 Howdy, fellow Event Planners! For beginners, I have broken down my guide to six generic parts - that is, THEMES, INVITATIONS, DECORATIONS, PARTY FOOD, ACTIVITIES and FAVOURS. Theme IdeasInvitationsDecorationsParty FoodActivitiesFavours |
0 Comments
posted by Lola, 9:43am If you are planning a Princess Party for your child, you might want to include these games to add more fun to the party. I prepared these games for my daughter’s 7th birthday. Her theme is “A Princess’ Tale” TRIP TO THE PRINCE’S CASTLE This game is just a normal game of Musical Chairs – where the participants dance around arranged chairs and have to find and sit on a chair as soon as the music stops. Only, the participants are wearing their most favourite ball gowns. I renamed it “Trip to the Prince’s Castle” to give it a touch of our Princess Theme. I started the game saying something like this: “Are you ready for some kiddie games? Raise your hand if you know the story of Cinderella… Do you [kids] remember the part when Cinderella rides the carriage that will take her to the Ball? Our problem now is that Cinderella got a bit lost in the woods and can’t find her way to the castle. Let us help her find her way, as we play this game that I will call…Trip to the Castle!” Then, we arranged some chairs like in musical chairs. The children danced around the chairs and when the music stopped, each one had to find a chair to sit on. CLASSIC MUSICAL CHAIR RULES: If you’re familiar with this game, the chairs that were arranged in a circular manner are always one shorter than the number of participants. That way, when the music stops, one participant will not have a chair to sit on. Then, that participant will be out of the game. As soon as the music starts again, one more chair is taken out of the circle, and so on until two participants and just one chair is left. The one who sits on that last chair wins the prize. NOTE: I usually end the game when only two participants are left, and name them as the two winners. I ended the game saying, “Cinderella is not lost anymore! Thanks to [winners’ names]!” while handing out their prizes.  Lola's "Trip to the Prince's Castle Game"  Lola's "Trip to the Prince's Castle Game" KISS THE FROG As the game “Pin the Tail of the Donkey” is one of the classical games in a children’s party, I thought it would be a great idea if I give it a bit of a twist and do “Kiss the Frog” instead. I was lucky enough to find a ready-made “Kiss the Frog” game in a local online party shop. The package includes a large printout of a frog, a blind fold and a number of lips made of cardboard. I started the game saying: “How many of you have heard about the fairy tale story of The Frog Prince? Now, who wants to try their luck and kiss our very own Frog Prince? We will call him Prince Eddie. Now Prince Eddie has been cursed and was turned into a Frog. He will only turn back into a Handsome Prince if he finds the Princess who can kiss him in the lips! Let us help the Frog prince find his Princess!” The participants lined up and tried to “pin their lips” into Prince Freddie the Frog’s lips. The participant who have pinned the nearest to the Frog’s lips wins!  "Kiss the Frog" Game  The "stylish" blindfold “THE BOAT IS SINKING” GAME I’ve also added a Fairy Tale twist to the game “The Boat Is Sinking”. CLASSIC “BOAT IS SINKING” GAME The original one goes like this. All the participants (regardless how many) have to gather in the middle and wait for the Game master to shout “The boat is sinking, group yourselves into [number]! (i.e. three.)” The participants will then have to form groups of three. If a group was not able to make up a three-member group, then they will be out of the game. As for the game I have prepared on my daughter’s Princess-themed 7th Birthday Party, I started the game by saying something like this: “Imagine Princess Ariel (from the Little Mermaid) is about to get married with Prince Eric aboard the ROYAL SHIP and we are all in the boat to witness the Royal Wedding. However, the Evil Sea Witch, Ursula, suddenly appeared from nowhere and tried to stop the wedding by sinking the boat. Now that the boat is sinking, group yourselves into 5! (Those who were not able to make up a five-member group are out.). The boat is sinking, group yourselves into 4! And so on…” Usually, only two kids will be left and be named the winners.  Lola's "The Boat is Sinking" Game FIND THE PRINCESS’ PEA Giving another twist to yet another classic children’s party game, the Treasure Hunt, I prepared three small rounded green cardboards which I made to look like peas. Then, I secretly stuck each “pea” under three different chairs. I started the game saying something like this: “We’ve got another surprise for all the kids in the castle…Who among you knows the story of the Princess and the Pea? The Princess is looking for three peas hidden under the chairs. If you help her find them, she’ll be able to sleep well tonight. Look under your chairs as the pea might just be hiding there…” All the children excitedly looked under their chairs (and most of the time, under someone else’s chairs) to find the “pea”. When they found the pea, they brought each to me in exchange it for a prize.  