Movie Themed Birthday Party!

My oldest child turned 9 this past week. 9! A 9 year old boy's birthday party is a little bit trickier to plan than birthday parties of years past. In some ways it is easier. He has outgrown most party games (variations of pin the tail on the donkey and pass the present etc.). He still has a group of friends he wants to invite over and celebrate with. He wants the party to be cool. Cool to a group of 8-10 year old kids has to be cool in their eyes, not the eyes of the birthday boys mother.
We looked into options beyond hosting something at the house. We have a set budget of $100 for everything - food, decorations, party bags, activities - everything. We looked into going bowling with just a couple of close friends and having a pizza after. He liked the idea of that, but didn't want to leave any of his friends out. We proposed going to the movies. We knew we could get a Costco Kids Movie pass for about $10 each, they could see a movie and have the kids pack of popcorn/drink/candy. He really liked that idea, but there weren't any movies playing the day he wanted it that would work. (Cartoons being too babyish and nothing really tween in theatres that day).
My husband came up with a movie alternative. We could have a movie theatre party at home. We could borrow an LCD projector and screen and turn our living room into a theatre. He could invite more friends too. He loved the idea! Chosing the movie was the next tricky part. We searched out New Releases on iTunes and again, nothing really Tween oriented popped out. We figured that we should try to find a movie that most of them hadn't seen too. I teach at the school my son goes to and remembered how we had shown National Treasure for movie night in the spring as that age group's target movie. The kids had really loved it. It is a slightly older movie that is clean, but still adventurous enough for them to enjoy. Plus, most of them hadn't seen it before. I tried to think of another movie that would fit that description. Night at the Museum came to mind. We showed our son the preview and he thought it looked really funny and approved the choice.
Once we had the go ahead, I went to into Planner Mom mode! Here's how the party played out:
First, the setup - 

The Concession table

I bought most of this at the Dollarama - I gave tickets out to each guest to spend on their movie treats.

The bowl of popcorn cake

 I wrote directions on how to make this cake on my foodie blog Whatcha-Eatin?  You can find them here.

The snacks ready to purchase

Concession Pricing

Now Showing...

The entrance to the theatre

The Hollywood Star wall with all the kid's names

And now the party:

It was a beautiful hot, sunny day so we spent the first hour outside playing water games.  I gave them all water guns and let them go - they loved this!  I did have some ideas for indoor games if needed but the forecast was cooperative.

Our second game was a bucket race.  I had a large bucked of water at the front of the line and a bowl at the end of the line.  Each child had a cup.  The first one had to scoop water into his cup and pour it over their head into the cup of the person behind them, continuing on until the last person poured it into the bowl.  So much fun!

Each child got to pick a "prop" (funky party glasses from the Dollarama).  I did take individual pictures of the kids each as well.

Opening the gifts

Enjoying the movie.  I did rearrange my living room furniture into movie theatre rows.  We served them pizza for supper to munch on as they watched.  My friend Jen (thank you Jen!) made popcorn too which we served to them in individual popcorn containers (from the Dollarama) that they got to take home.  The kids also used their tickets to purchase drinks and candy from the concession.

We had a movie intermission for cake

Overall, the movie themed party was a success.  I'm very glad we pulled it off!  What surprised me the most was how much the kids loved the tickets aspect to buy their concession.  They really, really loved it!  Instead of goodie bags, the kids took home their popcorn containers, water guns and funky glasses.  Most important to me is that my son loved it and that he and his friends had a good time.  (And yes, we did it all for under $100)

Lego Birthday Party

My 6 year old turned 6 last month and I totally forgot to post the party details.  The theme for this
party was a no-brainer - Lego.  I had been looking forward to putting together a Lego party for some time now and I knew he and his friends would love it.  They did.
I looked up other Lego parties on Pinterest and I have to say that some of you are brilliant and some of you have budgets that are waaaaayyyy larger than mine.  Mine was the dollar store kind of budget.  And truly you can have a fun child's party on a dollar store kind of budget.

Fruit Loop Necklaces - always a good party starter when you are waiting for everyone to get there.

I had a Lego corner in the room for kids to play in for transitions, or if they just didn't want to play a particular game.

