FIREMAN PARTY IDEAS

FIREMAN PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Check out your local scrapbook store for fire truck die cuts (or fire hydrant) to place on the front of your invite – Sound the alarms! Jess it turning 6!

• Use clipart of a firefighter, print on vellum sheet with part details below and lay over slightly larger sheet of red card stock – attach with orange raffia or ribbon – burn the edges of invite (carefully)

FIREMAN PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Take small bunches of red and orange tissue paper and put in small areas around your house to look like there is a fire

• As centerpieces, use stuffed toy dalmations or toy fire trucks with balloons tied to them

• use plastic fire hats turned upside down to hold chips or any dry foods

FIREMAN PARTY GAME IDEAS:

• Check with your local fire station – sometimes they come to birthday parties and give fire safety lessons to the kids – or sometimes you can go to the station also…

• Play a game of “Rescue the Pet” – put a kitten stuffed animal somewhere high where the kids have to make their way to it with slight difficulty (but safely)

• Jump through the rings of fire by applying red and orange tissue paper around the inside edges of a hula hoop and let the kids jump through it

• After the guest of honor blows out the birthday candles, let all the kids then make a wish and let go of a balloon (one per child) after making a wish of their own

• Fill tin cans on a shelf with red and orange tissue paper or cellophane coming out of the top. Give each guest a water gun and let them take turns shooting down the cans

• Play a game of Simon Says and use the “Stop, Drop & Roll” directions

• Rent a dalmation bounce house from your local bounce house company

• Split up the party into teams of 2 – give them a bucket full of water balloons – certain colors designated for certain teams – one person is tossing the water balloons into their teammates fire hat – play this outside! It gets messy but fun!

• Play a game of pin the tail on the dalmation

FIREMAN PARTY FAVOR IDEAS:

• Whistle, fire badges, red hot candies, Fireballs, Big Red gum

• Send out with your thank you cards a picture from the party – either group picture or individual picture of the guest in front of the fire engine

• Use metal water pails and you can paint FIRE in red on the front of it and fill with goodies

• Give out achievement certificates or badges to each guest honoring them as an Honorable Firefighter

• Give out fire hats and fire badges

• Use white handled gift bags and draw or paint small dalmation spots all over it to use as the goodie bag or piñata bag

• Use plastic fireman hats turned upside down, use yellow cellophane with goodies inside and tie it up with red curling ribbon and place into the fire hat for each guest’s favors

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY IDEAS

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Cut a large “1” out of colored card stock – write the birthday baby’s name on the front of the card and on the back, write the birthday details out

• Use clean and empty baby food jars as invitations by filling the jars with confetti or curling ribbon and making new labels for the outside of jar with picture of baby and party info.

• Cut out baby’s handprints on card stock – write your birthday message on one hand and the party details on the other – connect the hands with ribbon or yarn

• Tie one candle to your invitation

• Try a rubber-duckie/bathtime theme by taking a cute picture of your baby in the bathtub for the front of invitation along with the words “Rubber Duckie You’re the 1!” and on inside “To make Joey’s first birthday lots of fun!”

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Find a special spot for the highchair and decorate with lots of balloons and streamers with a special small cake for the birthday baby to eat with their hands

• Use a travel crib or a playpen for the guests to place their gifts into – decorate with balloons

• Get a large picture mat to hold a 5x7 photo and have it out on a table at the party with a marker for the guests to write a well-wish to the birthday baby (take a picture of the baby eating their birthday cake to frame)

• Have building blocks and lots of balls for babies to play with along with having sing-along music playing at the party

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY GAME IDEAS:

• Pass out pencils and papers with questions about the baby listed like weight at birth, length at birth, first word, when did he/she sleep through the night, etc. Whoever gets the most right wins! (great prize idea for this game is a framed picture of the baby)

• Ask all the guests to bring pictures of themselves as a baby for a game of “who’s who”

• Show about 15 minutes of a Baby’s First Year on video or play a photo montage on CD showing baby's first year to special songs on computer or DVD player

• Let the babies chase bubbles by a bubble machine or an adult to blow them

• Set out a time capsule (made out of a coffee can or formula can) and have each guest write a special note to the birthday baby and designate a special later date for the child to open the letters on – you can also add newspaper clippings and any other special memento

• Set out finger paints for the kids to play in (along with smocks to cover their clothes)

• Fill a jar or baby bottle with dry Cheerios cereal and have the guests guess how many there are. The guest with the closest guess wins.

