Archive for Party Themes
Kaboodle Kits for Kids – Cooking Parties
Posted by: | CommentsIf there is one thing kids love more than cooking, it’s cooking with their friends! The Kaboodle Kids Cooking Kit is not only great as a birthday present but also as the basis of a fantastic birthday party. They love to get messy knowing that there will be something tasty at the end of it.
Here are some helpful tips for running a cooking party:
1. Keep the numbers small. Depending on the size of your kitchen and the age of your guests this party idea is better suited to a small group of 2 to 6 children. (2 kits would be needed for higher numbers)
2. Accept before hand that this is going to be a messy activity and there is no way around it. Flour fights are inevitable and fun, especially if started by mum!
Games:
The Kids Cooking Kits feature a gingerbread man recipe card and cookie cutter. Here are some fun games to compliment the Gingerbread man theme.
1. ‘You Can’t Catch Me, I’m the Gingerbread Man”. You can put a twist on the classic game of Red Rover by having the children on the sideline yell out “Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man” before trying to outrun the chosen chaser.
2. “Hot Gingerbread Man”. Here is another twist on a classic game. Pre-make a gingerbread man so that it has had time to cool down. Have the children stand around in a circle and toss the “Hot, hot gingerbread man” quickly around, with music playing in the background. Turn your back to the circle so that the game is fair, and stop the music. Whoever is holding the gingerbread man when the music stops is out. The last person left is the winner.
3. “Who stole the gingerbread man” – Set up a treasure hunt where children have to solve clues for hidden gingerbread men that you have pre-made.
Cooking parties are messy fun. With the help of Kaboodle Kits for Kids, they are now easy to do, too.
Book Themed Parties.
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Books are where imaginations begin and a book-themed party is an easy and fun way to create a birthday memory that will last a lifetime.
Tips for a Book Themed Party:
1. Choosing a Book Theme: Pick a book that allows for simple to make costume options for parents. Princesses, the circus, super heroes and animals are always popular choices.
2. Invitations and Decorations: If you’re not the crafty type don’t worry! Our collection of goodies makes it easy to put together complete sets of pre-made party invitations and decorations.
3. Games: It’s easy to put a twist on traditional birthday party games to incorporate your book theme. Here’s a few ideas based on some of our books:
- The Chocolate Game: This classic game is one where even the grown ups will want to join in! To tie in with your book theme choose a related costume e.g. a cape and mask for a Super Hero party
- Musical Chairs: Rather than just walk around the chairs have the children act as the character they are dressed as e.g. ballerinas would twirl
- Reading the Story: Practice reading the story before hand to pick up key areas where you can interact with your young audience. Let the birthday boy or girl have a seat at the front next to you. After all with a personalised book, especially on their birthday, it’s all about them.
- ‘Hunt for the Cake’ will see the children following clues to find the birthday cake. Try to incorporate the theme in your clues e.g. “The circus master has hidden the cake!”
4. Food and Cake: You don’t need to exhaust yourself with making sure every piece of food is themed. Arranging fruit on a platter or icing plain biscuits into a character shape are quick and easy ways of bringing the theme to the table. Then just add in the Birthday cake and your child’s favourite party foods.
Halloween Party Food Ideas
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Would you like to try some boo-tiful Halloween treats? Witch ghoulish recipes do you like the best?
If you are having Halloween party (and let’s admit it, dressing up and going all out does sound like a lot of fun!) set the scene with some yummy and fun foods with a scary twist! Whether for kids or adults, these ideas will suit all ages and your guests will think they are truly gruesome goodies.
- Toffee Apples – Apples are a traditional Halloween food, and the old-fashioned game of bobbing for apples is still popular now. Buy or make bright red toffee apples for an eye-catching terrifying treat.
- Halloween Spider Cupcakes – make cupcakes and allow to cool. Cover with black icing and use liquorice straps to make the legs then add green smarties for eyes.
