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For an art themed party:
Pick up some dollar store coloring books and crayons. Lay the box of crayons on top of the coloring book and roll it up with a ribbon.
You can also give watercolor paints and paintbrushes.
HINT: If you buy these items during back-to-school shopping season, they can be really cheap. We get bottles of elmer’s glue and boxes crayons for 25cents at Wal Mart every August-September. I end up spending like $40 a year and we NEVER EVER EVER run out. In fact, I’m thinking w might skip the notebooks this year. We usually get 2 cases (48 notebooks) and we have about half a case left this year, I guess that’s off topic. Anyway, these notebooks are usually ten cents each but this year they’re 15 cents, which is still a LOT cheaper than the #notbacktoschool price at any drug or grocery store, which is anywhere from $1-$4.
An artist’s smock or apron
A set of high quality acrylic starter paints
A potato and a cookie cutter, with instructions for making potato stampers
Have you ever wondered how to plan a slumber party? Sleepovers can be a lot of fun for kids. I remember the worst slumber party I ever went to as a child was one where the girl’s mother actually tucked us into bed at 8:30 p.m. What was she thinking? I was bored stiff. The fun of a sleepover is NOT SLEEPING.
We have a few tips for planning slumber parties
1- have a second room where kids can go to sleep if they’re too tired to stay with the up-all-night crowd
2- offer nutritious foods as well as junk food. You might be surprised that kids like real food, don’t underestimate them.
3- rent a few movies, the latest releases or golden oldies that kids might never have seen before, or have girls bring their favorites
4- have a high energy activity available, like a trampoline, swimming or a dance video
5- don’t make them be quiet or sleep, period. No one will attend the next sleepover. Give up on any notion of sleep that you may have. I’ll never forget the time I awoke to “we will we will rock you. stomp stomp clap” at 4am. I rolled over & went back to sleep, feeling a little grumpy. The following week, my girls were the stars, as everyone said it was the best sleepover they had EVER been to.
6- plan for an early pick-up time. Because you’ll need a nap. Let the girls know that their parents need to pick them up by 9am.
7- If they’re doing facials or makeovers, make sure that you designate an area that’s easy to clean up. Unless you don’t mind nail polish on your couch.
8. Plan a scavenger hunt.
Andrea’s slumber party became a defining moment in her relationship with her mother, when Jessica realized that her daughter was truly grateful to be alive.
Jules survived his daughter’s slumber party and made a very important observation; little girls talk constantly.
Meagan’s Slumber Party
Meagan invited girls from her Junior Girl Scout troop for a combination slumber party and food preparation badge. They did all of the planning for the badge and executed it all overnight, culminating in a restaurant at pick-up time.
SD’s mom had a hard time letting her baby (9) go off to her first sleepover but she did great, surviving two back-to-back nights of slumber party fun.
Bug themes are popular for preschoolers and boys, but don’t overlook ladybugs, dragonflies and butterflies for a little girl’s party either
Bug party Entertainment
look for local bug enthusiasts, if you have an agricultural research center nearby, a college entomologist or just a neighbor who collects bugs would all be good choices for entertainment.
Big party Foods
Chocolate covered ants, ants on a log, grasshopper cookies, lollipops with worms inside, there are a lot of edible bugs and food that just has bug names or looks buggy
Bug Party Decorations
Stack foam cups together loosely and use them for caterpillars, They’re lightweight and can hang from the ceiling. use a paper disposable worl for the face and paint them with spray acrylic paint (don’t use spray paint on styrofoam, it will disintegrate into a toxic mess.)
Bug Party Activities
You can use these free plans from Lowes to build bug boxes with scrap wood and window screens. You can also make bug traps (yellow cardstock covered in maple syrup) to hang from a tree.
Bug Party Invitations
Several online vendors sell bug themed invitations, when you’re browsing our sponsored vendors, look for things like ladybugs, butterflies, worms and crickets. You might also want to use a frog. you can make invitations, a popup card would be fun with a bug theme. check out our invitation making guide for tricks you can do with paper to make homemade invitations.
Bug Birthday Cakes
Try our caterpillar cupcakes on the cupcake page, otherwise you can make a beehive cake and decorate it with plastic bumblebees. a cake of grass with a fondant picnic blanket would be adorable with little plastic ants.
No cupcakes in the classroom. For homeschool families, birthday parties are a different story. Accommodating the needs of a homeschooled birthday party can be complicated. With friends in several different age groups, and stronger sibling ties, many homeschooled families have birthday parties that look very different from the ones we’re used to seeing. Learn what I (A homeschooling mother of six) have learned about homeschool birthday parties over the years.
