"And More......."

Pirate Cannon Ball Game
You will need two refrigerator boxes. The ends aren't needed, but it's best if you get the boxes before they've been broken down. If you call a local appliance or furniture store a month before the party, they will hold the boxes for you.
Creating the pirate ships will take some room - a garage works well. You will also need black tempra paint (if you want to paint them), strong tape (duct tape), Exacto knife or very strong scissors and 50-100 water balloons.
Set one box down on it's long side. If the ends are still on - remove them first. Then remove one of the long sides (save it intact). Next fold the side you removed in half to form the stern of the ship. Tape this to one of the ends of the ship. Reinforce where the top joins, as this will help to keep the side up. Paint the ship as desired. Repeat for the other box
Prior to the party, fill the water balloons, and place them in large buckets. Place the ships at least 30 feet away from each other. Place buckets in the ships. Divide the party guests into two teams, and have them man their ships. Then let them go wild. This was the most hilarious activity to watch at my son's pirate party. The kids would run out to recover balloons that didn't break, trying to dodge the cannon balls. The poor person manning the camcorder (my father) ended up being the wettest! The kids just loved this. You can select the winning team however you want - but we declared all the kids winners, and they won their bandanas! - Thanks to Lisa in Alliston, Ontario.

Snowman Party
My daughter's birthday is in January so for her first birthday we did a snowman theme. For the centerpiece, I constructed a snowman out of 3 styrofoam balls that I got from the craft store. They also had top hats and I bought black pom poms (coal) for the eyes and buttons and mouth. For a scarf, I bought some squares of black felt and cut it into strips, and for a nose I bought orange felt, cut out long triangles and folded the ends over to look like a carrot. Lastly, for the arms I went outside and grabbed some thin twigs off the ground. I pieced it all together with a hot glue gun and then bought some fake snow (cotton) to put around the base. For favors, I had the local bakery make snowman shaped cookies sprinkled with blue and purple. I placed two in a snowflake-covered cellophane bag for each child and tied it at the top with curly ribbon. I had so much fun getting ready for the party and enjoyed the look on my daughter's face when she saw her snowman cake. It was a half a sheet cake covered in blue icing with a big white snowman in the middle, the bakery even make his orange nose 3D. It was a wonderful day. - Thanks Brenda!

More Fairies
This is our plan for my daughter's 5th birthday (which is in October). I'm doing an autumn fairy party. I got lucky and found this really adorable fairy figurine at a country decore store, and I'm going to make a two-layered cake, with white icing (I could make it a light burgundy/wine color) and then place the figurine on top. I thought of using some of those silver ball-type cake decorations, and some edible glitter sprinkles to give it a little twinkle. I'm going to take tulle in cream, burgundy and green and drape it around in my dining room where the main party usually is. I was going to use mini white lights to soften the effect and add sparkle, but I think for my dining room, it would be a bit bulky for where I can put it. If someone were to have this themed party while it's nice outside, you could use the same plan only it would be great in one of those canvas cabanas along the top and even the doorway. I may even buy some flower garland to drape around the tulleing. I could use a wine or mauve colored tablecloth, and if I can't find autumn fairy paper goods, I can just use coordinating colors - burgundy, green, etc. I'm going to to go to our local paper outlet and purchase some helium balloons in the same color theme. I think some here and there and some in the corners with the ribbons dangling will be nice. For each party guest, I'm going to make autumn flower garland crowns for them to wear upon their heads. For the few boys that are attending I'll make them a gold crown out of gold colored oak tag (which is a really heavy sturdy paper) and glue on a few gaudy plastic jewels. Another thing to do which I've done in the past using different colors is make little tulle skirts to match and hot glue silk autumn leaves and silk artificial sunflowers to the waist of the skirt. You could also order plastic necklaces from Oriental Trading. They are fairly inexpensive. They sell at major toy stores and craft stores, magic wands (plastic) usually silver or gold - very inexpensive. It would be awesome if you could buy the wooden dowels and wooden stars at the craft store ahead of time and assemble them adding a little ribbon and glue and glitter. If there isn't months ahead to get this all done there are places to buy them.You could play classical music, and you could have all of the kids sit in a circle and pass a pillow or object around and when you stop the music whoever is left holding the object gets to get up from the circle and pick a prize out of the prize bowl. You could serve sandwiches cut into flower shapes etc. with cookies cutters, make some berry punch in a pretty punch bowl, take some strawberries and dip them into chocolate. I hope this helped to give someone an idea or two. - Thanks to Tracy from Long Island

Birthday Memory Book
I just wanted to let you know an idea that started on impulse, but has since proved to be a sweet memory. We have two children, Michael 4 and Megan 1. When Michael had his first birthday party, he stared receiving so many birthday cards, since he was the first grandchild, and I didn't want to throw them away. I went to Wal Mart and bought a blank journal book. I pasted his invitation on the first page, who we invited on the second, and pasted his birthday cards in the book. We then had a "secretary" to write down what he received for his birthday and who gave it ( a great referral for thank you's). We also had the guests sign the book and write something to him. We also pasted the pictures from the party and his father and I also wrote down details and bloopers from the parties. He loves to look at his old birthday books and gets so tickled. - Thanks to Todd, Rose, Michael and Megan.

Detective Party
My son's 6 year old birthday party last year was amazing. I had a "Detective Party", with a subpoena for an invitation, a dead body tracing for a tablecloth, "Police Line - Do Not Cross" tape with black and yellow balloons as decorations, and a mystery to solve with clues to follow. We also had a cake designed as handcuffs, and the kids were outfitted with "detective" gear - handcuffs, magnifying glass, disguise glasses with the nose and moustache and a sheriff's badge. We did a craft that was a hand tracing and fingerprinted each child. We had a GREAT time. My fiance is a police officer, so he and his Sergeant arrived in police cruisers and let the kids climb through the cars and turn on the lights. As you can see, a lot of work was put into it and it was terrific! - Thanks Claire in Kanata, Ontario.

More Clifford
For my son's fourth birthday we did Clifford, the Big Red Dog. I hand-made invitations in the shape of a dog bone and mailed them in red envelopes. I made a dog house out of a huge cardboard box, spray-painted red, and added the name "Clifford" to the entry way. When the kids first arrived, they had their nose painted black, and they received "Clifford" ears which I made out of red felt and black elastic. We took polaroid pictures of each child standing next to the dog house and they received doggie treats (fruit roll ups) placed in a doggie bowl I bought from the dollar store. The pictures were placed on a red display board. For the games one child at a time sat in the center of a circle blindfolded as we passed a dog bone (dollar store) around to the tune of "doggie doggie where's you bone? someone took it from your home. Clifford, Clifford, where could it be? it's Jason's turn to guess and see". We also played "fetch the stick". We placed over 200 popsicle sticks in our backyard and the child with the most sticks at the end of the song "Who Let the Dogs Out?" was the winner. We gave out Clifford hand puppets, Clifford book markers, and Clifford books. I baked cookies in the shape of a dog and dog bones for the red goody bags labeled as "doggie bags". - Thanks to Bridget in Dallas.

Previous Page
Next Page
Back to the Party Idea Page

Party Themes ~ Party Ideas ~ Favors and Fun Stuff ~ Party Planning
The Cookie Jar ~ Good Stuff to Eat ~ Top it Off
Family Sites ~ Things We Can Learn From a Dog ~ There Yet? ~ Photo Album
Contact Us ~ Order Info ~ FAQ ~ Shipping ~ Home