Ceiling decoration - I took the dollar store recangular plastic tablecloths, cut them into long strips and pinned them to ceiling to get this effect.  The result is stunning - very simple, very economical.

Duplo toss - I used part of a plastic table cloth and some dollar store plates to create the big Lego piece.  The kids had a few pieces of Duplo each to toss onto the big Lego and try to get it to land on the plate part.  They really loved this game.

Who can build the tallest tower in 1 minute?

Egg and Spoon race reinfented - Duplo in place of the egg.

Give the Lego Man his brick - a variation of Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Food Table - we also added pizza to the lunch

Lego Cake - those are marshmallows dyed on top

The crew of kids

I made this banner, using Lego Letters for the font and found the Lego Man to glue onto the triangles.  The triangles are cut from poster paper and taped onto a string of ribbon.

 I forgot to snap a pic of the goodie bag.  It was a small bag of candy (with Lego brick candy too) and a few little toys (bouncy balls, sticky frogs, funny glasses).  On each bag was a little note for each child thanking them for coming to the party from my son.
All in all it was a busy, but fun afternoon :)

 

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party!

My daughter was very clear about wanting a Minnie Mouse party for her birthday. This is the first year that she was inviting her little friends over for her birthday. So how in the world was I going to keep a group of 3 and 4 year olds busy indoors in January without spending a fortune? The last time I threw a party for a three year old, it was for my oldest child who has the good fortune of being born in July so everything was outdoors and in the sprinklers. January is not so cooperating. I decided to plan simple, classic activities. Knowing that at this age the parents stay helped too.

Setting the party scene

Pin the tail on the donkey is classic birthday party fun.  I have done many variations of this including pin the tooth on the T-Rex and put the clue on Blue.  This time it was Pin the Bow on Minnie Mouse.  I found a picture of Minnie online and started drawing on a sheet of poster paper.  I drew bows and cut them out at hockey practice one morning before the party.  Because the kids are young they had the option of playing or not playing, and being blindfolded or not. 

Minnie Mouse drawn by me for Pin the Bow on Minnie!

We wanted to put a few girly touches into the party.  I made three of these tissue paper flowers.  I put one up in the kitchen, one at the living room window and one on the hall light.  They are super cute and super easy to make.  Here's where I found the directions.  In fact my friend Krista loved them so much she asked me to show her how to do it and made a bunch for her daughter's princess party a couple of weeks later.

Giant Tissue Paper Flower

One thing I love about the dollar store is that it is easy to find party things.  I did find Minnie Mouse plates, napkins and cups.  I also bought a pink tablecloth, the tissue paper for the flowers, pink streamers and a few pieces of poster board.  I used the black and pink poster board for the Minnie "Toodles" on the window.

The food table

Candy Hunt for the treat bags

As far as activities went, I found these colour on bags to use as their treat bags.  I had them ready for the kids to colour as soon as they arrived.  I had also hidden candy treats all over the kitchen and living room for the kids to find - kind of like an Easter Egg hunt.  Once they found all the candy and put it in the bowl I split it evenly between the lot of them. 

Eat the doughnut off the string - no hands!

This activity was really cute and a lot of fun.  I had seen it on Pinterest as an outdoor game.  They had it as "The Doughnut Tree".  I adapted it for the indoors.  I secured a line of ribbon across the end of the room and tied doughnuts on strings to it.  We made sure the doughnuts were hanging at mouth level for the kids.  I also put a tablecloth on the floor to contain the crumbs.  The kids went away at trying to eat their doughnut without touching it.  What a hoot!

Fruit Loop Necklaces

We also went for the classic Froot Loop Necklace, which was a much quieter, but still fun activity.

Never underestimate the joy of putting out a bunch of balloons and putting on some dance music!

My husband thought I was nuts when I said one of the activities would be just letting the kids dance with balloons but it was probably the favorite activity of the day.  You just have to be prepared for a little craziness!

The Cake

Once these activities were done, we had the food (cheese pizza from Costco, some chips, fruit and veggies and apple juice), cake (homemade - check out the details here) and opened presents.  And that was it.  A successful 3 year old birthday party.  Kept it on budget and still a lot of fun!
 

