Answer Hawaiian or a Movie theme.
For the Hawaiian theme:
For the preteen crowd, this tropical island theme can be a real hoot--particularly if you challenge arriving guests to use the 12 letters of the Hawaiian alphabet (a, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, u, w) to come up with fun new nicknames to go by. If you have a pool, you're golden. If not, set up a sprinkler that the kids can run through to cool off between the party games.
INVITATION
Aloha! Guests will know they're in for a fun ride when they get this invite. To make one, use a craft knife (adults only) to cut an 8-inch-long surfboard shape out of Fome-Cor (sold at most craft or art supply stores) or cardboard. Cut an identical shape out of colorful Con-Tact paper. Stick the Con-Tact paper to the top of the surfboard and print on a fun announcement with a black marker. Print the rest of the information on the back, including a reminder for guests to wear their favorite beach attire.
PARTY PHOTO
Hang Ten Poses Having your photo taken while you strike a dramatic surfing pose makes a fun icebreaker for this shindig. To set the stage, put on some inspiring
music (any Beach Boys tune will do), then spread a blue tarp or blanket on the ground and place a folded-up ironing board on top of it. Guests can then take turns "riding" the board while you snap Polaroid postcards of them to take home as souvenirs.
PARTY CRAFTS
Paper Leis It wouldn't be a true Hawaiian celebration without colorful flower leis. You can either make them ahead of time and have your child distribute them as the guests arrive, or provide the supplies so the kids can make their own. First, trim the tops of colorful cupcake liners to resemble scalloped-edged flowers. Then cut a bunch of drinking straws into 1-inch lengths for spacers. Using a wide-eyed embroidery needle and twine, alternately sew through the centers of a bunch of flowers and string on straw sections. When the strand is long enough, tie together the string ends, and the lei is ready to wear.
TROPICAL TREATS
Skewer pieces of fruit, cheese, and meat with fancy toothpicks and arrange them on a pupu platter (that's Hawaiian for appetizer!). Blend together tropical fruits, juices, and ice for smoothies that your guests will go bananas over. Serve them in pretty glasses garnished with cocktail umbrellas. Top it off with this beach cake, sure to make a big splash!
ISLAND ENTERTAINMENT
Hula Hoopla Hawaiian partygoers will get a laugh out of giving this contest a whirl. Hand two of the kids hula hoops and see who can hula the longest. Then pose the challenge to two other kids. Once everyone has had a chance, have the winners of the first round face off against each other, and so on, until one kid is the victor. He or she wins a hula hoop!
Aloha VolleyPlayed with a beach ball (or even a balloon), this game puts a tropical twist on classic volleyball. Set up a net (or you can string a piece of clothesline between two stationary objects). Ask each team to come up with a fun name like the Invincible Islanders or the Volley-canoes. Explain that the object is to hit the ball back and forth according to standard volleyball rules. But instead of scoring points, teams are awarded letters to spell A-L-O-H-A. The first team to complete the word wins!
HAWAIIAN PARTY POINTERS
â¢Make your place look like a tropical paradise by decorating it with exotic paper or silk flowers, colored holiday lights, and paper lanterns.
⢠Set up a beach umbrella to create a shady spot where kids can get out of the sun. And have plenty of sunscreen on hand.
⢠Hawaiian Party Favors: Send guests home from this party in paradise with tropical trail mix (just add dried pineapple chunks and macadamia nuts to your favorite mix), shells, beach balls, or sunglasses.
---------------------------------------------------
For the Movie Theme:
Invitations:
Become a STAR with "birthday girl" (have pictures of glamour women on the front of the card)
Tell the guests to dress up as glamorous as possible (long gowns, high heels, lots of makeup, etc) Have extra accessories for those who wanted to be more glamorous.
Date:
Time:
Location:
RSVP to my manager
Additional Idea:
Purchased cards of girl, high heels, with sparkles on them.