Let Kids Help Plan Parties
Enlist the help of siblings in decorating. Your homeschooled kid will be impressed with the grandeur of a house that looks different and splendid, and the other children will enjoy serving their sibling and creating a spectacle. Kids feel special waking up on their birthday to a decorated house. Let the siblings stay up late decorating the night before.
Cheap Birthday Planning
Create a birthday box filled with decorations, paper plates and cups. Buy them on clearance, and at discount. Birthdays arrive every year on a predictable schedule, there’s no reason to shop at the last minute. Most homeschoolers are a one-income family and I think it’s just courteous to the person bringing home the income.
Birthday Party Social Skills
Allow your homeschooler to invite several of his or her friends to the house or to the park for a birthday party. You might be surprised when they ask to invite kids of all ages, and even adults. One great reason for homeschooling is to provide children with reality-based socialization, so don’t be tempted to edit their invite list to meet your school-based vision of what a birthday party should be.
Birthday Party Games & Activities
Create a list of games and activities for the party. Ask you child to help you determine what kinds of things they’d like to do. You can make homemade bowling games with empty 2 liter bottles. You can have a dance contest, you can do arts and crafts projects together. Many kids just want to play in the yard and visit.
Party favors for a Homeschool Birthday Party
Give your child a budget for party favors. Be creative about the gift bags, instead of just buying the plastic party favors that everyone knows are wasteful, consider a box of crayons, markers or other art supplies. Crafts kits are also popular. If your party has a theme, then choose items that coincide with your party’s theme. Our popular bug party. plans include directions for making a bug-catching box that can be used as a party favor or an activity.
Homeschool Birthday Party Tip:
Make homemade thank-you cards from the heart, and be sure that your child sends them out to his or her friends after the party. If you’ve taken pictures during the party, or if you’ve got a photo of the birthday kid enjoying their gift, include it with the card.Have one of your other children videotape the present-opening or keep a list of who gave which gift, so that the information is available when it’s time to send thank-you’s.
Recognizing the differences between a homeschool birthday party and a traditional birthday party can give you the freedom to plan wisely, scheduling a time that works best for all of your guests and activities that are designed to cater to the wide variety of age groups and attention spans that make up your favorite families.
Is your teen or tween wanting a manicure spa makeover party? Before you start inviting people, you might want to learn a little more about manicures. These tips come straight from my manicurist.
Manicure Party Tips
• Massage olive oil into your cuticles instead of cuticle oil. Olive oil has the same molecular shape & size as human sebum, so it truly hydrates & protects your skin
• Combine one part honey and two parts sugar for a great at-home exfoliating foot scrub. it works best if your skin is moist and hydrated, so apply it after a foot soak
• If you mess up while polishing, don’t sweat it. Allow the nails (mess up and all) to dry and then use a qtip with polish remover to go over it. Make sure that the remover doesn’t drip onto the polished surface, either keep it fairly dry or turn the fingers (or toes0 to the side, so that the drip drips in the opposite direction.
• Avoid overtrimming the toenails, the ideas shape is flat at the tip (not rounded) and extends almost to the tip of the toe. Trimming them too short can encourage overgrowth and lead to infection from an ingrown toenail.
• Here in California, professional manicurists must soak metal instruments in rubbing alcohol for at least ten minutes in order to prevent the spread of nail fungus. Other states mandate different soak times, and some states mandate that they be sterilized with heat, in an autoclave oven. For home parties, just get each girl their own take-home manicure kit, I’ve seen them at dollar stores.
• Finally, always use a base coat when painting your nails, this protects your nail beds and prevents it from being stained. It also creates a nice even surface for polish to adhere to.
A carnival theme is popular for birthdays
Carnival Party Invitations
make it look like a carnival flyer using a desktop publishing program
send them “tickets” to your carnival party
Carnival Party Foods
cotton candy
popcorn
funnel cakes
deep fried anything
corn dogs
corn on the cob
hamburgers
frozen bananas
Carnival Party Decorations
use cotton candy bags to cover the wall so it looks like a cotton candy stand
use a roll of red butcher paper and make it look like curtains
make a “big top” with red and white streamers
Homemade Carnival Party Games
ring toss
pop bottle bowling
dart throwing
bean bag tossing games
throwing ping pong balls into fishbowls
basketball
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For less than the cost of a bakery cake…  Frosted Dreams is cool enough on its own, but even better with my fondant recipe
FREE RECIPE:
My Amazing Birthday Cake Fondant Recipe seriously, it's so yummy and sometimes I make it JUST to eat. |