Lola's "Find the Princess' Pea" Game SCRATCH-OFF CARDS I was able to find circular scratch on stickers online, so I thought it would be a good idea to make some Princess-themed DIY scratch card for the guests (and yes, even the birthday celebrant wanted one!). I printed a small photo of a Fairy tale-themed item, together with some details of the party, in a rectangular (bookmark-size) cardboard. Then, I covered each photo with the circular scratch-on stickers I bought. The children had to scratch the circle to reveal their hidden prize! During the party, I asked a friend to roam around the venue and give out one scratch card to each child. As soon as the kids saw it, they excitedly scratched each circle to check if they win a prize. They immediately ran to me to claim their prize. They were so proud to actually win something from a scratch card. These moments are absolutely priceless! This is how my scratch card looked-like. I prepared one design for a girl and another for a boy.  OTHER PARTY GAMES INCLUDE: “BRING-ME GAME” I have asked the kids to bring the birthday celebrant the following items: a pink handkerchief a red ribbon a wand” The first one to hand out the item wins a prize. BEST IN COSTUME As a finale game, I have asked some friends to look around the venue and choose at least two kids with the best Prince/Princess costume. That all folks! Don't forget to drop by and "like" our Facebook page! Please also feel free to leave any comment here. Thanks heaps! All contents, including photos, are copyrighted by Lola's DIY Party Tips. 
by Lola If you are planning a Farm Party for your child, you might want to include these games to add more fun to the party. FARM ANIMAL HUNT I have prepared five circular cardboards with one farm animal photo each. Then, before the guests arrived, I secretly stuck them under 5 different chairs with a double adhesive tape. I have used this game as an ice breaker for the party. After singing the Birthday song and blowing of the candle on the cake, the kids went back to their sits. That’s when I announced: “There are five farm animals hiding under five of the chairs. Is one of them hiding under yours? If you find them, bring it over to me and you will get a prize.” The kids excitedly looked under their chairs and quickly ran towards the stage area to claim their prizes. LONGEST GREETING This game is just like the “Longest Greeting” game we usually see on Kid’s birthday parties, where each kid is asked to say “Happy Birthday, {birthday celebrants name}” as long as they can. I just added a farm twist and asked the kids to pretend to be a sheep and say “Happy Birthday, Sam” with sheep sound. The kids and the parents find it very entertaining and fun. DRESS THE FARMER RELAY GAME Who would not like a relay game in a children’s party? My farm-themed relay game proved to be one of the kids’ favourites! I placed 5 farmer items (farmers hat, cowboy handkerchief, moustache, suspender and boots) on each of the 3 chairs in front. Then I asked three of my Dad friends to stand in front and pose as a farmer. I asked the children to group themselves into 5 and gave each team a balloon. The game: As soon as I said “GO!”, the first member of each team ran to the chair in the front, with a balloon in between their legs. Upon reaching the chair, they grabbed a farmer item and put in on their assigned “farmer” Dad. They, then, went back (still with a balloon in between their legs) to tag the next team member, which did the same. As soon as the last member of the team went back to the group, they have to shout “Happy Birthday, Sam!” to mark the completion of the game.   EVERYBODY DO THE CHICKEN DANCE I designed this game as I thought it would fun to include some Dads in at least one of the games in the party. I asked the kids to go to the front with their Dads, line up, and face the audience. Then I demonstrated how to do the Chicken Dance and asked all the participants of the games to follow what I’m doing. As soon as the song started, all the participants did the Chicken Dance! The kids loved seeing their Dads dance a silly song with them. It was a hit! Here are some of the other games I have prepared for the young guests: PIN THE TAIL OF THE DONKEY This is one of the most common games in a children’s party. I was planning to do a “Pin the Tail of the Cow” but didn’t have enough time to prepare or find a cow photo, so I just asked the kids to pin the tail of the donkey.  EGG AND SPOON RACE I added another classic “farm-themed” game into the party – the egg and spoon race. It is a relay game, where the kids group themselves into five and run around a chair in the front with a spoon and “tiny egg” (I used white chocolate as an egg) in it. They, then, have to pass the egg to the spoon of the next team member without using their hands. The team members must not drop the egg, or else, they would have to start again. That all folks! Don't forget to drop by and "like" our Facebook page! Please also feel free to leave any comment here. Thanks heaps! All contents, including photos, are copyrighted by Lola's DIY Party Tips. 
