one.  In the 6 years that followed his birth, young Shay has been learning the power of the force.  Meanwhile, the Republic discovered a new enemy.  The Jedi knights felt a strong disturbance in the force.  Fear, pain and suffering have opened the path to the Darkside.

Many Jedi knights have been lost.  The very future of the Jedi Order is now in jeopardy.  Young Padawan Shay has been called by the Jedi Council to seek out future Jedi.  Master Yoda is urging the youngling to complete their training and take part in the upcoming trials.

Your presence is requested to complete this Jedi Training and prepare for the trials on June 4th, 2010.  

We are scheduled to depart from the Roy System, Docking Bay at _____________ at 1100 hours.  

Please advise the Jedi Council as soon as possible via email or at 453-0462.  

We hope you will accept the challenge of the trials.

May the Force be with you!

Please note:  Due to safety protocols in the Republic, no weapons will be allowed on the transport vessel.  Please forgive the inconvience and rest assured that the Jedi Council has secured enough equipment for the Padawans to complete their training.

Decorations:

As always, I make a large birthday banner.  I tried to use Star Wars type font although it was handmade, so is certainly not exact.  I also included one of Shay's Star Wars drawings since he is fanatical about drawing Star Wars characters.

Other than that, the decorations were pretty simple and not much to brag about.  Kind of sad really:(

Of course, there was Star Wars music playing in the background.

Birthday Banner with the tie fighters below on the window sill.

The was the Death Star made from a spray painted beach ball and a black Sharpy for detail. It hung above the table.

The table was a simple black table cloth with planets on it.  You can see a tie fighter cupcake beside the earth.

We also put up some black and white balloons.

Activities:

Jedi Training - Have someone be the "Master Jedi" and teach the younglings some Jedi moves

Pass the Asteroid - a large crunched up ball of foil.  Pass the asteroid around the circle and when the music stops, whoever is left holding the asteroid is out.  They loved this!

Asteroid Hunt - hide foil balls around and see who can find the most asteroids

Light Saber Limbo

Star Wars Mural - large black paper, have the kids draw characters, planets, starfighters, etc.

Food/Snacks:

I keep my parties to about 2 hours.  I rarely go over meal time and I find that there is seldom extra down time.  As a kindergarten teacher, I know that if there is not structure, things can get very ugly very fast!  I usually leave about 30 to 45 minutes for cake and presents at the end and plan for about 15 minutes of quite activity while the guest arrive (like the mural).  Kids can join in as they come, and we can get started with the games once everyone has arrived.  I tend to keep them pretty busy and thus I find they have little time and/or interest in eating.

Basically, I usually serve a beverage and a few snacks.  This time we had:

Chips and dip

Star shaped crackers and cheese

Yoda Soda (sprite and lime sherbert mixed together - foams up and the kids thought it was so cool)

Cake:

Okay, call me crazy, but we actually had 3 parties in one day for my son….school friends, neighbours and a family party.  Also, I nearly always serve ice cream with the birthday cake.

I made three different styles of cake and of course, some turned out better than others as you will see.  However, I am going to bite the bullet and share all three, despite the fact that one was an absolute bust.  

Great concept, but didn't work that great.  This Light Saber cake has a blue jello "light saber" - cool, but the handle is a bit big for the light and the colours ran a bit in the icing.

Tie Fighter cupcakes.  The sides were made out of black foam board.

Loot Bags:

Jedi Costumes - I made each of the kids a Jedi robe

Glow in the dark light sabers

Space kite

Galaxy Slime

Jedi Costumes

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.

Loot bags and cake were on this table.

You can see the labelled cups in this photo.

The community club provided all of the sticks, puck, nets, etc.

Bookmark from loot bag

Homemade Winnipeg Jets Cake

Homemade retro jersey cookies

Sleep Over Birthday Party Ideas

I have found that as my kids have gotten older, the parties become much easier as the themes are much less elaborate and they are happy to make their own fun, and thus require less planning.  My daughter did a sleep over theme two years in a row, but only had a "half sleepover for her 8th birthday the girls were picked up late in the evening.)  You will see two sets of pictures as the activities, cakes and decor were a bit different for each party, but I have combined the ideas in the description.

