Creative Party Blog

To open presents or not to open presents……that is the question. And if you open them……when do you do it?

Honestly, this is a tough one. But here goes and these are just my personal thoughts based on going to many many birthday parties and hosting them myself.

For kids younger than Kindergarten age, I’m not sure that it’s necessary. For those kids it can take a really long time even if there are only a few. Most of the time, the kids don’t even know what present they brought and so it’s just not as effective. For those age kids, they can get a bit overwhelmed with even 2 presents but the first one may be something they want to sit down and play with right then. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be much nicer to have the luxury of saying…..”no problem…..we’ll just open the rest of these later.” Plus, if you are trying to have a relatively short birthday party this can lengthen if unnecessarily. BUT, if there is a child who really wants to see your child open his or her present, by all means at the end of the party, pull that one out and open it up right then and there.

Now, for kids Kindergarten and older. Most parents have learned at this point that having a smaller party is better. I’m not one of those but my husband is pushing me towards it! So, let’s start with the small parties. I for sure think you need to open the presents at this age as the kids who come to the party are just as excited about this as your child will be and it can be built into the schedule of the party. If the party is a longer one, let that be an activity during a lul in the scheduled events. While pizza is cooking is the perfect time!

If you are nuts like I am and have a huge party, I couldn’t bear the thought of my daughter opening all her presents during the party. We had 26 kids to come. There were a few who asked when we were opening the presents and for those that were really interested in seeing her open the presents, we did it after most of the kids had gone home and they could sit down in a small group and enjoy it more.

The biggest thing to remember is to assign someone else besides yourself to be in charge of writing down who each present is from. I know Miss Manners says that if you open a present while the giver is sitting there with you, there is no need to send a thank you note. But I just think it’s nicer for the kids to start off early letting their friends know how much they appreciate them. So, no matter if you open the presents during the party or not, it’s good to have a record of who gave what. And it needs to be someone else who is in charge of the list since you will be busy doing other things!

When you are hosting a birthday party in your home for your kids, it’s always important to provide a festive atmosphere. That doesn’t mean that you have to have the entire house decorated to the hilt. It simply means that there should be a spot carved out that you turn into “party central.”

At this almost sleepover, the hostess made the kitchen the focus of the party. They ate there as well as worked on their craft. As you can see here the area is very inviting to the kids and it really didn’t take a whole lot to create it.

Simply put down a festive table cloth. Add some balloons or big impactful centerpiece and a sign saying “Happy Birthday” and you are set.

Atmosphere……….atmosphere……atmosphere……..even kids are very visual!

This idea is a great way to kill two birds with one stone! At this Almost Sleepover Birthday Party, the girls got to put the toppings of their choice on their own pizza square. It was a great idea to get the girls involved in the party AND it took up some time which can be a mom’s worst nightmare…….what am I going to do with all these girls for 4 hours…..

You can buy pre-made pizza crust at many grocery stores. Roll it out yourself and place on the baking sheets. Let the kids put on the sauce or it might be easier for the mom to do it. Then have bowls of cheese, pepperoni slices, peppers, mushrooms….anything you think the kids would like. Then one at a time, let them prepare their own slice just the way they like it.

Send them to tear up your daughter’s room and a few minutes later, the pizzas are ready!

I don’t care the age, I don’t care the sex, I don’t care what kind of party it is or just gathering for that matter…….having an organized ice breaker at the beginning always starts the party off right. Now, I’m not talking about a silly ice breaker. I’m talking about a planned activity that is ready to go as folks walk in the door. I’ve watched adults and children hesitantly walk into a room when there is a great deal of commotion and it takes them a while to warm up. Then I’ve watched the same kids walk in and immediately sit down to a project with other kids and they are engaged right off the bat.

At this almost sleepover party, the hosted had the idea to let the girls decorate their own craft supply caddy to take home. It was very timely as it had just been valentines and my daughter for one came home with a box full of craft supplies! So this was a great idea for her to keep all those supplies right where should could use them when she wanted.

I’m not sure where these boxes were purchased cut with “storage” and organizing being the thing right now, you can find a myriad of things out there at hobby shops and scrapbooking supply stores. Provide the storage box and a little permanent paint and the kids provide the creativity. Honestly this could be done for any age kindergarten and up.

I thought this idea was just genius. When your girls are young and still light sleepers…….have an “Almost Sleepover!” I don’t know about you, but my 6 year just begs for a sleepover and I’m just not quite sure I’m ready for that.

For this 6 year old’s birthday party, she had an “Almost” Sleepover where the kids came in and started on a craft, had dinner and cake and then watched a movie in their jammies. Instead of sleeping at the birthday girl’s house, the parents showed up at 9:00 to take the sleepy ones home to bed! Perfect.

