"From Our Visitors"

Trains
- Make invitations in the shape of a lantern, railroad crossing sign or locomotive
- Draw train tracks along the driveway and sidewalk
- Have pre-cut construction paper in the shape of different train cars and decorate with lifesavers, cotton balls, licorice, pasta shapes, etc. and use for wall decorations
- Use empty appliance boxes to decorate for a "train" to play in

Teddy Bears
- Cut out paper dolls in the shape of a bear. Put a portion of the invitation on each one
- Invite guest to bring their favourite teddy, dressed in their finest party clothes
- Decorate with bears of every shape, size and condition, inside and outside
- Lay out a big picnic blanket, inside or out
- Pack each guest's lunch in a small basket and label
- Give "bear" awards for each guest's teddy - oldest, best dressed, biggest, smallest, etc

On The Farm
- Make a scarecrow by stuffing an old shirt and pair of pants or coveralls with pillows or newspaper. Use a paper bag for the head and draw on a face. Top it off with a straw hat and a red bandana.
- Put small plastic farm animals on each guest's party plate for them to tuck in their treat bags as favours
- Have each guest plant some seeds in a clear plastic cup. Choose seeds that have a short germination time. Label each cup and send them home with each "farmer"
- Cut out simple animal shapes from a colouring book, trace on coloured construction paper, and use for invitations
- Play barnyard bowling and cow roping (throw a hula hoop over a cardboard box painted to look like a cow)
- Have a chicken egg hunt
- Make "cottonball" sheep

Fire Engines
- Use firefighter hat or fire chief's badge shape as an invitation
- Make a "fire engine" out of a refrigerator box, and decorate with ladders, hoses, etc.
- Have a fire hat for each guest
- Arrange a tour of the neighbourhood fire station. (Take a polaroid camera and give pictures to take home)

Toddler's Parties
My daughter will be turning two on her next birthday and we are celebrating by having a royal ball at a children's museum in Wilmette, Illinois. All the young toddlers are to come dressed in their finest to honor Princess Tiara's second birthday. It should be quite an event. Her first party was a beach ball Pooh Bear Bash. The rooms were filled with beach balls, instead of balloons, and all of the children enjoyed jumping into it and throwing them around. I think they had a lovely time and it would have made quite a home video except that we forgot the camcorder!

Magic School Bus
Last year I did Magic School Bus for my son. I rented a school bus and I hired someone to be Ms. Frizzle. When they came back from the "field trip", I had a huge safari hunt. They each got safari hats, binoculars, and a butterfly net and started searching for insects. They loved it!!

Toy Story
For my eldest son's birthday in January we had a Toy Story 2 party. For games, we played Pin the Tail on Bullseye (the horse from Toy Story 2), and we searched for the Sarge and the troops (they got lost). Each child got a cowboy hat and a bandana and each made a vest from a paper grocery bag. It was a blast. The hit was searching for the Sarge and the troops. The kids just kept loading up their hats with them. We also threw horseshoes into the water trough, while some kids made their vests.

Runaway Balloons
We had just moved into a new home before my oldest child's 2nd birthday. I had a small party for him that year and offered the guests balloons at the request of my son. Well, all of the balloons ended up floating at the top of our two storey foyer. The next year my son asked for balloons again and I was so reluctant to have them. Then I got an idea....I bought several packs of Hot Wheels cars and tied the helium-filled balloons to the cars. They made excellent party favours, and no balloon reached the height of our ceiling!

Art Party
Last year when my oldest son turned 7, he wanted to have an art party. So, I agreed to let him invite 10 kids (ages 2-8) to come to our basement and make messes. I told parents on the invitations to dress their kids in old clothes. Before the party, I draped the floor in painting tarps, and covered some old card tables. We made homemade finger paints, face paints and play dough. The kids decorated cookies, each other, and their own take-home bag (brown lunch bags). I even went to the local butchers' and got some of the end of the rolls of white wax paper and we pinned it up so kids could color the walls. The kids has a GREAT time and made PLENTY of mess. I had parents calling me for two weeks telling me how much fun their kids had and asking for recipes. I, on the other hand, learned my lesson. This year my kids get roller rinks, parks, and back yard parties. I only hope that one day my boys grow up to have children of their own....grandma will be sure to tell her grandkids how much fun daddy had at his art party, and how they should get to have one too!

Bubble Wrap
The best and cheapest party game we played was with Bubble Wrap, the plastic wrap used to protect fragile goods. I glued a backing on to the bubble wrap with old wallpaper to stop it from being slippery and cut it into 2' lengths. The game for the children was to burst all of the bubbles on the sheet by any means they wanted. Although very noisy, I have never seen 15 children so animated before, and the adults had tears rolling down their faces from laughter. Definitely my best idea yet!

Kings and Queens
My five year old and two year old sons were invited to a three year old girl's birthday party and had the time of their life. My friend decorated an outside area with a beautiful home-made cardboard castle that the children entered. The girls decorated tiaras and the boys decorated king hats. Each also decorated a cape and a little wooden treasure chest. They used paints, feathers, jewels, sequins, and stickers for their decorating. Then they went on a treasure hunt to find chocolate coins in gold shining wrapping. The cake was a beautiful Barbie princess cake....the cake being the beautiful dress. When it was time to go, the girls got princess cupcakes to take home that matched the cake with a doll in it. The boys got parachute army men cupcakes. My sons dressed up for weeks in their royal outfits they had made and played with their their treasure chests.

