I have had several parties for my 9 year old daughter over the past few years, and there are a few parties we keep going back to and keep sharing with my daughter's friends as well.
1. Swim Club that has a full kitchen and playground, volley ball court and grassy picnic area and a pool staffed with full lifeguard at each end of the water and in the chair.
- We have ordered pizzas and just eaten them on the picnic tables.
- We have bbq'd everything from hamburgers to Tri Tip on the grills
- We then have them shower in their bathing suits to get all the chlorine out of the hair and body. They change when they get back to our house.
2. "Libby Lu" Style Parties (used to be in Downtown Disney and has been replaced minus the pink overkill and Jonas Brothers ah-blasting):
-Out here in Sourthern California, Downtown Disney had a place called "Libby Lu". It was $34.95 PER CHILD and the wait list was 6 months out even on school days. At Libby Lu, the girls got their hair and nails done and a little bit of glitter and fun dress up makeup things. Then they had containers full of really cute, but really inexpensive goodies, and they could take 5 goodies from the goodie bag.
-OK...now back to the REAL LIFE of throwing parties in the middle of a school year. I started doing the same couple of things at each of my daughter's parties, and then switch around other things to do, depending on what my daughter wants.
WHAT STAYS: Always the manicure/pedicure station!
- We paid our neighbor down the street (5th grade at the time) and between her and I, we were able to paint everyone's toes and fingers, all FULL of flowers and jems and they even got to soak their feet in a foot water massager!
OPTIONAL:
-Little Goodie Bag Option: The 99 Cent Store or Dollar Tree have TONS of little personal eyeshadows and lip gloss and fingernail polish and hair bands and clips. All you need to do is pick up enough for each girl to choose 3-5 items and then place each "grab bag goodie" in it's own bin. Then you put the bins out and have a parent or other older child watch out that people are taking what they should be taking :0).
-Canvas bags-BLANK TOTE BAGS @ Michael's with fabric paint helps them create a fun new handbag for the beach or any other outing!
-T-Shirts-There are so many appliques and fabric paint that you could make AMAZING fun shirts for less than $10.00 each! We have done this and it is so much fun to pick up your kids from school and see those t-shirts on the girls playing on the playground! Super fun.
3. Dance Party Celebration- (ex:Wii "Just Dance"). We have funny contests to see who can max out their "moves". This one is AWESOME and not only is it a BLAST to try and dance to some of the songs on the game, it is even BETTER...WAAYYYY BETTERRRR to watch parents and kids go at the game together.. This is a great way to "poop out" the kids before bed :0).
-OPTIONS ON THIS PARTY:
-If this is a boy's party, set up a XBOX 360 or PS3 game challenge. We created little point booklets and helped the boys record each game and we had some awesome prizes at the end for them to enjoy! Lots and lots of fun to have a Wii game challenge as well. It is hilarious to see people flailing around and jumping up and down playing "Mario Super Slugger".
Here are some ideas off the top of my head that we have tried. I have others, so if you don't think any of these ideas will work, then feel free to email me at: ____@____.com then...hope these ideas are helpful! PARTY ON!!!
Kristen - Owner
Wishing Flower Creations
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