Boo Bash - a Recap

Our Boo Bash was fantastic.  We had 22 kids plus parents attend and the party was rocking!
As guests entered I took their picture at the Photo area we had set up.

Then they were directed around back for some beverages and food inside.

  

After most of the guests arrived we started playing games with the kids

Pin the Nose on Jack (o' Lantern)

        
Cupcake/Treat Walk:

Spider Web Bulls Eye

Ring Around The Pumpkin

Bobbing For Apples:

The Candy Bar was a huge hit.  To keep it organized we divided the kids by age and let them “Trick or Treat” at the candy bar.

 

 

And some close up’s from the cupcake & treat table:

I loved how our candy corn tissue poms came out:

and the Ghost lanterns

The party was such a hit and I know the guests enjoyed themselves!

Alice's Adventure to Wonderland

My granddaughter wants an Alice in Wonderland party for her 7th Birthday ... but not the traditional Disney cartoon version, she wants a Tim Burton live action Alice in Wonderland party.  The movie is her new favorite right now. She even wants to have an Alice costume like the one above for Halloween, so I plan on sewing one up this month.  Since I have been looking at pictures and blogs to get inspiration for the costume, I thought I would begin doing all the pre-searching for party idea's as well. It's never to early to start the planning, right? Especially when we have 2 parties next month, a shower in November, then Christmas, and my grandson's 9th Birthday in January.

I found some party idea's, fun games and favors from Party Animal's Blog.

Originally my granddaughter wanted an "Out Party", which means one somewhere other then home. My daughter did some inquiring and there is a new place in town called Wild Imagination where the kids could paint tea cups and have a tea party afterwards. Though this is a great idea and would mean less work for us, I hope to persuade her to have one at the house instead. If am I unsuccessful, the favors and maybe the musical teacup game would be something we could take there.

Painted Teacups: To incorporate the Out Party with our In Party, I found a number of kits available for the kids to paint. They can go home with their own personal teacup they created.

The Favors - I loved the idea of a book bag, which can either be a plain gift bag, or as I tend to always do, take it a step further and actually make some out of canvas. They can be picked up at Micheal's for a couple dollar's, painted or appliqued with embellishments for the occasion. We'll see how creative I get between now and then. Her bookmarks are surely something my daughter will be able to create with no problem at all. In the bag she put a drink (Drink Me), a cookie (Eat Me) and a copy of the book with the bookmark (Read Me).

Flamingo Croquet - What better game to play then croquet, just like in the movie. This will surely be a lot of fun. I already have a croquet set so all I have to do is tweak it a bit.

Either we can buy some of these plastic guys or check out these from Kara's Party Blog and her guest party that had these cute flamingo's. I might be able to get grandpa to make one or two of these. Maybe searching the Internet will also be helpful. Making the wire tunnels into cards won't be hard at all. Some cardboard paper and paint will do the trick.

Tea Cup Races – I love this game idea. With teams, each team gets a tea cup and has to race to the other end, trying not to spill their tea (water) along the way and fill either a teapot or bucket. The first to do so wins. Another idea, since we plan to have our craft be the girls painting teacups, they could use their own teacup they made earlier.


We love music games as well so how about...

Musical Tea Party - Instead of musical chairs and the kids running around them, use teacups. On the bottom of one of the teacups place a sticker. Start the music and the kids begin passing the teacups around the table. When the music stops, the one holding the teacup with the sticker, leaves the table. Remove a teacup and start the music again.

How could I pass up this party game idea...our 'Grands' love bubbles, and what kid doesn't.

Catepillar’s Bubble Blowing Contest – Just like the Caterpillar (Absolem) who likes to smoke his Hookah, and is always blowing his smoke around, the kids can blow bubbles. Instead of smoke, like dah, we will use bubble solution. Instructing them to blow slow to form as big a bubble as they can until all the kids have had a chance. With each kid, they are measured by Alice (an adult). When one blows a bubble bigger then the child before, that child remains standing to be compared to the next child's attempt. At Animal Party, she used bubble gum. I like the idea of regular bubbles though and I figured out, we can use a Hookah and fill the dish on the top with the bubble solution and stick a bubble wand in the end of the tube. I went even further with my idea and decided I would make a big caterpillar to sit by it as well. After all, it's all about the props, right!  One of the body pillows, banded ever so often, a bit of paint, some embellishing and Walla!

Since this party isn't until March, I have plenty of time to make, paint, and create all the pops to turn our yard into a wonderland.

http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com/2010/07/alice-in-wonderland-tea-party.html

Parties from the Past: Pirate Party

For my son's 6th birthday he was at the height of his pirate phase. When it was time to pick a theme for his birthday it was no surprise that it was a pirate themed birthday he chose. My first step as usual was to create the invitation. I had a lot of fun finding the wording and changing it to fit our party and activities.

I will admit that my cake didn't turn out exactly how I planned. The cake was just too moist to carve the treasure chest. Luckily candy can hide a multitude of mistake's., and still tastes great.

The morning of the party my two swashbuckling pirates got all dressed up and posed with the decorations for grandma.

 

Everything was set up for the pirate invasion. The table in the middle of the yard is where lunch would be served. It also doubled as a tattoo shop for our pirate guests.

 

Once everyone arrived it was time for the first activity.   The search for gold coins that the pirates lost on the beach.  Even the littlest guest was able to participate in this game.

 

Then it was time to walk the plank.  We set up a balance beam over a blue tablecloth so that the kids had to walk over the water without falling in.  It is much harder than it looks when you have an eye patch on!

 

Then they needed to swab the deck.  We purchased cheap string mops at the dollar store and painted Styrofoam balls black to look like cannon balls.  We divided all the pirates into two teams and had relay races.

Then our Captain was delivered a special message from Grandpa the Pirate.  His treasure had been taken and hidden!  They unrolled the map and began their treasure hunt.

 

 

After their treasure had been found (and a mess of gold foil littered the beach) it was time for the piñata.  I am not sure where this HUGE wooden stick came from that the birthday pirate used, but it was quickly swapped out for a regular bat for the rest of the pirates.

 

The pirates then sat down for some lunch and cake before we opened presents and said goodbye.  All the kids went hope with their treasure bags full of gold coins, pirate bandanas, eye patches, tatoos and LOTS of candy!