To commemorate the evening, all the girls who attended the birthday party, signed a pillow case with a sharpie. These pillow cases can be found on the web. Search for Sleepover Autograph Pillow Cases. I couldn’t find one exactly like this one. When I asked the hostess where she bought it, she admitted she purchased it years ago at a random gift shop. Look online or make your own with permanent paints!

Creating an atmosphere for a birthday party no matter what kind of birthday party, is very important. Do you remember being a kid and walking into a place that seemed magical? It may have only been that your parents moved the furniture around. Or it could have been balloons all over the place. But kids notice those details whether they say they do or not.

Here, the first thing that the kids were doing at my daughter’s Halloween birthday party was to decorate some treat bags that we were then going to use later. So, to create that atmosphere, I set the bags up on each table ready with supplies. Envision three tables full of these bags just waiting for the kids to arrive.

The other great thing was that when moms came in with their kids, there was no question as to what they were to do first and I had helping hands to get the bags created. Perfect.

Since we used the tables that we later were going to eat on, I simply put a piece of black plastic table cloth over the table cloth for eating time. This made clean up easy and glue spills NO big deal. When you are in the middle of a party transitioning quickly is something to think about.

Decorating Tables for any kind of party can be very impactful to the image of the party. And it’s a great way to release the creative juices. I like there to be at least 1 pop item and here I used a home made Web table overlay for the decorations.

We had 3 tables for the kids to eat and then a serving/staging table and it also had an overlay. Underneath I had some burlap that I had bought for a ladies luncheon that I recycled and used with the webs which made a perfect combination. You can purchase yardage of burlap for very little money and simply cut it and leave the edges loose or hem them. I……just left them loose.

To make the webs, I had my husband to make a box out of scrap 2X4 wood we had in the garage. Nails were placed in the corners and center of each run. Slightly bend the nails out so that the yard or string doesn’t slip off while you are trying to work on it. Then your box is ready to go!

I used a knotty soft yarn for the web I made here, but you could use any kind of string or yarn. If you don’t plan to do a burlap underlay, you could even make the spiderweb out of twine and put it over a black paper table cloth. That would be super cute.

Start by cutting lengths to fit across each side and diagonally and tie a simple knot around each nail. To make the circular web part, start in the middle and make a knot encompassing as many of the stretched strands as possible. I left the yarn in a ball and just starting making my way around the web tying a knot at each intersection. It all depends on the size of your web but mine took about 3/4 of a ball to make each web. Just cut the end wherever you want and pull off the wooden form. Carefully fold it up and I just store mine in a plastic bag.

Resources: Black Yarn can be found at any hobby or knitting shop. If you don’t have scrap 2X4’s at home, you can get them at a lumber yard, some hardware stores and even Home Depot. You might even be able to talk them into cutting and nailing it together for you. I use to do that when I was single!

Have fun making your Halloween party table overlay. This could even be done in red or pink and used on a Valentines Table for kids or adults. Something you can dress up or dress down!

Table Scene Photo taken by Amy Hall of Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Welcome to my living room. Well, my living room make shift Halloween Birthday Party. Yes, those are Christmas Decorations you see in the back. Yes, the furniture is replaced by kid size tables. And yes, we had 26 kids. I know. Everyone has told me how crazy I am, but it was super fun.

Because it was holiday time, I needed to mask the decorations we already had up for that occasion. I’ve used balloons in the past but have never just let them fly around and bounce where they may. It was perfect. The balloons drew your eye up making the first thing the kids saw very festive and colorful. Halloween Party Decorations don’t have to be complicated, although you will find other ideas from this party that are. Often the ideas that make the most impact are simple like this!

We rented a helium tank from a local party store and blew up 100 balloons. With two people, it really doesn’t take that long and if you aren’t tying strings onto the balloons, it is even faster. Be sure not to be too monochromatic with the colors. Here we used black and orange and then pulled in the green for a splash that worked.

Photo taken by Amy Hall of Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Having a Halloween Party or a Halloween Birthday Party? Make it more festive by encouraging everyone to dress up…..even moms and dads.

We had a kid Halloween Party and to encourage everyone to dress up, we gave prizes for the best or most creative costume. Funny enough both winners (mom and kid) were pirates!

For the moms we gave an orange spatula and I can’t even remember what we gave the child winner but just about anything works. It’s all about the fashion show and suspense of who wins!

Resources: We found the orange spatula at William Sonoma. During the holidays they have lots of fun items. If not, Halloween is just about the easiest time to find holiday items that would be fun prizes!

Kids young and old…….and even moms and dads…..love cupcakes. And there’s nothing better than a cupcake with really good frosting.