- Bat wings – simply oven bake or BBQ chicken wings marinated in soy or other sauce.
- Eyeballs – a healthy treat, but they look truly scary! Get a dried apple ring (a bit wrinkly gives a good effect), a piece of dried apricot and a sultana or dried cranberry in the middle.
- Marshmallow Ghosts and Monsters – stick some marshmallows on some lollypop sticks and freeze for 15 minutes. Dip them in white melted chocolate (white for ghosts or mummies, add green colouring for Frankenstein and orange for jack-o-lanterns), then stick them in a Styrofoam block to set. As they are hardening, use black decorating gel to draw on some spooky faces.
- Halloween themed biscuits – use a basic biscuit recipe, but use Halloween–inspired cookie cutters, such as bats or ghosts, witches hats etc.
Use your imagination and you can re-create any of your favourite party foods into monstrous munchies
Picnic Parties
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Having a picnic party outdoors can be a refreshing change from the traditional indoors party. Kids love being outdoors and having space to run around and have fun together. And it’s good for you too, no messy footprints, hand prints or spilled drinks.
You can hold the picnic party at a park, reserve, playground or even in your backyard. But remember, you will need to have a back-up plan in case of bad weather.
Set up beside a large tree for shade, or claim some covered picnic tables. You won’t need many decorations, as the outdoors is your decoration! Keep it simple: some gingham tablecloths, picnic blankets and perhaps a few balloons.
Here are a few ideas on the picnic party theme:
- Teddy bears picnic – a great little party idea for younger kids or toddlers (make sure you ask your guests to bring their favourite teddy bear along!)
- Tea party picnic – have a cute little plastic or enamel tea set so all the guests can sit around and drink “tea” (cordial or juice), eat cupcakes and other party food.
- “Outdoor critters” theme party such as ladybugs, ants or other bugs.
- Kite picnic party – fly kites and play “musical kites”.
- Playground party – this is probably the easiest party to host for kids, the playground equipment will keep them entertained and you will only need a couple of party games.
For your picnic party, you can have games like good old pass the parcel, bring a Frisbee to throw, or sack races. A fantastic game for an outdoor picnic is a piñata – here is a great video on how to make one.
If you are going to be outdoors, remember the kids will need hats – and you will also need to pack things like water, garbage bags, sunscreen and insect spray to protect you from those real outdoor critters!
Party Crafts
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Coffee Filter Butterflies
Throw a fun and memorable birthday party with a difference and include some craft activities. The kids will love it and be able to take their own masterpiece home.
Make sure you either write on the invites to wear older clothes or use water-washable paints and glues so good party clothes don’t get ruined.
Depending on the group and age of your party-goers, you can either focus on one simple activity or include art and craft as a theme of the birthday party.
You will find some really clever craft Kits for Kids over at Kaboodle - just perfect for parties.
Here is a lovely little activity based for ages 3yrs and over that I found at EHow. They have some other great suggestions there too, so go over and have a look.
Coffee Filter Butterflies
Instructions:
- Give each child a white paper coffee filter or 2 if you have the small ones , a tray of watercolours (the cheap ones in little circle plastic containers you can buy cheap discount stores), a cup of water, a paint brush, half a black pipe cleaner and a paper plate.
- Using the paper plate as a tray each child decorates the coffee filter in a rainbow butterfly of colours. Smaller kids might need help with mixing the colours so their butterfly doesn’t end up looking like a mess!
- The filters will soak through and the colours will bleed together, so lay them down to dry on the plates.
- Help accordion-fold each filter, bend the pipe cleaner in half and clip it over the middle of the accordion.
- Twist the pipe cleaner to fasten and make two antennae and fan out the wings.
- Tie a loop of string around the twisted part of the pipe cleaner so the little artist can hang the butterfly when they go home. The watercolours can be then added to the party bags to take home.
What a fun way to keep little ones happy and occupied during the party. They love to create so this idea should be a big hit.