Invitation Insert: Made. Printed a note asking parents to dress their little girls in their old bridesmaid dresses / prom dresses (that they just couldn't wear out in public again). And, added these lines for them to fill in: Stage Name, Favorite movie, Favorite actor, Favorite song.
Decorations:
Put a black paper tablecloth on the table and cover it with little gold stars. Use big gold stars from a paper supply store to use as place mats with black paper plates on top of them. Ring pops make great napkin rings with folded black paper napkins in a fan shape. Put them through the ring pop so they fan out like a bow tie. Place in the middle of the plate. Use black plastic utensils and hot glue rhinestones on them. Plastic champagne glasses can be used for Ginger Ale. Dress them up with gold curly ribbon around the stem.
Other decorations: See if you can get old movie posters. Hang white holiday lights and hang stars (can be made from foil on cardboard). How about a few directors chairs, one for the birthday girl with her name on the back of course!
Helium-filled balloons, thin-sparkle garland, foil stars, extra invitations
Cake & Food: Bake a cake in 9 x 13 pan, frost with white frosting. Put gold and silver foil wrapped kisses all around the edge of the cake so it would look like a marquee, and write Happy Birthday in red. (Super easy, but really cute) Use black glitter candles.
Goodie Bags: Fill up their goodie bags with remaining samples of make-up, bottles of nail polish, trial sizes of bubble bath, dark sunglasses, fake nails, and hair things. etc Also include a small notebook and pen...they will need to get each others autographs!
Games and Activities:
When girls arrive, collect the forms their parents filled out. Be prepared to fill one out if they do not have one.
Beauty Salon: Purchase lipstick samples, eye shadow samples, blush samples, perfume samples, ask an Avon or Mary Kay representative if they have any available. Set up a table with mirrors, Q-tips, tissues, all the above mentioned samples, and nail polish (which you can buy cheaply just about anywhere.) Tell the girls DO NOT share the makeup for sanitary reasons. For a party with younger girls, maybe you could ask teen girls to help out or enlist the help of the other moms to give the girls make-overs. Don't forget to take before and after shots of all the girls! Give the girls boas to wear.
Red carpet entrance: Purchase a red plastic tablecloth and folded it in half lengthways and use it as a runway. Announce each Diva from the form she turned in when she arrived. Stating, "And here is stage name, who recently starred in favorite movie with favorite actor. Stage name is also up for a Grammy for favorite song," as she made her entrance. A photograph can be made to commemorate the occasion. Holiday lights can be added to the edge of the runway for more effect.
Oscar presentation Paperdolls: Purchase inexpensive paper dolls with stands. Place each girls form into the "oscar" envelope after the red carpet entrance. One envelope per girl each with a different category written on them including best diva attire, best diva attitude, best leading actress, etc. Each girl wins an Oscar and a photo can be taken as she accepts her award.
Oscar decoration: Give the girls a chance to decorate their Oscars clothing.
Guess the Star - As each girl comes in the door put a name tag on her back with the name of a famous movie star (one that the kids would know). Then they have to find out who they are by asking the other guests questions. The other guests can answer any question, but must not reveal the name of the star. First girl to figure out who she is wins a prize.
Purchase some gold stars (12 inches) at a party store and some small, glittery letters. For each girl invited, label a star with the girls name, close to the top. Lay out the stars before the girls came (like Hollywood Blvd) then they can find them and have their Polaroid picture taken (in their glamorous finery). Next, tape/glue the picture to the center of the star and let each girl decorate it with glitter gel, small stars, etc.
Toilet Paper Chain Relay - Split guests up into 2 teams which stand in rows across from each other. The first person in each row has a roll of toilet paper. They have to put it through one sleeve and out the other and then on to the next person until the last person completes the chain.
Pin the Star on the Birthday Girl - Before the guests arrived trace your daughter on a large piece of paper. Give each guest a paper star and blindfold them one at a time. They have to stick the star on the picture of the birthday girl. The star closest to her heart is the winner. (Like pin the tail on the donkey)
Pull out the video camera and have the girls model, lip sync, karaoke or act out small skits.