Bug Party
The best birthday party I've thrown was for my three (turning four) year old. It was a bug theme! I made marshmallow caterpillars, ladybug and turtle cupcakes, a lizard cake, bugs in dirt dessert, beetle sandwiches, bug jello. The decorations took 2 months to make!! It was a great success!!

Tea Party
The greatest birthday party I had was for my daughter's 9th party. It was a tea party. The guests came dressed in their mother's finery, ate on glass plates with tea cups, made tiaras, had a fashion show, did makeovers, decorated individual cakes, had a treasure hunt. I dressed as the maid, and each girl took home a tea cup and saucer. Fun!

Mice Party
submitted by Alex, Germany
Invitations: Cut out rectangles from grey construction paper and fold it in order to get an inside and an outside. Stick pictures of mice on the inside and outside. Write on the inside of the card: "YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO A MICE PARTY TO CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY", and add "Please dress up a as a mouse! You could wear black, grey or white leggings and a T-shirt or leotard in the same colour. Don't forget the mouse tail and big ears as well as a black nose and whiskers."
Decorations: Grey and white balloons or confetti everywhere; hang up posters or pictures of mice on the walls; white or grey tablecloths; put mice figures and pieces of cheese on the table.
Cake and Food: Mice love cheese, so serve cheese cake, cheese pizza or other things made with cheese, but note that not every child likes cheese, so serve also things without cheese (chocolate cake, cookies, etc.). Make "Mice Ice Cream" with a scoop of vanilla ice cream decorated with a "cherry" red nose, "chocolate chip" black eyes, and two big "chocolate cookie" ears.
Goody Bags: Make big grey gift bags for the kids. Fix a picture of a mouse to each bag. Fill the bag with a Mickey Mouse magazine, mouse stickers, a pencil printed with mice, a black or grey bracelet, or other mice things.
Game and Activities:
- "Food Search" - Hide lots of "mouse" treats around the house or yard and have each "mouse" hunt for their food on all fours (like mice).
- Show funny cartoons with mice.
- "Cat and Mouse" - Have the "cat" chase the "mice". As each "mouse" is caught, he sits down until all but the last "mouse" is left. He then becomes the "cat" to catch the "mice".
- Take funny snapshots of each "mouse" with a Polaroid to send home in goody bags.

Beauty Parlour Party
I usually try to have unique parties for my kids. Last year, my 7 year old had a party in a hair salon....the kids got to have their hair styled, nails painted and make friendship bracelets. The salon provided treat bags and I bought pizza, pop, chips, and cake and ice cream. It was a blast. This year she is turning eight and I am having a dance party with a DJ who will teach all the latest dance steps and some of the old to the girls.

Winter Luau
One that I didn't exactly see on your website was something I came up with for my 12 year-old sister. She wanted something colorful, yet mature. So, we gave her a "Luau in the Winter Party". Kids came in their bathing suits, grass skirts, and Hawaiian gear. They had a great time! We served them tropical fruit, and a white "Hawaiian Dancer" cake. We handed out little plastic leis to the kids. We played "Tropical Musical Chairs"....musical chairs to Reggae music! We also played a few relay games in my basement that they enjoyed. We played under/over with a helium balloon....The kids got into two equal lines. The front of the line passed the balloon over their heads, the next person between their legs, and so on. It was tough, because the helium balloon wanted to float away the whole time. They also learned how to Hula, and we had a Hula-Hoop contest to see who could Hula the longest. It was a lot of fun, and the kids loved wearing their bathing suits in the middle of November.

Christmas Birthday
My favorite party was my daughter's 4th birthday, because her birthday is December 18, close to Christmas and she loves the color red. I had a surprise dance party with 100 red and white balloons, discotheque lights, and a Santa DJ. I had the kids in the room holding on to the balloons and when my husband brought her in, we told her that we had a surprise for her. When we turned on the lights, 15 little kids screamed "Surprise!" and let the balloons go. She was so excited and delighted about the balloons. The DJ was wonderful, and taught the kids some dances. We had all of her favorite CD's, and we did contests, and had chips and franks, and even the grown-ups were dancing and partying. They were exhausted when they left.

Circus Carnival
I am planning a circus party for my 5 year old. The big top is going to be under a beautiful gazebo in one of our state parks. The festivities will include a magician and a party bouncer, the decorations will be brightly colored table linens and balloons. I will hang hula hoops from the ceiling with clown posters inside each one. The menu is basic: hot dogs, bags of chips and a drink, the kids will get popcorn during the magic show and we will have a cotton candy machine too to spin cotton candy. The treat bags are popcorn boxes filled with windmills, circus coloring books, crayons, and circus puzzles and blow pops. I will have teenagers helping as part of the circus people, and we are passing out tickets for the magic show and for the games. We always have a pinata towards the end of the party. We will do face painting too. It should be a great time. The cake is a carousel and I will also have individual cupcakes, as this age tends to bring siblings as well. I'm looking forward to a fun day!

Campout Party
One of the best parties given at my house was for my son's third birthday. We had a camp-out in the front yard during the daytime. Everyone brought gifts to go along with the theme. He received a tent from us and a backpack full of camping equipment (of course, most of the equipment was toys). He also received a fishing pole, and a camping chair which he enjoyed taking on our real camping trip that next weekend. For food we had a picnic lunch pre-made for all of our guests, and then played a simple game of scavenger hunt with the children throughout the yard. It turned out very well.

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