These cupcakes were made from a box. Oops. Did I just admit that? The kids don’t want anything fancy and when you are planning a birthday party, in my mind, the cake part of this is just nothing to worry about.

The frosting is my cream cheese frosting colored orange and then bittersweet choc was melted to make the spiderwebs. If you don’t have a piping bag and plan to use a plastic bag like we suggest below, be carefully of putting hot chocolate in it. You might want to opt into using black colored icing instead.

Couple of tips. The Cream cheese frosting doesn’t set hard which is part of what makes it so good. But when you are piping the spiderweb just keep this in mind. Make sure you wait until the cupcakes are cool before icing or it will slide all down the side. Use a good coloring liquid for the icing. The inexpensive ones at the grocery just don’t go very far! And lastly, if you don’t have a piping bag, you can easily do these spiderwebs by putting the chocolate in a zippered plastic bag and cutting a very small hole in one of the bottom corners.

Whether you are having a Halloween Party, a Birthday Halloween Party or just a play date, these Halloween cupcakes are super cute to have set out. And they are yummy to eat.

Resources: Click here for our our Cream Cheese Icing Recipe. For the cake mix, I use Duncan Hines Mix. Bittersweet Chocolate can be found at higher end groceries. Or you can just using icing colored black.

These invitations we used for a kid Halloween Party but could easily be used for adult ones as well. We were encouraging the kids and moms to dress up and have a fun time. And they did!

The wording was as follows:
“The night is dark and the goblins are out
the witches and black cats are prowling about
Costumed creatures the strangest I’ve seen
are knocking on doors….
cause it’s Halloween!”
“Anne and Olivia will be ghoulishly dressed
so moms and kids come in your Halloween best”
Date
Address
RSVP info

Then at the party we had a prize for the best adult and kid costume. Take care when picking your invitation because no matter if it’s a sure to be fun party like a Halloween party or not, the invitation sets the tone and expectations for the party!

Resources: The invitations were found at Paper Rabbit Designs.

We threw a Halloween Party with another family for the kids and adults but only the kids received favors. The witch brooms were the perfect simple favor for them.

These are simple to make and double as some creative decorations. The idea came form an article I saw in a Martha Stewart somewhere but I can’t remember exactly where. I just remembered the concept.

Directions for the Favors: Take 2 small brown lunch sacks. Keep one whole that you put candy corn or suckers or anything you wish inside it. Take the second back and cut slits all the way down the sides leaving the bottom solid. Insert candy into first bag and cut a short stick from your yard to add for the handle. Wrap that bag with the cut one and wrap around the mouth to secure to the stick or broom stick. I used some macrame’ cord I had hanging around but you could use anything. Yarn, ribbon….really anything will do and many colors would work. Try red, orange, brown, grey, black or yellow for the cording on your Halloween favors. The brighter the color the more of a impact the brooms will make. The red made a nice punch.

Resources: Paper bags can be found at Michaels or at many grocery stores. Candy of your choice. Cording at any fabric or craft store or even hardware store for twine. Sticks from your yard or the side of the road in a wooded area.

Group your broomsticks to make an impact for your Halloween Party guests and they will ooh and aah over them.

I found this idea for a Halloween Cake and thought it would be perfect for my daughter’s Halloween Birthday Party. She was turning 6 but I think that this cake would be great for any age person that was having a Halloween theme party.

In actuality, the cake was not for the kids……it’s a cream cheese cake and I didn’t think that most of the kids would want any. So, I had the cake for the parents and then had ice cream for the kids. The parents loved it and it isn’t a very heavy cream cheese cake.

What was interesting about this age is that it took my daughter forever to blow the candles out…….maybe it was the 30 pairs of eyes that were looking at her. Yet, my 4 year old just dug right into blowing the candles out.

Photos taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Having a Pirate Birthday Party and need ideas? Provide eye patches, hats and some fun beads and the kids will create their own party. There is nothing like dressing up to get kids in the mood to roll play. And a Pirate party lends itself quite nicely to just this.

Here you can purchase the hats and beads either made of felt or of paper. Long term the felt hats are going to last longer as the paper ones will tear up pretty quickly. This is an idea that the kids will play with. And it’s something that is appropriate for many ages.

For one of these parties, there were your basic birthday party games like the bean bag toss and others and as prizes, the birthday boy gave away the bead necklaces. So, at the end of the party everyone compared their booty they collected at the party. Then the mom provided a trunk that it could all be stored in. Would have given you a pic of that as well……but I’m afraid ours has been lost.

Resources: Felt hats, trunks, eye patches and necklaces can be found at Oriental Trading.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Wording for a Pirate Birthday Party is not rocket science but sometimes the creative juices don’t flow! Here’s a suggested wording for your Pirate Party Invitation. Choose some old looking paper maybe already done with the burnt edges or burn them yourself……very carefully. Use the Old English font and you are good to go.

