Party prizes and favors

Party prizes don’t have to be some big object, but can be fun awards or edible treats or gag gifts.

Awards
Purchase preprinted awards or ribbons from a party store or office store
Make your own on your computer or draw them yourself
Print ready-mades: MAGIC PARTY GAMES has free downloadable game prize awards

Edible treats
Individually wrapped homemade cookies or brownies
Individually wrapped candy
Microwave popcorn
Hot chocolate packets – there are specialty ones with unusual additions or flavorings, or you can make your own

Gag gifts for prizes
Dollar and bargain stores are good sources
The Jungle Store sells inexpensive foam animal masks, starting at $1 a piece

Of course, nice prizes are fun, too. Here are some ideas:

Ideas for adults
Gift card for a restaurant, local coffee place, bookstores, mall, online store
Movie gift card
Table centerpiece
Specialty candy
Gourmet coffee or food item
Candle
Sports event ticket

Ideas for teens
Poster of the latest, hottest bandGift certificate to video rental store
DVD
CD
Baseball, football, or soccer ball
Itunes gift card
Movie gift card

Ideas for grade school children
Local ice cream shop gift certificate
Gift certificate for a local skating rink
Tokens for the video game parlor
Movie gift card
Book store gift card
Small toys – places like Oriental Trading are a good source I’ve used when you needs lots of inexpensive prizes
$5.00 or $10.00 bill
Figurines to fit the party theme – Schleich ones are nice – take a look at the figurine categories at Arsatoys – some toys stores sell them, too
Stationery – here are some fun kid-friendly stationeries

Ideas for preschoolers – depending on the age, you may need participation prizes, too!
Mylar balloons
Stickers
Small age-safe toys
$1.00 bill
Coloring books or paint with water books
Books

Wrapping prizes or bagging favors can add to the fun, too. Click here to read more!

New Year’s Eve Parties

Many New Year’s Eve Parties are more about drinking than anything, but they don’t have to be. I’ve been to a lot of family and children oriented parties. The smaller children often watched videos while older kids and adults played board games, card games, etc. And, of course, we had all kinds of snacks and beverages to keep us going until midnight. Once we saw the New Year in with noise makers (kids love wooden spoons and pans to bang on as well as horns, etc.), perhaps some fireworks, and New Year wishes and hugs, those driving home could go safely without having to worry about blood alcohol content. The next morning there aren’t hangovers either!

Check out these resources for more ideas:

New Year’s Eve Party Games from Party Games Central.

E-How has links to ideas for different types of partying for New Year’s Eve.

I-Village offers 4 Fun and Fresh New Year's Eve Party Themes.

Crayola has some kid focused ideas for coloring and crafts for New Year’s.

Party411 has New Year’s Eve party themes – scroll to bottom of page.

There’s a New Year’s Fun Guide at FamilyFun.

We have some fun party invitations for New Year's on our site, too. Click here to read more!

Merry Christmas

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” ~Burton Hillis

We wish you the gift of time with family and friends.

IBY staff

Click here to read more!

Gifts don’t have to be monetary

Do you have one of those hard to buy for people in your family? And now it’s last minute and you still don’t know what to do?

What about sharing some good memories of this person? Or fun stories that you enjoy telling about them (obviously not “put down” stories). Write them up; put them in letter format or make a small booklet, which could include snapshots. Or do a list format, such as “25 great things about . . . “ If you have children, this latter is a great project to get them involved in. If you have a video camera or a way to record sound, you could make a video or audio recording of these stories or memories for them.

Another idea is “service” coupons. Make a gift certificate for something you know they need or enjoy. For some of my family and friends I could give “2 hours of computer help” or “I’ll put 50 of your pictures in a photo album.” I’d personally enjoy gifts like “2 hours of housecleaning” or “afternoon tea with . . .”

Do you have digital photos or videos they’d enjoy, but don’t have? Make a CD or DVD. I’d love to have copies of home movies my in-laws took of my husband when he was little.

Have technical skills? What about downloading podcasts in a format they can enjoy. There are great podcasts out there, but many aren’t even aware of them. (This one might take more time to find those good ones than you have this year before Christmas, but save the idea for a birthday gift.)

Perhaps they'd like personalized stationery. Or calling cards.

Be creative! Your gift of time may be treasured and remembered longer than any other gift. Click here to read more!

Creative Ways to Wrap Presents

Starters:
As a child I remember one year when all my presents were wrapped in the Sunday funnies. Colorful. Inexpensive.

I also remember receiving gifts wrapped in fabric scraps.

What about using reusable containers? Fabric bags, decorative boxes.

Paper bags that you decorate with stickers and/or stamps? I also remember as a kid getting to use a stamp on paper to make my own wrapping paper--wouldn't be surprised if we used newspaper end rolls--again not very expensive.

I also like going to the dollar store for decorative paper bags.

Try these websites for more ideas:
ehow.com
fun.familyeducation.com
theromantic.com

Books from the library can provide helpful suggestions, too!

