Towels for Party Guests

Are you planning an outdoor water type party? If you are having a summer party, it is just too much fun to have it at a water park, where you can turn on a sprinkler or even at a pool if the kids are old enough!

First off, it’s always good to either put on the invitation or on an insert that your guests should bring a swimsuit, towel and sunscreen. But I don’t care who it is or what age party it is…..someone…..will forget one or more of the required water enjoyment items. We’ve been to 3 water involved parties this summer and at the most recent one, another one of the little girl’s mom forgot to bring her swimsuit. Tragic! Luckily, I had taken my swim bag and it had an extra swimsuit in it! It was about 2 sizes too big but the kid didn’t care. All she wanted to do was play in the water.

So, as the hostess of a party that includes frolicking in the water it would be good to remember extra towels, sunscreen and a swimsuit or two. That is if you have extra you are willing to share. Forgetful moms and/or dads will be thankful!

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Ghost Lantern Template

Resources: Heavy Stock Scrap Booking Paper and glue stick found at craft stores like Michaels. Card shops carry velum for letters that can be cut down.

Directions for Project: Halloween Birthday Party Lantern Idea Directions

To See Template:
Click below link through 2 screens.

Ghost Template for Lantern Idea

Image taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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Opening Presents

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!

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Kids Making Playdough

Following are some recipes that I’ve accumulated. My favorite is recipe #1. I would recommend you try them all and see which one works best for you. All the recipes for the playdough are very similar. Only slight variations but as with baking, slight variations will make very different playdough.

Play Dough Recipe #1

Directions:
Mix together dry ingredients:
2 Cups White Flour
1 Cup Salt
4 tsp Cream of Tarter

To 2 Cups of Boiling Water, add:
4 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 tsp Food Coloring

Pour liquids into the dry ingredients and stir well. When slightly cooled, knead for a few minutes until smooth.

Hint: Use and electric mixer and it’s sooo easy. If you are doing it by hand and the kids are helping, you might choose to put the food coloring into the dough after it is kneaded. And the better or more concentrated the food coloring is, the brighter the color of play dough you will get.

Play Dough Recipe #2

Directions:
Mix together:
1 Cup Salt
3 Cups Flour
4 tsp Cream of Tarter
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 1/4 Cup Boiling Water
Food Coloring

Makes 4 small plastic containers of Play Dough

Play Dough Recipe #3

Directions:
Mix Together in Saucepan,
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Salt
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
3 tsp Cream of Tarter
2 1/4 Cups Water

Cook above over medium heat 4 to 6 minutes until batter is like mashed potatoes. Pull of stove and let cool. Add food coloring into the mixer or add later when the kids can knead it in.

Be sure and keep the playdough in an airtight container or a plastic storage bag and your playdough can last up to a month!

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Greeting Guests

Saying Good Bye

It’s equally important for your child to say thank you after receiving or opening gifts and to say good bye when guest are leaving and say thanks for coming. This may seem so trivial to some of you reading this but these little details are often either forgotten or allowed to be slipped under the rug. Don’t let these proper manners go by the wayside.

No matter if your child is 3 or if they are 15, it’s never a bad idea to take 30 seconds the morning of a party to go through guest etiquette.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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Princess Party Food

Mask any sandwich in an interesting design and kids will eat them. For a Princess Party, cut your sandwiches in a crown design. These were cut with a cookie cutter in the shape of a crown. There were two choices: a cheese sandwich and then a peanut butter sandwich.

In addition to the sandwiches, the Princess Hostess served platters of fruit and cut veggies. That always keeps the moms happy. And it’s very easy to cut up and have prepared ahead of time!

Resources: If you put in a google search “Princess Crown Cookie Cutter” you will come up with many results for the cookie cutter that was used here.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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If these don’t strike your fancy, there is tons of free flower clip art online that you can look for to print off for the kids to color.

To See Templates:
Click below link through 2 screens.

Flower Clip Art 1

Flower Clip Art 2

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Wagon Gift Gathering

One of the most often forgotten elements to planning a birthday party is where you will gather and display gifts when they start arriving.  I for one seem to always forget or it’s completely an afterthought.  But you really want to figure this out and make it obvious to guests as they arrive. As you are greeting the kids and parents, it’s good not to look like a chicken with your head cut off.

A great way to gather gifts is in a wagon. This particular party was at a park and the hostess brought the wagon to gather gifts. Then getting home with the gifts at the end of the party was as easy as picking up the handle of the wagon and walking down the street.

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Custom Envelope

Resources: Heavy Stock Scrap Booking Paper and glue stick found at craft stores like Michaels.

Directions for Project: How to Make Your Own Envelope

To See Template:
Click below link through 2 screens.

Custom Envelope Template

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Invitation Etiquette

So, what do you do when you are sending an invitation to a child and their sibling is welcome? Well, it is very important to make some kind of notation somewhere so that the mom doesn’t have to wonder or contact you to ask that uncomfortable questions if little Gary is invited to come!

Envelope Address Etiquette

The big thing I want to impress upon you here is to state it somewhere. Please don’t put your guest in the uncomfortable position of having to ask. It’s just good Etiquette in filling out the invitation for your child’s birthday party invitation.

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