 Our guests, wearing their farmer costumes. My husband and I thought of this theme. We both agreed that there are a lot of creative opportunities for this theme. We thought that it’d be great to celebrate Sam, our youngest son's 1st birthday with a Farm Theme. INVITATION I want an invitation that would reflect the nature of the party – fun, colourful and all about farm but would not take away the elements of a little boy’s 1st birthday party. I’ve come up with this design.  Sam's Farm-themed 1st Birthday Invitation VENUE It was held in our local Community Centre. The main hall is large enough to accommodate around 100 guests, with a fair amount of space left for the games area. DECORATION I thought it was a good idea to have a farm scene on one side – a great background for our guests wanting to have a “farm scene” photo backdrop. We decorated one wall with a kid-size barn and fence and then place some hays in front to complete to farm ambience.  Our little guests were delighted with our "Farm Scene" backdrop. Later on in the party, we used that area as our background for the games. It sure looks nice to see our guests walking around and in front of the “farm scene” wearing their farmer costumes! I don’t want the buffet table to look bare, so I placed a life-size photo of Sam, with large cut-out letters that spell his name, as a backdrop. Then, I hung some farm animal cut-outs at the bottom of the photo as an additional decoration. Lastly, we hung some buntings (farm colours, red, blue, green and yellow) above the buffet table to make it look like a feast.  Farm animals hanging under Sam's life-size photo. We made DIY table centerpieces and placed 3 of them on each table. I got the idea from a magazine I was browsing before. It looked nice with all the farm-themed plates and cups. I also placed coloured table napkins on the cup, to add more colour to the table. For the DIY steps, click on any of the links below: 2D Barn Backdrop | 3D Haystacks | Farm Animal Table Centrepiece | Animal hangings  Farm Animal Table Centerpiece  How the Farm Animals were arranged as a Table Centerpiece.  Farm Party Table Setting, with the Farm animals as table centerpiece and the cups with colourful table napkins. CAKE Our good friend, Tina, made the cake for the birthday celebrant. I was delighted, and so are our guests, to see the really cute and creative farm-themed cake that she made. We agreed to make it just a small one, as I will just put it on top of a 3-tier cake stand and then surround the other layers with matching cupcakes. It looks perfect!  Cute cake toppers (Pigs and ducks).  Farm-themed cupcakes that I placed on the 2nd and bottom level of the Cake stand.  This is how the ensemble looked like. FOOD Aside from the usual kids birthday party food menu, I added some farm-themed food on the buffet table. I had some Chocolate Lollipops arranged in a ceramic milk bottle, BBQ rice crackers that I placed inside small tin pails. I also served corn cobs and fresh fruit platters. I found a use for our stainless steel ice bucket - I placed muesli in it so it would look like farm animal food. I placed an ice scoop beside it so our guests can scoop out some muesli from the bucket if they want some.  Chocolate lollipops in Ceramic Milk Bottle.  BBQ Rice Crackers in a Small Tin Pails. LOOTBAG/SOUVENIR/GIVEAWAYS Again, simple and easy to prepare but does not lose the integrity of the theme, I decided to use a brown paper bag, seal the bag with a yarn, stick a circular farm-themed label in the front, and then hang a tag with the kid’s name on it. The kid’s name tag doubles as a farm-themed bookmark. I also slipped in an A6-sized activity booklet as an added item in the bag. The kids loved it and started using it as soon as they saw it in their lootbags. For the DIY steps, click on any of the links below: Activity book | Barnyard lootbag | Bookmark tag  Sam's farm-themed lootbags.  This is more or less what's inside Sam's farm-themed lootbags. I slipped in an A6-sized activity booklet as additional item in the bag. There is a farm animal, farm stickers, etc. The bookmark is on top of the paper bag. GAMES/ACTIVITIES This has been my trademark ever since I have started hosting children's parties – preparing games and personalizing it according to the party theme. It’s like themed entertaining, the Lola’s way! Here are just some of the games I have prepared for our Sam’s Farm party. For the details of these games, please click here. 1. Farm Animal Hunt 2. Pin the tail of the Horse 3. Egg and Spoon Race 4. Longest Greeting 5. Dress the Farmer Relay Game 6. Everybody Do the Chicken Dance Read more> PROGRAMME I usually start my afternoon parties with afternoon tea since I wanted as much kids as possible to have arrived the party before I begin the programme. I prepared lots of Farm songs for the guests to enjoy while eating. After the farm-themed afternoon tea, we started the program with a Happy Birthday song for our dear Sam, followed by the blowing of the candle on the birthday cake. I ended the party with a short message thanking our guests for coming and the handing out of the lootbags. That all folks! Don't forget to drop by and "like" our Facebook page! Please also feel free to leave any comment here. Thanks heaps! All contents in this article, including all the photos, are copyrighted by Lola's DIY Party Tips. 