• Have the children sit in a circle with their legs apart and let them roll the ball to each other.

• Give the babies yarn and fruit loops to make their own “cereal jewelry” to wear.

• Decorate a wagon and have an adult take turns pulling the babies around

• Designate an adult be the “leader” and have them wear a special hat and let the kids follow the leader around copying everything the leader does (hops, crawling, skipping, rolling, etc.)

• Fill a kiddie pool with sand and bury prizes in the sand for the babies to dig through with their shovels and find special prizes • Fill a pull-string piñata for the babies to play with

• set up a cardboard box area for the kids to climb through

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY FAVOR IDEAS:

• bathtub toys

• teething baby biscuits for the babies

• balls

• finger puppets or regular puppets

• books or coloring books

• bubbles

• framed pictures of the birthday child

• photo video montage of pictures from the baby's first year set to music on CD or DVD - use a picture of the baby for the cover of the CD

HARRY POTTER PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Print with green ink on a parchment party details as if an invitation to “Hogwart’s School of Wizardry” and rolled up like a scroll – could use wax as a seal

HARRY POTTER PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Put purple or black tablecloths on each table and sprinkle star confetti over the table

• Hang up a broom with a sign called Nimbus 2000

• Decorate with glow in the dark stars on the walls and Hogwarts banners with team crests on walls • have a big sign where people walk into the party labeled “Platform 9 ¾”

HARRY POTTER PARTY GAME IDEAS:

• Let kids apply lightning tattoo stickers to their foreheads once they arrive

• Make wands out of sticks from your yard – you can add a varnish or paint over the wands, or shoe polish – and spray glitter • hire a magician dressed as a wizard

• Provide wizard hats for all the kids and let them decorate with jewels, stickers, etc

• Have a “sorcerer’s stone” treasure hunt

• Have a broom race!

• Start with meeting with the “sorting hat” – you can stitch a wizard hat so that it looks like it has eyes and a mouth and hide a walkie talkie or baby monitor with someone hiding, acting like the “sorting hat”- delegate which team the child will be on

• Have a jelly bean flavor contest – let the kids guess the flavor of “Jelly Belly” jelly beans

• Have for the kids the Animal Capsules – you place in water and you watch as it transforms into an animal – they could use their magic wands and then place in water

• Have a dinosaur egg hunt

HARRY POTTER PARTY FAVOR IDEAS:

• Harry Potter glasses

• Give wizard hats for graduation

• Give out report cards with pictures taken from the party

• Fill black cauldrons with chocolate frogs and magic tricks

ICE CREAM PARTY IDEAS

ICE CREAM PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Check out your local scrapbook store – cut 3 circles (different colors) and cut a triangle out of brown paper (scrapbook stores have paper crimpers which makes the cone look more realistic) – put the 3 circles on top of the cone – and type or print party details on each of the 3 circles (ice cream)

• Use wording of I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Suzy’s Party!!

ICE CREAM PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Decorate with balloons – do 5 brown balloons for the cone, 10 white balloons for the ice cream and 1 red balloon for the cherry and tie it all together into the shape of an ice cream cone

• Put cute pastel colored gerbera daisies in cones and put at each place setting

• Set up the buffet with all of the ice cream toppings so that the kids can make their own

ICE CREAM PARTY GAME IDEAS:

• Decorate child size aprons with painted ice creams and names – or you could have the decorating as a game and something fun for each child to decorate their own

• Hire a real ice cream truck to come out to the party!

