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7 Fun Birthday Party Theme Ideas
by Annette Yen
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Birthdays! A joyous occasion to be celebrated every year!
There's a reason kids love birthdays and it's not just because
they get lots of presents. Ok, yeah, maybe it is but there's
more to it than that. Most of the birthday gifts are forgotten a
few months, if not days, after the big event and yet the
memories of the birthday parties can last a lifetime. |
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Centering your birthday party on a theme is a great way to
create those lifetime memories. And it is a wonderful way to
make your party planning easier, too. So what kind of parties
make for the "this was the best party of my life" comments from
your kids?
* Princess Parties - If you've got girls, you know the word
princess was one of the first words in their vocabulary.
Princess parties are not only delightful, they're extremely
popular and because of that it's pretty easy to find great
decor, tableware, crafts and activities to make it easy. Just
think "PINK" and you'll be halfway there! Don't limit yourself
to just the popular Disney Princesses though - keep the theme
more broad and make YOUR princess the star of the show.
* Dinosaur Party - Better balance this article out with a very
popular theme for the boys - the Dinosaur party. Think green,
brown, big and noisy and you've got the making of a great party
revolving around all things Dino! The thing that makes this
party so easy is you can use a lot of kraft grocery bags and
other recyclables to really turn your house around for the
party. Use them to cut out rocks and footprints and more. Use
some green streamers for the jungle effect. Make dirt cake as
the birthday cake and hide green M&Ms inside as the dinosaur
eggs. See how fun this is?
* Teddy Bear Party - I can't imagine any party that's easier to
put together than a Teddy Bear party. Have the kids bring their
favorite teddy or hire a make your own teddy bear entertainer to
keep the kids occupied and then the guests will have a great
take home gift too. A teddy shaped cake is very easy to make
with a couple of round cake pans or you can make it even easier
and frost a 9x13 cake and decorate it with either gummy bears or
teddy grahams. Enhance the theme with either a tea party or a
teddy bear fashion show - or have one of the activities be where
the kids make clothes for their animals.
* Carnival Party - A carnival party is a great theme
particularly for an outdoor, mid-summer party. Borrow some
tables from the neighbors or your local church and set up a
variety of stations for food, activities, crafts and games.
Involve the moms and dads of the guests to monitor the various
tables or hire some neighborhood teens for the afternoon to help
keep things under control. Have the kids trade tickets for food
or activities and earn more tickets for winning at some of the
tables. If you're planning for an outdoor party, have a rain
date set just in case.
* Tea Party - The nice thing about a tea party is that you can
make it as simple or as elaborate as you like, depending on the
time you have and the personality of your child. From a simple
"pretend" tea with milk and cookies to an all out English High
tea with scones, Devonshire cream, dipped strawberries and
delicious hot tea (the real thing), a tea party is a great
transition party for a young girl who doesn't want to do a more
childish theme. Have Dad dress up in his best suit and play
"butler" as he serves all the tea guests at the party. This is a
theme that would go well combined with a Princess party or the
teddy bear party too.
* Sports Party - Have a child that just can't get enough
sports? Then center his birthday party on them too! Either focus
on the birthday child's favorite or make it a combo party with
various sports highlighted. Or take the current sport of the
season and make the party all about that sport. The easy thing
about sports parties is that you can find great take home gifts
and crafts so easily and inexpensively and you can really spend
much of the "time" of the party actually participating in some
aspect of the sport. Obviously this would be a great party for
someone who doesn't really want to do a party at home - take all
the kids out to the bowling alley, batting cages or driving
range, then out for ice cream and voila... a great party!
* 50's Sock Hop Party - This is a super easy party to put
together because much of the party is centered on the music and
the way the kids dress. Encourage the gals to wear poodle skirts
and they guys to wear jeans and white t-shirts with, of course,
both in bobbie socks and saddle shoes (if you can find them) or
keds. Have a little "make up" station for the girls to put on a
little lipstick, throw some blown up balloons on the floor in
the living room, turn on the music and let the hopping begin!
Root beer floats or make your own sundaes (one with a candle for
the birthday child) are easy food for this party.
So make the most of your child's birthday party this year by
centering the events of the day on a theme. You'll find it to be
stress free, fun and something that your child will remember
long into his adult years.
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