Pirate Birthday Party Invitation Wording:

Ahoy me hearty…
You’re invited to a Pirate Party!
Pirate Captain (your child’s name)
is turning 4~
Come board our ship
for some grub, games and a
while lot more!

Then details like address, time and RSVP info.

Have fun with your Pirate Party.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Pirate Birthday Parties allow for you to use all your creative juices. There are so many home made items that can be make that look cool and are appealing both to the kids but to the parents as well!

These party invitations are the perfect lead in for a birthday party when you can hand deliver them all. Wouldn’t work so well if you needed to mail any……..although I guess you could get a bigger bottle and put a cork in the top. Ooooo. You could even use old wine bottles and wine corks. That would be super cute for a party for any age kid or adult! Start saving those empty wine bottles.

Anyway, they are super simple. There are all kinds of bottles like these available online or even in your dollar store. Put in a little sandbox sand (preferable without bugs), a shell or two and your invitation that’s been wound with some twine.

I can never say too much that an invitation sets the tone for a birthday party. So, please put some thought into them!

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

When decorating for a birthday party there are so many directions you can take that it can be overwhelming. Then when you throw in the fact that it’s the holidays and you are having a themed party or you are going to a gym and it can really be hard to tackle.

This party was just that. We had my daughter’s Creative Art Birthday party at a community gym which is huge and impersonal. You walk in to an area where the ceiling is lower and this was going to be my space for create the atmosphere with our balloon decorations. Then once we finished with the initial craft, they kids were let loose in the gym.

To create that atmosphere, I made a wall of balloons. You could do this with balloons or even streamers or signs or plants…..lots of things. We decided on balloons because I had lots of help to prepare for the party. We blew up about 100 balloons and then tied them on to varying lengths of string with a weight at the bottom of each. Let me tell you, this took some serious time but was so cute.

The other caution I might give you if you decide to take on this decorating project is to “let it go.” You will go to all this work on the balloons and then if you have small or big kids coming, someone will start picking up the balloons and will take off with them and mess the whole wall up.

Just now thinking. The way to go around this would be to just blow the balloons up without helium and suspend them from the ceiling to make the wall. They the kids would bat at the balloon decorations but wouldn’t be able to pick them up and take them along for the ride!

Enjoy your party decorating!

Party hats for the kids who come to a birthday party or just the birthday child don’t have to be elaborate. We embellished these pre-made hats for my daughter’s 3rd Creative Art Birthday Party.

The red hats were bought at a party supply store. Simple red hats. I took some old white boas and cut them to hot glue around the bottom of the hat and then a little poof at the top. For the birthday girl, I used some white squirt on paint to write the number 3.

Super easy but gives the kids something to put on when they are singing happy birthday……which they absolutely love to do.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Adding a pre-made name tag to birthday party favors is a great idea to do. A name tag does several things. Making tags with each child’s name on it is the best way to make them feel special. They know that you were expecting them and feel like care was made on that favor just for them.

Providing a tag with the kids names on it will put your mind as a hostess at ease that you have a favor for each child who plans to attend. Then at the end of the party, if you have any left over you will immediately know what children were not able to come. This allows you to schedule play dates with those kids or at least acknowledge that you noticed they weren’t there. Another way to make your guests feel special.

These tags were placed at the top of made up playdough given as a party favor at my daughter’s creative art party. It included a copy of the recipe used to make the playdough that was in the tubs allowing the guests to make the playdough themselves if they wanted to. To personalize it, my handwriting is not very good. Therefore, even thought it’s more work, I like to copy or cut out letters. Here I cut out each letter to the kids names who were attending. Since their names were mostly longer than the tag I had made, I just overlapped them.

Resources: We have a few Playdough Recipes you can choose from.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Giving homemade play dough as a gift to a birthday child or as birthday party favors is a great idea. I don’t know of one child who does not like play dough. I even like to play with play dough and I’m way beyond the child stage! Play dough is super easy to make. Add in a few play dough playing accessories and you have a perfect gift or favor.

Let me tell you…..we had about 15 kids at this party. So, that’s 15 X 3 tubs of play dough. 45 tubs of play dough doesn’t sound like much but when you start making it, it can take some time. Luckily it can all be made early!

After making different colors of play dough, I put a nice size ball in each tub and tied 3 tubs of play dough together with a red ribbon which was one of the party colors. On top, I added a rolling pen and a couple of cookie cutters. To insure all the kids had a favor, I added a name tag at the top that we’ll talk about in another post.

Lining all these up did make a nice visual impact. Too bad I didn’t think to take a photo of it at the time to share with you.

Resources: We have a few Playdough Recipes you can choose from.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.