• Have an ice cream eating contest from a bowl and have the children keep their hands behind their back!!

• Place a cherry in the midst of a plate full of whip cream and the children have to find the cherry with no hands!!

• Play pin the cherry on top of the ice cream!!

• Ice Cream Scoop game – have the kids blindfolded and they have to move the cotton balls from one bowl to another by using a spoon

• Have the adults be a part of the fun and let them play a Ben & Jerry Guessing game – type out the descriptions of the flavor and the guests can guess what ice cream flavor it is

• Do an ice cream flavor word scramble

ICE CREAM PARTY FAVOR IDEAS:

• Fill a cone with jellybeans and place in cellophane bag and tie off with ribbon with tag I am sweet on you!!

• Give out gift certificates to your local ice cream shoppe

• Give out ice cream shaped cookies made with ice cream cookie cutter

• Dip a cone edge in white or dark chocolate, add sprinkles and let it dry. Fill with candies and other sweet things with a tag that says It was sweet of you to come

• Pour cake batter half-full into an ice cream cone and bake for 15 minutes. Use canned frosting with tip for the ice cream and add sprinkles

LUAU PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Send invitations out in a bottle… fill bottle with sand, a few tiny shells, and an invite printed or hand-written on parchment paper and rolled up and stuck in bottle

• Out of foam sheets, cut into the shape into a flip-flop (cut around the perimeter of one side of the flip-flop and bend the small part and hot glue it down… put the party details onto paper that fits onto the front of the flip-flop and you can put on by using spray mount or glue

• By using a tropical scrapbook paper print, cut into the shape of a shirt and print party info on the front

LUAU PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Play Hawaiian music (try the Lilo & Stitch soundtrack) in the background along with the sounds of the sea

• Line your walkways and party areas (outside) with tiki torches

• Have a bubble machine blowing bubbles

• Make signs that say, Hang Ten, Surfs UP, Aloha!, Gone to the Beach, etc.

• Trim your tables with grass skirts and blue tablecloths

• Lay nets, shells and starfish over your tables as decoration

• Use pineapples as centerpieces and tie balloons to them

• Use bowls of goldfish or beta fish could be centerpieces and could be the gifts for game prizes

• Fill up a metal bin with ice and Hawaiian punch juice boxes or fill the punch in small glasses with tiny umbrellas in them

LUAU PARTY GAME IDEAS:

• Greet your guests with leis and hang extras around the house and use to decorate your table with

• Have Lilo & Stitch coloring pages out for the kids to do while waiting on guests

• Fill a baby pool with sand and seashells along with sand buckets and shovels for the kids to play in – have a sand castle building contest – separating the group into teams

• Play a game of limbo • Have the movie, Lilo & Stitch, playing in the background on one of your tv’s

• Play a game of bowling with some bottles and a coconut

• Make nametags for your guests with their Hawaiian names on it (hisurf.com) – also give the guests a small bag of shells - have everyone call each other by their Hawaiian name – if anyone messes up, then they have to give up their shell to who they messed up to

• Let kids decorate small picture frames with shells and silk tropical flowers

• Do sand craft art in cute bottles

LUAU PARTY FAVOR IDEAS:

• Toy ukulele

• Send out thank you’s with a cute pic of the party that say “Mahalo nui loa” (thank you very much)

• Beach balls

• Mini sun-tan lotion bottles (customize with personalized labels you can stick over the original label)

• Sunglasses

• Flip-flops

• Small bag of goldfish crackers

• Beach bucket with shovel

• Silk leis, ankle leis, grass skirts, and flower hair clips

MAD SCIENTIST PARTY INVITATIONS:

• Fold paper invitation that has all the party details on it and place into a plastic test tube and hand deliver to the young scientist. On the outside of the tube write “Inside reveals the Mad Scientist Secret Formula for Party Fun”

• Using green cardstock place cut outs of test tubes and beakers overflowing with slime. “Ooze on over to “child’s name” Wild Lab for the experiments to begin.”