Hockey Birthday Party

We have started celebrating my oldest son's summer birthday at the end of June instead of mid-summer. It is a lot easier to get in touch with all of his school friends instead of trying to coordinate with everyone's summer vacation plans. This year my almost 8 year old wanted a hockey party. This was by far the easiest kids party we have had yet. We set the theme right away with the invitation. I used a ticket template at Print With My Pic. I highly recommend that site. It is so easy to use and customize - my son loved it. I added a note on the back letting the kids know to bring along their hockey gear for the afternoon.

Next up for me was designing the cake. I love making my kids birthday cakes. As simple as this one should have been, it turned out to be one of the more frustrating ones. I wanted it to look like a Vancouver Canucks jersey (my son's favorite team). I used the same marshmallow fondant recipe I had used for my younger son's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake. I don't know what I did wrong, but I ended up throwing out the lot of it and starting it all over again the day of the party. Thank goodness the second batch worked! I'm pretty pleased with it. Just seeing my son's reaction when he saw it made it worth it for me - it was declared "awesome!"

I set about decorating the house a bit too.  I kept the Canucks blue, green and white colours throughout.  I tried to keep the cost down and found most of what I needed at the Dollarama.  I made a Happy Birthday window banner, pennant style.  For this I cut triangles out of tag board, alternating green and blue.  I then cut the circles out of white tag board, printing the letters of "Happy Birthday Elijah!" on them.  I attached them with tape.  I then laid the whole message down, upside down and took a piece of green wrapping ribbon to stretch across the back, taping it down as I went.  The effect was prettty cool and my husband was surprised to find out I had made it myself.

Of course we used green and blue plates, cups and cutlery for the table.  For snacks we had Lay's chips (because Mark Messier eats them) and "Hockey Pucks" (aka Joe Louis).

My husband made a pinata for use later in the party.  He made it out of cardboard, duct tape and printed off a Canucks picture for one side and an NHL one for the other.  It was in the shape of a puck.

I took this idea off Pinterest, using dollar store plastic table cloths, cut into long strips instead of streamers to hang over the ceiling.  I added a balloon bouquet of blue and white in the centre.  On the windows were cut outs of my son and his friends favorite hockey team logos.

Outside, I hung a Canadian flag (easy to find because of Canada Day), a few balloons and a blow up Stanley Cup.  The Stanley Cup was courtesy of my parents who picked it up from a store display last year celebrating Vancouver's run for the Cup.

Once the kids started arriving, it was "Game On".  They all jumped in with their gear, many of them toted jerseys and hats of their favorite teams too (quickly abandoned to the side in the hot weather).  And we just let them play.  And they played for about an hour and half.  I think they would have played for the full 3 hours if we hadn't stopped them :)  We did stop them for Gatorade Breaks, and made sure they were all wearing sunscreen and bug spray.

The post-game handshakes too!

Post-game the kids decorated their party bags with NHL stickers I had picked up.

Then it was time for the pinata, but we tried it with a hockey twist - a slapshot to break it.  The kids loved this!

(My 2 year old out of the watching the festivities and having a bit of Daddy's Gatorade)

Breaking the pinata didn't quite work with the slaphots (though they did get it a little bit damaged), so we moved to a more traditional pinata game (still using the hockey sticks).

When the pinata slipped off the rope, they all had a good hack at it!

We moved inside for one game before supper.  I divided the kids into 2 teams (blue and white).  Each had an equal amount of balloon and inside each balloon was a letter.  They had to break all of their balloons to find their letters.  Once they had all the letters they had to unscramble the letters to make the name of an NHL team.  One had the Toronto Maple Leafs and the other the Chicago Black Hawks (both have 17 letters).

Spaghetti supper was followed by presents and cake.

And a team picture.

Post-food they all wanted back out to play more hockey until their parents got them.  It was difficult for their parents to convince them to leave, which gave me a good visit with the adults :)

We had a little lacrosse time at the end too.

All in all this turned into a great party.  I know I have the weather to thank in a large part.  I did have some indoor alternates planned just in case of rain.
Here are the the alternate plans:
-We would have kept the ballooon game and the pinata of course.
-Blank goalie masks  for a design a mask contest.
-Hockey Version of BINGO
-Hockey Freeze Dance (I had a playlist of my son's favorite Goal/Sports songs on it)
-Hockey Limbo (use a hockey stick as the pole)
-Mini-sticks tournament