Parties

Farm Themed Birthday Party

Activities

• We played "Pin-the-Tail on the Donkey", which really had no clear winner. Almost all tails were put on backwards - even the ones put on by peekers!

• We played "Pig Round-up". We had a dozen pink balloons with pigs drawn on them that got out of their pen (the couch)! The kids had to round them up and put them back in. As they did so, the pigs magically kept escaping (with a little help from the Mamashunga). This game was intended to be played outside, but unfortunately the weather did not co-operate.

• We had a chick race with wind-up chicks. The kids raced them on a table, and then decided that a larger racing area was needed and moved on to the kitchen floor. 

• We had a storytime. I read them "Farm Flu" by Teresa Bateman.

• We made farm animal puppets and played with them in a barn puppet theatre.

• I had also intended to do sack races, but again, the weather was a factor.
• I had a few bean bags for a bean bag toss into an apple basket as a back-up game.

Food

• Chicken feed (Bits 'n Bites) Served in a pail, with a trowel.
• Cheese cubes also served in a bucket.
• Devilled Chicks (complete with diabolical red pepper eyes and mouths), served in a plastic egg carton.
• Garden Patch veggie platter, with hummus.
• Pigs in a blanket. 'nuff said.
• And Cake. A tractor cake of course.

Decor

Well, thank goodness for Dollarama. Almost every single thing we used in our party decor was courtesy of the dollar store, which included:

• black and white checkered tablecloth (and a red and white checkered tablecloth for the craft table)
• I never thought the grass tiles used for Tootie's flower party would get a second use, but voila! 
• Set of three metal flower pots.
• Mini red solo cups for dip.

The table was also littered with animals and tractors. 

The house had bunches of red, yellow, green and blue balloons suspended every where. And I grabbed all the tractors from the house and stuck them all over the party area.

Extras

I picked up a couple meters of cotton red and white checkered fabric on clearance at the fabric store. I made the minis each a party favour bag and a farming bandana. I'm aware that that may be more of a cowboy thing, but man were they ever cute. I also sewed some matching beanbags and still have a bit left over.

As party favours, each attendee kept their wind-up chick (also from the dollar store) and got to select a tractor off the table from lunch.

Garden Themed Birthday Party

Activities

• We painted flower pots; 

• Then we took them outside and planted amaryllis bulbs in them.

• We played musical chairs (non-elimination style) I taped a different flower to each chair and when the music stopped, I pulled a flower from a bowl. That child got an M&M, then we played another round. I got this game from an amazing mom-friend of mine,and it works with any theme imaginable. 
• We also did another arts and crafts activity where the kids used stickers, markers and paint to make their own garden.

Food

• Flower-shaped sandwiches - I used a cookie cutter to cut some flower shapes out of ham and cheese sandwiches. I also served tuna and egg salad sandwiches
• Cheese cubes -  served with some flower picks
• Carrot sticks, Cucumber spears and cherry tomatoes - Served in oversized wine glasses
• CAKE - I made a garden "pinata" cake (see Tutorial page for a how-to)

Decor

My mamashunga-in-law had a giant sack full of artificial flowers that she lent us. I placed all of our potted plants in the party area and also purchased a couple of bouquets of fresh flowers. 

I hung bunches of pink, purple and green balloon all over the party area.

For the cups, I wrapped washi tape around the cup, then hot-glued an artificial flower on top.

I found some fake grass floor tiles at the dollar store that I used as placemats. Some floating flower candles, garden lanterns and tiny wooden bird houses rounded out the table decor.

Extras

I picked up some kids gardening kits from Canadian Tire that were on clearance at the end of the season. Each child got one as a party favour, along with their flower pot and amaryllis.

Our invitations were simple flowers, with the informations printed on the centres.

Monster Themed Halloween Party for Kids 2013

Once again this year, my family hosted a Halloween party for wee ones. Every year, I choose a theme and plan a bunch of activities based on that theme. This year was monsters. In planning my party, it would have been beneficial to know that one of our little guests had a serious aversion to monsters. Terrified of them, really. The poor child spent a good deal of time cowering between his mother’s knees while the other kids pinned the eyeball on the monster. Ahhh, hindsight.  Next year, I plan to check out the fear factor with the attendees before planning it all out. But I digress.

Our guests had some pretty adorable costumes!

My Monster themed Halloween party went a bit like this: I wrote a letter to the party goers, informing them that monsters had invaded the house. The monsters were hiding and had devious plans to keep the members of our household awake at night. In order to get the monsters to leave, the children needed to follow a series of clues and perform the activity that they found with each hidden monster.

**I am going to TRY to attach a link below with the poems that I wrote to accompany the monsters. It should be noted that I am no Edgar Allan Poe. My criteria were for the lines to rhyme. Somewhat.

Snacks

• Mummy juice – (I wrapped a couple of large boxed-shaped juice containers in tape and glued on a couple of googly eyes)
• Monster mouths – I halved some apples, cut away the seeds and core bits, then filled them with peanut butter. I stuck in some almond slivers for teeth.
• Carrots and cucumbers – I placed some simple dips in skull shaped containers to be served with this veggie tray.
• Black grapes and cantaloupe – some festive coloured healthy options
• Goldfish – I mixed some Giant goldfish with the regular cheddar flavoured ones for some variety
• Homemade party mix – I know that there are lots of ready-made party mixes out there. I decided I wanted to make my own to make sure that it had everything that I liked. I threw in Ringolos, Fritos, pretzels, honey roasted peanuts, Cheetos and some candy corn for a more festive feel.
• CAKE! –No party is complete without cake. My cake had a purple and an orange layer on the inside.

Activities

Make-a-Monster - The first monster was under our bed and leaning against a cauldron full of art supplies. The kids brought it back to the living room and exploded their creativity into monsters on paper plates. I had eyeballs, construction paper, stickers, markers, crayons and feathers.

Feed the Monster beanbag Toss - The second monster was in my daughter’s closet, with a bunch of beanbags. I had made a monster out of Bristol board and cut a hole out of the side of a large box. I glued.

Monster Bowling - The third monster was under my son’s bed, along with our Melissa & Doug monster bowling game. We set ‘em up and knocked ‘em down in the kitchen.

Pin the Eyeball on the Monster - The fourth monster was with a bunch of eyeballs to be stuck on an eyeless monster already taped to the wall downstairs. A couple of observant children had already remarked that said monster was missing eyeballs, surely thinking me quite incompetent in my decorating skills. The children enjoyed playing pin the eyeball on the monster because - how could you possibly get it wrong?

Monster Mash - The fifth and final monster sent the children to the tv. We grooved to the Monster Mash on Just Dance. If you don’t have a Wii, you can do what we did, and find it on YouTube! We hooked up the laptop to the tv with an HDMI cable and voilà!