Invitations:

The first invitation was cute.  I stuffed the pillow, so it was actually 3D, although it is hard to tell from the photo.

This invitation came with a paper doll that could slide in and out of the sleeping bag.  She is resting her head on a real mini-pillow.  The girls were told to bring their invitations to the party and they then designed clothes for their doll.  The orange pull tab at the bottom slid out to reveal the party information.  The back of the invitation was made to look like a brochure with details about what the kids would be doing, timelines and a checklist detailing what to bring.

Decorations:
Birthday Banner (I always make one of these to coincide with the theme)
Table Cloth ("dress table to look like a bed")
Set up the living room with lots of pillows and blankets


Activities and Games:
Decorate a Pillow Case with fabric markers
Designer Paper Dolls (handmade to go with the invitations and scrap booking paper for clothes)
Kiss the Prince (Kiss the Poster - blind fold, spin around and girls had to kiss the poster)
Pass the Present (Wrap a small prize/gift in several layers of paper.  Works like musical chairs, but when the music stops, whoever is holding the present gets to unwrap one layer.  Whoever unwraps the final layer gets to keep the gift!)
Watch a movie
Girls were invited to bring their cameras and take lots of fun pictures throughout the activities
Musical Pillows
Foil Fashion Show (split the girls into partners or small groups and give them a roll of cheap tin foil.  Have them design clothes and accessories out of the foil and then get "dressed-up" for a fashion show.  They loved this!)
Twister
Karaoke
Just Dance (Wii)


Loot Bag Ideas: (I usually buy one or two larger items and try to avoid the whole $store/candy loot)
Mini Scrapbook album with embellishments
Glow Sticks
Pillow Case (decorated at the party)
Paper Doll with their own designer clothes
Flashlights/headlamps
Movie Rental or Pass gift card
Bag of Popcorn or microwavable popcorn bag


Food:
Chocolate Fondue (fruit, mini cream puffs, marshmallows, pretzels, etc)
Pizza
Cake and ice cream (of course)
Popcorn, liquorice and grape floats for during the movie
Waffles with White Sauce and berries for breakfast

Pajama Party (8th Birthday)
I just realized that it is hard to find photos without party guests in them!  Here are a few that give a good idea.

Homemade Bunny Slipper Cake

Homemade Sleep Over Cake for 9th Birthday Party.  The headboard was made out of gingerbread cookie and the little flowers on it were candies.  It was lots of work, but turned out well!

Scrapbooking:
I am also a scrapbooker, but wanted to keep my necessary layouts manageable, so that I could stay on top of my must do layouts each year.  I am making keepsake albums for both kids, but keep my layouts to two per year per child.  I do one layout of their year at a glance and one layout of their birthday party.  I do several other layouts as well, but not in their keepsake books.  I have a Christmas album, that I update with one layout per year and have one School Days album where I scrap book school memories including concerts, special events, teachers, field trips, etc.  This gives me a total of 7 "must do" layouts per year and all others are just for fun!  Vacations are compiled into hardcover online photo books that are fast and easy to put together.

Super Easy Glow Bowling Party

 This turned out to be the easiest party ever!  The bowling alley provided the food and drinks.  I just had to bring the cupcakes and loot.  In lieu of a loot bag, I made all the guests a personalized glow in the dark birthday bowling t-shirt and handed out silly bands and glow sticks that they could wear around their wrists and necks as they bowled.  This was simple and the kids loved their shirts and had a blast.  The best part was it was over and done within a few hours and my house was not trashed in the process!  It isn't gender specific, so the same ideas can be used for more than one party.

The invitation had a brad on it so that it could spin open to reveal the specifics about the party.

Simple homemade cupcakes with whoppers for bowling balls and fondant pins.