MAD SCIENTIST PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Make a welcoming sign and place at the front door that says “You may enter Dr. X’s Wild and Mad Lab!”

• Set up tables and cover with plastic vinyl to resemble lab counters. Place beakers and jars with clear hoses from one to the next to look like experiments. Prop up magnifying glasses, test tubes, science jars, and microscopes around the tables.

• Place snacks and candies in beakers and test tubes and place on the food table

• Use neon colors such as green, blue and orange balloons tied to scientific theme posters attached to walls.

• Write tiny messages to the guests and have them use a magnifying glass or microscope to read

• Have green slime on tables set up around the room.

MAD SCIENTIST PARTY ACTIVITIES/GAMES:

• As the kids arrive to the party, give them name tags to assign them which “lab team” they will be on. Each guest will also put on their lab coat and glasses/goggles before experimenting can begin.

• Have different experiment stations set up and divide the kids into their different teams

• Alka-seltzer rockets- take an empty film canister, place 1 alka-seltzer tablet and a little warm water and watch the eruption begin

• Sink or float- fill a small aquarium with water and have items such as paper clips, magnets, pennies, etc… have little guess sheets available and let the kids checkmark their answer before they try to sink or float the item.

• Create slime- mix 2 cups of white glue and 1 ½ cups of water in a large bowl. Add a few drops of green food coloring. In a different container, dissolve 2 tsp of Borax in 2/3 cups of warm water- mix well. Combine the glue solution to the borax solution and watch what happens. Have little plastic eggs available for each kid to save some of their own slime.

• Shocker- you will need 1 penny, 1 lemon and 1 paper clip. Cut a slit ¼ inch in the lemon to fit the penny in, then another for the paperclip. Place the paperclip close, but try not to touch the penny. Let the kids touch their tongues to each of the metals to reveal a little shocker.

MAD SCIENTIST PARTY FAVORS:

• Use neon sacks as party bags

• Pop rocks that come with test tubes

• Instant Snow in a test tube

• Magnifying glasses

• Goggles

• Snake Magnets

• Slime (made by the little scientists)

• Make a little book of science experiments (how-to’s) that were tested at the party for each guest to take home.

PIRATE PARTY IDEAS

PIRATE PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Take a piece of parchment or resume paper and print the party details on it – dip the edges in tea to give it an old look and then burn the edges (carefully) – roll up and tie with gold ribbon or take the scroll and stick into a beer or water bottle (labels removed) along with sand and small shells – hand deliver to guests

• Address invites to the guests by their made-up pirate names

• Print out a map on one side to get to your house but use certain landmarks along the way and with a big X to mark the spot of your house – have all party details on other side – dip into tea to make look old and then crumple and flatten …

PIRATE PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Spray paint a Styrofoam ice chest and fill with loot bags and jewels – wrap a chain around it a couple times with a lock on it

• use nets and shells on your main tables as decoration

• Use stuffed toy parrots as centerpieces

• Have a Peter Pan movie playing on the tv

PIRATE PARTY GAME IDEAS:

• Use black eyeliner for drawing stubble and mustaches

• Apply temporary tattoos or have an artist draw them

• Pin the Patch on the Pirate game (like pin the tail on the donkey)

• Have a pirate treasure hunt with maps and clues to take them to the buried treasure

• Put a plank of wood over a small wading pool and let kids walk the plank without falling in – place a plastic alligator into the pool

• Play a game of Cannonball pop – tie a piece of ribbon or yarn onto each child’s ankle with a black balloon to the end – the object is to break everyone else’s balloons without having their own broken – when your balloon gets popped, your out of the game

• Fill a plastic storage bin with sand and hide jewels and goodies in the sand and let each child take a turn looking for treasures

• Give each child a piece of black construction paper and let them use a silver marker or paint pen to create their own symbol that represents their name – attach to a dowel rod and it becomes their flag