by Lola.   This is the most recent party that I hosted. My two youngest kids are so into Superheroes lately, and since my youngest son, Sam, is turning 3 in a few months, I thought it was a good idea to have a Comic Book Superhero as the theme. My kids immediately got excited (yes, including my eldest, who is now 10 years old) and couldn’t stop discussing about which Superhero costume, from their dress-up box, they are going to wear. And almost every day, they were asking me what Sam’s invitation would look like.    That all folks! Don't forget to drop by and "like" our Facebook page! Please also feel free to leave any comment here. Thanks heaps! 
 by Lola THIS BLOG IS INCOMPLETE! Your son's is turning 1 in a few months! You're very excited about this very important milestone of his life. You want to celebrate it with him, with the whole family, and with your friends! You want it to be a big event - something that he will find joy in remembering when he grows up. But wait! How are you going to do it? Where do you start? Before your mind goes haywire thinking about the preparations and cost of hosting a party, sit back, relax and read on. I am a mom of three young kids, and I know just what you are feeling right now. I can safely say that I've been there, and I've done that! :) Ok, so how and where do you start? KEEP A RECORD! Grab a handy notebook and pen, or a laptop (if it is more convenient for you). This is where you will list down everything about your upcoming party – your ideas, your layouts, designs, to-do list, and yes, even shopping list! This has always worked for me and has kept me organized throughout the preparation process. {After hosting a number of children's parties for my kiddos, I have come up with a guide that I usually start with in preparing for the big day. This has been very helpful and has always kept me calm and focused from the preparation, up until the actual party.}  THEME This is my starting point, which I consider to be the most critical part of the planning process – as all the other part of . Yes, it is critical but very easy to sort out. You can visit my Kid's Birthday Party page if you're looking for Themed Party Ideas. GUESTS By this time you should be able to estimate how many guests you’ll be inviting for the party. 50? 100? Even more? VENUE Once you have finalized your theme, it will be easier to think of a perfect venue for your party. You will be able to narrow down your options. If you have decided on an “Under The Sea” party theme, of course, you’d be after venues like the local pool, for example. If you are expecting a number of guests, you might want to consider your Community centre – no pool or water around, but has bigger space for your guests. Here is what I usually do. After finalizing my theme (for example, “Under the Sea”), I list all my venue options – depending on size, availability, and location. The date of the party is always more flexible for me Although I already have a date and time in my head, I usually keep my options open (well, at least the week before and after my preferred date) as I can’t really tell if the venue will be available for the time I like. This saves me a lot of frustration in the process. I keep my venue shortlist at hand, just in case my first or second choice didn’t work out. DECORATION This is mostly dependent to the venue, I would say. Most of the time, it will be hard to visualize, design or layout the decoration without seeing or finalizing the venue for your party first. Imagine the frustration of spending hours of thinking and brain storming, just to be able to come up with your ideal set-up or layout for your upcoming party… only to know eventually that the venue you ended up booking with is bigger or smaller than what you have planned! MENU The next four items can be prepared and done concurrently. LOOTBAG This is my starting point, I consider this the most critical GAMES/ACTIVITIES Lastly, when PROGRAMME Lastly, when I have listed #0001 Download Checklist here. That all folks! Don't forget to drop by and "like" our Facebook page! Please also feel free to leave any comment here. Thanks heaps! 
You might also like...
| About Lola...I am a mom of three who is passionate on hands-on preparations on different occasions - birthday, baptismal and wedding, to name a few... 
ArchivesCategoriesAll 
 
|
RSS Feed