I think you might find this site useful. It may take a little while to load but it has photographs and tips in the form of a slideshow. Click here to read more!

Adult Mixers—people, not drinks

Sometimes you need something to get people relaxed with each other at a party. People Mixers or Ice Breakers can work. Here are some suggestions:

Memorable Mixer for a small group
Ask each person to bring some object that is important to them. At dinner or a set aside time, each one gets to show and tell. You may be surprised at what they bring and the stories that come out! We did this once and not only was it fun, but we really learned interesting things about each other.

Online Resources:

How To Mingle at a Dance Party Mixer for Singles – a lot of these ideas are not just limited to a singles party

Icebreakers Games for different age groups, including adults.

Ice Breaker Party Games

Ring a Bell Icebreaker

Icebreakers for All Occasions

Warming Up Your Next Party with Ice Breakers
Click here to read more!

Christmas Party Games and Activities

White elephant gift exchange. At an annual department party for my husband’s work we did various types of exchanges. But the most awful gift (true white elephants – those items no one would really want) was one of the most fun. These items should either be something you have in your house or something that costs very little (thrift shops, dollar stores, discount stores are good sources). We always played the game by drawing numbers. Number 1 got to choose a package and open it. Number 2 could either steal number 1s or take a new package and open it. If number 2 steals number 1’s gift, number 1 chooses another gift. Gifts can only be stolen twice. After the last person has picked a gift, number 1 gets their chance to steal.

I've also seen this game played with nice gifts.

FOR ALL AGES

8 Christmas Party Games

40+ Christmas Party Games

20+ Christmas Games and Activities – especially appropriate for school parties

43 Christmas Party Games

Or what about sharing a Christmas Story? Here’s a site with lots of stories, plus links to more stories.

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS

3 Children’s Christmas Party Games

5 Children’s Christmas Party Games

“Ideas For Your Kids' Christmas Party” by John Lenaghan

Christmas Party Games for Kids 4-8

ESPECIALLY FOR TEENS

Christmas Party Games for Teens

ESPECIALLY FOR ADULTS

Christmas Party Games for Adults

These Christmas Party Games include Christmas Movie Trivia, The Bacon Factor, and more, plus Party Starters. Click here to read more!

Christmas Party Ideas

Want to invite friends to celebrate the season with you? You can make your time special by planning ahead. This article by Julie Henry “Christmas Party Ideas” has some great suggestions. So do these 2 articles by Coral Nafie: “Plan a Memorable Christmas Party” and “Gearing Up for Holiday Guests.” This article, “Christmas Dinner Party Ideas” by Susan Crowley, has a variety of ideas.

The Invitations

Want a unique wording for your Christmas party invitation? What about using a quote about Christmas? Or a quote may inspire what you want to say. Here are some Merry Christmas Quotations for you.

Ideas for Children

Or maybe you want to plan a party for kids. Here are a few resources:

“Christmas Party Ideas For Kids” includes Christmas party games and ideas for a classroom or home party.
“Planning Your Child's Christmas Party” by Kimberly L. Keith
Christmas Party Ideas for Kids

My best advice for any party, is do as much prep as you can ahead of time so that you can enjoy the party, too!

Later this week I'll blog on Christmas games and activities. Click here to read more!

The Festival of Lights

Chanukah or Hanukkah – there’s no exact English representation of the Jewish pronunciation – you’ll find other spellings as well.

Chanukah Basics – this comprehensive site not only has the basics, but also has history, videos, how to, and more.

The Food Network site has a brief history.

Happy Hanukkah – find out more about it from Family Fun.

Celebrating Hanukkah is an article by Donna Pilato.

Planning Resources

Hanukkah Party Decorating Ideas, an article by Gail Leino

Plans and Activities for Hanukkah

How To Throw a Hanukkah Party

How to Throw a Hanukkah Party for Preschoolers

Hanukkah games
From familycrafts.about.com and party411.com

Fun Hanukkah Party Games, Toys and Music - Kids Party Ideas for Chanukah

Chanukah Games and Crafts

Food

Hanukkah Party Menu Ideas for a Traditional Celebration

Hanukkah Recipes

Another article by Gail Leino, Chanukah Menu Ideas for a Happy Chanukah Celebration

Invitations

Favorites from iby.com
Menorah
Shooting Star

And one final resource. Wondering what’s permissible in public schools, regarding Chanukah or Christmas, etc. ? This site has links for a variety of categories.

Click here to read more!

Company or Office Christmas and Holiday Parties

Now that Thanksgiving is over, our thoughts turn to Christmas. I’ll first start with some talk about work Christmas (or holiday) parties.

I’ve gone to company parties at museums (Museum of Natural History and Museum of Flight in Seattle), at convention centers, on board ship, private homes, and more. There’s been food, music, dancing, casinos (with play money and an end of evening auction to spend play money), prizes, photos, etc. Obviously, the bigger the party the sooner planning must begin. Top places can get booked as early as January. Bigger companies can obviously offer bigger more elaborate parties. Sometimes even in a big company, groups do their own special holiday gathering, such as a potluck lunch.