• Let the kids create their own telescopes by using empty toilet paper rolls and decorating the way they want and using small pieces of cellophane at the end and attached with a rubberband around the end

• Hire or ask a friend to be your official “pirate” and take pictures of each child with the pirate

• Give the kids their own small wooden box that they can paint and cover with jewels

PIRATE PARTY FAVOR IDEAS:

• Eye patches

• Pirate tattoos

• Pirate hats

• Skull bandannas

• Red sashes for their waist’s

• Mardi gras beads

• Compasses

• Gold coin candies

• Tattoos

PRINCESS PARTY IDEAS

PRINCESS PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Address each invite to Prince XXX or Princess XXX on each envelope

• Cut card stock into the shape of a crown and glue gems on each tip – have party info at bottom or back

• Ask the guests to come dressed as their favorite princess

• Dress your child in her favorite Disney princess dress and take her picture and have party info on the inside. If she likes Snow White, try HI HO HI HO It’s off to Kenzie’s party I go!!

• Make invitations by printing on parchment paper the party details and rolling up like a scroll and tie it up with a gold ribbon

• Take your scroll and darken the edges with a wet tea bag

• Make small simple invitations and place into a sachet with dried flowers at the bottom

PRINCESS PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Create a throne out of a large chair that you have… you can drape purple velvet over it with balloons and ribbons. You can create a 2nd throne next to the main throne for each child to sit next to the guest of honor while she is opening her present from the child. Don’t forget to take a picture!

• Have Disney princess songs playing in the background

• Cover your walkway with a “red carpet” – could be made with red plastic tablecloth or red fabric

• Let the kids drink punch out of champagne glasses (you can purchase plastic at your local store) and decorate with jewels to look like royalty

• Have a name card at every place setting – possibly with a toy glass slipper

• Scatter rose petals and small flowers across the tables

• Decorate the chairs by tyeing them into big bows across the back

PRINCESS PARTY GAME IDEAS:

• Pin the kiss on the frog game can be played by cutting out red lips (one per guest) with each guest’s name on it and a poster or drawing of a frog with a crown on it’s head. Blindfold each child and have them stick their “lips” as close as they can to the frog’s lips. A variation of the game is to have each girl put lipstick on their lips and actually kiss the frog – after they kiss you can write their name on the lips so you don’t lose track of who’s who

• Let the girls decorate their own royal hats – take heavy card stock and shape into a cone and have tulle strips, jewels, feathers, and glitter that the girls can attach and decorate – possibly put their name on it too!

• While singing happy birthday to the birthday girl, let all adults and children (with adult supervision) do sparklers!!!

• Play a game of Disney Princess Trivia!

• See who can walk like a princess by poising a book over each of their heads and see who can walk the furthest and longest

PRINCESS PARTY FAVOR IDEAS:

• Give out wands and tiaras for the girls and swords and crowns for the boys

• Glitter hair spray, glimmer lotion and lip gloss

• Buy the boys a shield and sword or you can make your own out of cardboard and have the boys decorate them

RUBBER DUCKIE PARTY

RUBBER DUCKIE PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Take a picture of your birthday boy/girl in the bathtub with bubbles and use as the front of the invite – Rubber Duckie You’re the One … To Make my Birthday lots of Fun! Or Splish-Splash It’s a Birthday Bash!

• Use a yellow die-cut duckie glued on a white tub cut-out and sprinkle blue and white “bubbles” made from a hole-punch and party info on the back

RUBBER DUCKIE PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Have a bubble machine blowing where the main party will be held

• Use white and clear balloons as decoration to simulate “bubbles” and use yellow or light blue tablecloths

• In yellow buckets, put Chex Mix or “quackers” and label them as “duck feed”

• Make blue punch and float rubber duckies in the punch

• Fill plastic martini glasses with blue jello and float a yellow peep on top

• Use lots of rubber duckies as table decorations

• Take small galvanized buckets and fill with bubble wrap, a towel hanging over side and rubber duckie in bucket