Using Candy as Decoration
Posted by: | CommentsI couldn’t go past this clip when I found it on YouTube. I had visions of Candy Land and Willy Wonka when I saw it. The ideas are simple and elegant but very colourful. I hope you enjoy the clip and pick up a few ideas.
Bubble Parties!
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Kids love bubbles, dont’ they? Yes, even adults love bubbles and it’s often quite competitive to see who can blow the largest bubble. Wouldn’t bubbles make a great party theme?
There are lots of food items that have bubbles in them – think about Aero chocolates and good old soft drink. Milk shakes have bubbles and if you add a straw the kids will soon blow lots more bubbles into the mix. Round-shaped foods and jelly rings look fantastic in this theme.
Activities are easy. Bubble mix and bubble wands taken outdoors will keep them busy for ages. You could hire an entertainer who specialises in bubbles. Sali Splat will show you bubbles that you will never forget. They are so big that you can stand right inside them.
You can buy your own bubble machines which will 
cost you around $30. They blow a continuous stream of bubbles out into the room. Just fill it with the liquid and turn it on.
Don’t forget about balloons, too. They are like the ultimate bubble. Lots of colours and lots of different shapes and put them in lots of different places!
Ball pits are fun and they look just like brightly coloured bubbles. They are fun to jump into!
Decorations are fun to make and your child can help to create them. Imagine paths of bubble wrap to walk on or wraps of it around door handles and places where little hands will touch. Imagine streamers of bubble wrap hanging from the roof!
The best thing about bubble parties is that they can be done outside and there is very little mess. Bubble blowing is a very cheap activity and it is suitable for children of all ages and for kids with a disability.
If you are looking for a fun theme that will keep the kids occupied and save your sanity why not try a bubble party?
(image by Jayson Kingsbeer)
Seeing Spots?
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s easy to choose a theme for your childs party. You don’t have to go into costumes and characters. Pick something simple. Why not have a spotty party? You can’t get much easier than this.
Spotty food, spotty decorations and spotty games are all fun and easy to create.
The food is easy. 100′s and 1000′s make spotty fairy bread and can decorate the tops of ice-cream or biscuits. Maltesers, smarties, fruit balls, meatball and even cheese balls are all round tasty bits. Decorate your cake and cupcakes with spots and serve them on spotty plates.
Thread colourful pom poms together for a spotty garland for decoration. Stick round stickers onto your glasses to add spots.
Ask your guests to wear something spotty. They can dress in spots or wear a bandana made of spotty material.
Twister is the ultimate spotty game but you could create games using spotty ribbons or be clever and design a ‘pin the spots on the dalmation’ game. Go crafty and let the kids make animals out of pom poms.
Finally, why not make a spotty cake? Bake it in the round! Imagine one big spot in the centre of the table just waiting to be eaten. You can buy ball shaped cake tins to help you get the shape. ( They are often used to create sports ball cakes) Just ice it all over with your chosen colour and add spots of different coloured icing or round jelly lollies.
Seeing spots can be fun. All you need is a little creativity.
The Pirate Party
Posted by: | CommentsThe Pirate Party is simple and fun to do and can suit both boys and girls. Since the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies were released the demand for pirate goods has increased.
A good pirate party has touches of adventure and fun. We have a great range of pirate products to make setting up your adventure very easy. Here are just a few.
Party Themes E-Book
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We are happy to bring you our new e-book simply called “Children’s Themed Parties“. We have had lots of people asking us for ideas on how to create a theme an carry it right through the whole party. Many had surfed the net looking for ideas only to become totally overwhelmed by it all.
Our “Children’s Themed Parties” e-book will save you time and many headaches. You can print it off to read or just read it online. It contains everything you need to know from how to word the invitations right through to party games.
It includes themes like “tea party’, ‘pirate’, ‘princess’ and more.
The e-book is now in our store so grab yourself a copy and make life easier for yourself.
