Last school year my then 4 almost 5 yr old daughter started kindergarten at a private Christian school not knowing any of the other kids. She immediately made friends with one little girl who was also new to the school. A lot of the other kids knew eachother from pre-school the prior year. My daughter is now 6 and in 1st grade with this girl and calls her 'my first friend' at school. Well, she will be moving over Christmas break (her family will be moving out of the country early next year) so her last day of school will be coming up soon. I'm going to watch a couple of the girls in her class this coming Sunday as a favor to their moms and thought about having an 'Un-Going Away' party since the little girl becomes very upset/emotional when the move is mentioned so I wanted to have an 'Un' party (like the Un-Birthday parties, etc). My problem is I'm not sure what to do. There will be 4 girls total. We have already done the tea party, the doll party, birthday parties, etc. I want something very special but not the same. It will be done around 3:30-4pm so I was thinking maybe pizza and movies or something but that would take away time they could spend with eachother. Our girl scout troop (which 3 of the 4 girls are in) recently did a baking day and really don't want to do that again. ANY suggestions would be great! I'd like to keep it at my house and maybe be 2-2 1/2 hours long. All the girls live close but it will be a school night. THANK YOU all in advance!!
THANK YOU for all the great suggestions! The party (for the most part) was a huge success. The girls made bracelets and necklaces and I found little unfinished wooden boxes with hinges for them to decorate and put their jewels in. They loved it. I then had the girls made a card for the girl going away that she can open on Christmas. Our going away girl made a card for each of the other 3 girls for them to open at Christmas. The cards just told each other something special about them and why they were friends with each other. We then went to a local house that has Christmas lights and does a nightly lights/laser/snow show. Came back ate pizza then watched a movie. Over all, I think it was a lot of fun. Thank you for all the suggestions!! Wish we had time to do everything!! :-)
Pizza and a movie sounds really nice, girls love to eat pizza watch a DVD and get all silly, my daughter is 6 years old and loves pizza parties
Hi M.,
What a great idea! I don't have much as I've never done anything like this before. But, a couple of suggestions would be to take them to Color Me Mine where they could sit together and paint some ceramic pieces. Another idea I have is a photo party. Give them all a chance to take digital photos of each other, then print them out and let them make a collage to remember each other by. Just a thought.
Good Luck and I hope the girls have fun together!
-A. T.
M.,
What about a fairie princess party where all of the girls get face painting (you can do it yourself with face paint and non toxic face glitter) and also tulle wings that they get to wear at the party? You can do a theme with cupcakes.
I really like the idea of making friendship bracelets! The girls could also make a going away book (you can call it what-ever you think would be easier on the child). They can write about each other and the memories they've created. They can each get a portable camera and go to the park and take pictures. Then you can put the pics all together to form a memory book for each child. This would be great for her to use during her stressful transition.
I went to a party once (as a girl) where we were told to bring a silly hat and then we went around to all these places taking fun pictures. We went to the mall, a neighborhood park. They might like to dress up at that age, you could have other stuff like boas, fancy sunglasses and stuff. have the girls decorate frames or little books or something. Then you can sneak off to 1 hour photo and get them developed while the girls are eating, they all can have a keepsake to take home.
What a bout a "friends forever" party?? Focus on friends and frienship. Make the bracelets and what about grabbing plain sheets of paper and envelopes and labels and having the girls make their own stationary so they can be pen pals. Then they know that even if they aren't with each other they can still be friends.
How about an arts and craft party, since its holiday season they could make ornaments for eachother. A dark ornament and a sharpie made my unique christmas tree decorations...just a suggestion
You can have them make their own pizzas using Trader Joes pizza dough and sauce or any pre-made crusts.
Also, mini scrap books using polaroids or computer printed digital pictures, markers, glue, and precut shapes. My daughter went to a slumber party where they used brown paper lunch bags to create a small scrapbook and she loves looking back and remembering at the fun time they all had together.
Good luck.
Also teach the girls about Skype or IChat, we recently moved, which was very hard on my daughter, but now she has weekly "playdates" in front of the computer with her best friend who is across the country sitting in front of her computer.
Go to Paint a Dream or do a craft at home.
Have a bracelet making party.... making bracelets (like those friendship bracelets), but it can be with beads etc., which would be easier for a 6 year old versus the traditional "woven" type friendship bracelets.
Girls LOVE making bracelets... or necklaces. Either with beads, or Fimo clay, that they can mold/create themselves.
My daughter, who is 7 now, LOVES doing things like that and loves "friendship" bracelets with her girlfriends. Its a great "girl bonding" thing. AND, if you have a Polaroid camera or something, take Photos of their creations and a "group" photo as well, and they can all take home their Photos and creations and it will create a lasting memory.
It would take up a good chunk of time... then have fun snacks on the side that aren't high-maintenance types of foods. Just fun stuff.
Oops sorry, Jessica below suggested the same thing!
All the best,
Susan
So many great ideas! One thought I had was to get one of those gingerbread house kits and let the girls put it together, then the guest of honor could take it home with her. You could take some digital photos while they're working, print them out, and give a set to each girl when they head for home.
Love the bracelet idea, too!
No suggestions about the party, but make sure to get her address and have the girls write each other. My daughter is now 14, and when she was in first grade her best friend moved away. They wrote and called, then when older they emailed, now they are on facebook together! It's been really special.
Youve gotten alot of great suggestions here!
We went through a similar scenario last month, thought it was just for 2 best friends, not a group. What we did was to have the 2 kids decorate picture frames for each other (wooden 4x6 frames are $1 at Michael's crafts stores). They painted them and decorated them with all sorts of things (you can buy stick-on gemstones, scrapbooking puffy stickers, foam stickers, etc, glitter, etc). We took a really cute photo of the 2 of them together and they put it into the frame and gave the frames to each other. It was really sweet, they had a GREAT time and it was about a dollar apiece. This was for 2 best friends together, though. Sounds like you might have a larger group. Anyway, I hope this helps and have fun!
color-me-mine (www.colormemine.com) or sew cafe' (sewcreativecafe.com) type of activity where they can make pieces for each other?
what a wonderful thing you are doing for the girls!
Good Luck
V.
Ask them all to bring pictures of themselves and their friends and make a scrapbook out of them. You will have to position the pix, but let the kids decorate the pages. You could just use regular paper and sheet protectors and put them into a 3 ring binder. Then your little friend will have something to remember her friends when she goes away!
My daughter is the same age and she is totally into crafts, especially making jewelry, etc. You could have the girls spend time together chatting and making things for each other, but make sure the friend who is leaving gets something from each girl. Then once they are done have pizza & ice cream or something. Sounds fun to me
Hope this helps :)