RUBBER DUCKIE PARTY GAME IDEAS:

• Have out for the kids the big bubble wands that they can play with outside

• Have out a small wading pool filled with water and float rubber duckies on it – put a star under a few of the duckies - let each guest pick a duckie from the pool, if they pick the duck that has star under it, gets a special prize

• Take a large rubber duckie and have the kids try to toss a hoop around the ducks nest to win a prize

• Give each child a yellow visor, with orange foam to glue on in the shape of a bill and googly eyes as a craft for kids to make and wear

RUBBER DUCKIE PARTY FAVOR IDEAS:

• Give out baby bath bubbles and cover existing label with a label that you can make on your computer

• Use small galvanized tubs and fill with bubble wrap, washrags, loofahs, rubber duckies, bubbles, etc

• Give out little soaps wrapped in yellow tulle

SAFARI PARTY

SAFARI PARTY INVITATIONS:

• Cut up some old maps and attach to brown cardstock. Randomly mark a big red X on the cards and draw the points of a compass. The Great Adventure takes place on (date/ time) in the swamps and tropical rainforest of his yard. Daring explorers can bring a sleeping bag and sleep out under the stars.

• Make your own birthday party passport invitations by folding white cardstock in half and make a little frame in the top corner with (attach photo here) written inside the frame. “This is your passport for (your child’s name) safari birthday party. All explorers should bring their completed passports with picture.”

SAFAR PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Make signs to prop up around the back yard such as “No Monkey Business, Do not feed the Tigers, Caution Wild Bears, Danger Swampland Ahead…”

• Set up various tents around the yard- use instant pop-out tents, pup tents, tee-pees, and old sheets slung over washing lines.

• If you have large trees, you can tie two lines one above the other between two trees so the kids can walk across.

• Set up a table to create a look out post and cover with a camouflage net or animal print gossamer and place pith helmets and binoculars around the table.

• Have jungle music or wildlife music playing outside.

• Prepare little survivor sacks filled with sandwiches and snacks. Serve food on leaf plates and bowls and prepare jungle juice served in animal cups.

• Have a bonfire to roast marshmallows and sip hot chocolate.

SAFARI PARTY GAMES/ACTIVITIES:

• Frog or Bug Catching- explorers have to catch frogs or interesting insects and then encourage them to make up stories about the adventure they had when they were hunting in the jungle.

• Play a fun game of leap frog

• Relay Race- Have 2 empty backpacks at the starting line. Divide guests into 2 teams. They are instructed to run to the other side and pick up an item (map, compass, magnifying glass, wild stuffed animal, etc) and place in the backpack, then run back to the line and handover to the next player. You can change up the relay by having different Safari clothes (brown shirts, hats, boots, etc…) and have the players run down, put on the outfit, then run back to the line and take off the clothes and give to the next player to dress up.

• Wild Safari Search- hide all sorts of animals around the yard and see how many the kids can find. You can use stuffed animals, plastic dinos and snakes, the Rainforest Café has a great selection of animals to use.

• The Stalking Game- Have quiet stalking games where the “hunter” is blind-folded and has to find their animal.

• Jungle Limbo- How low can the monkey go? Have guests line up and attempt to go under the bamboo bar. The animal that can go the lowest wins.

SAFARI PARTY FAVORS:

• Make goody bags out of camo material, or take brown handled bags and decorate with animal stamps.

• Make goody bags with brown lunch sacks and overlay the front, bottom of sack with green paper and fringe the ends of paper to look like grass and line acros the bottom of sack. Add birds or animals onto the top of sack by coloring, drawing or using stamps or stickers.

• Fill with items that encourage adventure such as snapstick light (available from camping stores), small compass, dull pocket knife, energy snack bars, small bottles of water, small travel toothbrush/toothpaste, waterguns, binoculars, notebook to collect amazing adventures, gummy worms, animal crackers, plastic frogs, and small safari animals.