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WHERE TO FIND PARTY GOODS
Games
Party Tips
Birthday Party Stuff
Party Prizes and Goody Bags
Themes
Kids' Party Games
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PARTY GAMES
You should plan age-appropriate games to be played at the birthday party. There are some that last through time and can be
modified as the birthday person grows older. Many are easy to make, and try using your imagination - that's where most of the
game ideas for my daughter's birthday parties have come from. Here are some ideas to pull from:
Pin the tail. When my daughter was 3, I drew a 3 foot Eeyore with pastels, and separately, an Eeyore tail with the little red bow on it. I cut
out the tail and sprayed all of it with fixative to keep the pastel from smearing. For years "Pin the Tail on Eeyore" was the
game played at her parties - now he's a memory to be passed down to her children. Any type of picture with a missing piece that needs
to be pinned on will work - any theme. Get a bandana or blindfold, turn the child around a couple times, and have him or her
pin the piece on - use tape or the blue tack for hanging posters - not thumbtacks or pins. The tack works best - tape sticks and
can tear.
Baby Shower Theme Party Packs™
- Games, decoration tips, ideas, food, special touches, favor ideas to match your theme!
Ball Toss. I drew a Jack-o-lantern on orange felt, and cut it out - just drew the facial features on without cutting them out. Then I
took a 99 cent box of ping-pong balls and thin strips of self adhesive Velcro (the hook side) and glued them to the balls,
quartering them in pattern. Pinning the Jack-o-lantern to the wall, we had a ball toss to see if anyone could hit the pumpkin
on a facial feature, and if it hit the part of the ball that would stick. The kids always had a blast with it. We have adjusted
the game for many occasions - a green felt Christmas tree, white dog bone, and the list can go on and on.
Spider web or Maze Hunt. We've played "spider-web" where I ran long strings, intertwining them in places, with a child's name attached to one end, and
a prize on the other end - each child had to find the correct path to his or her prize, following the string.
One year the theme is
a dog party - so we'll cut strands of string and soak them so they have a smell - some in cinnamon, some in other smelly but not
gross liquids - and each child will pick a string with a scent - then follow the jagged trail of scented strings - to find what's at the
end of her smelly trail. So she will not be following someone else's smelly trail - and see which "dog" is the best sniffer.
Treat Bobbing. You can hang a string with a donut or some other edible treat tied to it, and then the kids, with their hands behind their back,
try to eat the entire treat from the string - it's pretty funny since the string keeps moving. For a dog party, use dog bone cookies,
or you can tie long gummy worms, or some other theme type treat - try to make sure that it's not something that will fall apart and
off the string. Hilarious for all ages! Of course there is bobbing for apples or other things - but the water gets full of
germs shared between kids - this is better since each has his or her own donut or treat.
Pinatas
are always fun - and they can be filled with
small gumball machine type toys
 or candy. If you don't want so many
sweets, try the small toys.
Or Make Your Own Pinata!
Scavenger Hunts are great, too. Give each child a list of things to find - tell them the limitations of where to look, though,
as in which rooms of the house, whose house they can approach, which park, etc. Supervise them so they don't go farther than you
want, and make sure no strange cars are driving nearby. Rather than sending them to other's homes - list things they can find in the yard -
a 3 inch stick, the biggest leaf, a clover flower, an ant, things you hide in the yard, etc. Give them a time limit so all will
bring back their items by the deadline time you set - and see whose list is most complete with the correct finds (perhaps some sticks
were close to 3 inches long, but one may be exactly the right length).
Bean Bag Toss. We always draw up a cardboard theme and cut holes here & there according to what the scene is - for a bean bag toss. Prop the
board up so it will stand up to their throws. You can draw a clown with a hole for a mouth, and holes for tears in his clothes. You
can do a pumpkin with holes for mouth, nose & eyes. You can draw an animal with holes for eyes, nose, paws, etc. Use your imagination!
Board Games. Get out some spectator board games (unless there are 6 or less kids - then a board game works so no one feels left out), like
Twister, or Pictionary, or some other game that involves everyone.
Word Scramble. Write a theme phrase, like for a chocolate party, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" - then have the kids come up with as
many other words as they can from using letters in the phrase. For the above, for example, they can write "fill" and
"wait" and "week" and "cocoa" - and the list goes on.
Crafts. Have the kids do a craft that they can keep - something to do with the party theme is good - use your imagination or
take a trip down the craft aisle at
Walmart
or Jo-Anne's
 to get some ideas.
Off to the Races. Buy small rolling cars and build ramps and other ways to race them. Or buy the little "frogs" that flip and jump
when you push the tail part down - race them from one side of the room to another.
The Old Standby's. Of course, for little kids or for time fillers - there are always the games of "Musical Chairs" or
"Duck, Duck, Goose" or "Seven Up" etc. You can always play a movie, as well, or a half hour video of a Pooh show or other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PARTY THEME IDEAS
If you think of a birthday theme to follow, then many of the details are easier to figure out. The types of decorations and games are
easier to figure out when following a theme for the birthday party. Here are some examples:
Princess party - crowns, costumes, scepters, wands, Disney Princesses, castles, etc.
Dog party - dog ears, pin the tail on the dog, dog bone cookies, broken cookies in dog bowls for dog chow, dog bone pinata,
hot dogs and "pizza! pizza! pizza!", best bark, catch paper plate "frisbees"
Pirate party - complete with costumes, a treasure chest, boat sail, "gold" coins, pirate movie or
games (find the hidden treasure, etc.).
Jungle party - climbing games, Tarzan stuff, swing on a rope, bananas, monkey imitations, gymnastics
Create your own stuff party - cupcakes to decorate, get out the blenders with ice cream and yogurt and fruits and chocolate
syrup etc. - create sundaes and smoothies and milkshakes, have crafts out
If you take the kids to an activity, plan the theme around it - roller skating might be 50's with poodle skirts and
burgers skated to the kids, or if a gymnastics party - make it an Olympics complete with ribbons or gold medals. For a
climbing wall - make the rest of the theme centered around the jungle.
Death by Chocolate Party
We'll keep adding more ideas, but hopefully you'll figure out how to come up with your own.
Hawaiian Themes
More Themes
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PARTY PRIZES AND GOODY BAGS
Most kids give out goody bags at parties - some candy and/or toys to say "thank you for coming to my party" - it need
not be elaborate, but some people will always try to outdo someone else. You'll also want some simple prizes
for the contests you run, although you shouldn't make the top prizes so great that it hurts the other kids - make
sure there are lots of prizes for all the runners up (everyone should get a prize).
Birthday Prize Ideas at SmileMakers
Lots of goody bag and prize ideas at U.S. Toy -
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