Here are a few resources for your party planning:

Company Christmas Party Planning and Ideas

International Social and Business Etiquette Quiz

Company Christmas Party Games

Christmas Office Party Games

Some of my favorite Christmas and Holiday invites from our site.
Christmas Cocoa Die Cut Fill-in pictured above
Rudolph
Peppermints
Pretty Packages
Ornament Distinction
Did you know you can order as few or as many as you want?

Even just one for the office bulletin board!

Click here to read more!

Thanksgiving fun

Just found this site yesterday of Thanksgiving poems and songs. Thought you might enjoy them and perhaps it could be something you could use in your Thanksgiving celebration!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Picture courtesy of Mary R. Vogt, morguefile.com

Click here to read more!

Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?

I just saw this question on Yahoo Answers. For many, of course, it is a tradition. For others, it is a time to thank God for what He's given them. I thought that the first two people gave very interesting answers to the background of thanksgiving and wanted to share them with you.

Enjoy Click here to read more!

Mixer games for children’s and teen parties

Preschoolers and early elementary age kids don’t usually need an icebreaker per se, but just need an activity where they can get involved and soon they’ll make friends. As they get older, or if they are in a group where they don’t know others, sometimes an ice breaker is needed. Be careful though when choosing your activity to think about what will not be offensive or embarrassing. I remember my teenage daughters being upset about activities that they were “made” to do. You don’t want anyone in tears.

Here are some resources for mixers or ice breakers:
Icebreaker Games for different age groups.

Icebreaker Games – I think the frozen Tshirt would be a great outdoor icebreaker

Ice Breakers – you have to scroll down to see the games after you click.

At Party Games Central, you can customize game lists by age, indoor or outdoors, type of party, etc. Click here to read more!

Toddler/Preschool Parties

Toddler or Preschool parties can be very stressful on little kids, especially the younger they are. The non-birthday child attendees often don’t understand why they are not getting presents. The birthday child doesn’t want to share his new toys. One of the ways I dealt with this issue was doing all the fun and games first, have cake and ice cream, then open presents right at the end of the party, and immediately handing out goody bags to the attendees. I also recommend keeping toddler and preschool parties to a small number of children. The younger the child, the shorter the party. Also, most parents stay for a preschool party, but you need to make that clear on your invitation.

Here are some helpful resources:

Birthday Parties for Toddlers and Preschoolers

One parent’s Birthday Party Menu Pictures – Bug theme, plus comments and references

Planning the Preschool Birthday Party: 12 Ideas for Children Ages 5 and Under
- I especially liked the gift opening idea this article had, but it also had great thoughts about party favors.

Going along with the previous article’s party favor idea. What about a book for each child to take home? Make it extra special with a bookplate with each child’s name and the event.

More resources:

Toddler Parties from FamilyFun

Toddler Birthday Party Games from Love To Know

Toddler Birthday Party from For Parents By Parents

Fun Toddler Birthday Party Ideas article

The last thing to remember: the simpler a toddler party, the more fun for you. Click here to read more!

Teen Party Games

Looking for some games for a teen party?

Let me share a couple of my favorite teenage games:

One game I remember from my teen years is “If you loved me.” The person who is “it” goes up to anyone in the group (everyone is sitting in a circle) and says, “Honey (or Baby), if you loved me, you’d smile.” The second person must say without smiling, “Honey (or Baby), I love you, but I just can’t smile.” “It” can use all kinds of facial expressions, tone of voice, to try to make the person smile. I remember my friends getting pretty creative with this one, i.e. a guy jumping on another guys lap and the laughter erupted.

Another game I remember teens loving is Train Wreck. Works well in a big room, although I will warn that folding chairs can be at risk when you have big guys. Line up chairs in rows with one less chair than people. The person who is “it” gets to choose some feature (i.e. hair color, eye color, clothing item, age, girls, etc.). They say it aloud and everyone fitting that category must jump out of their chair and find another chair. Or “it” can say “Train Wreck” and everyone needs a new seat. “It” races to a chair, too. Whoever is left without a spot to sit is the next “it.”

Just thinking about these makes me want to play...

Here are some resources, too.

Party Game Central – Teen Parties

Eventwise had great collections of games. Here are a select few categories: Teenager Party Games Teenager Party Games Part 2 Sleepover Games for Teens

And from another site – Teen Party Idea for Movie Lovers

Check out these articles:

Birthday Party Ideas for Teen Boys
Birthday Party Ideas for Boys Who Want to Be Men

Birthday Party Ideas for Teen Girls
Throw a Party They'll Love Click here to read more!

Teen Friend Birthday Party Problems

What do you do when you have friends who don’t get along with each other and you’d like to have both celebrate your birthday?

Nothing says you can’t plan more than one celebration. Here are some ideas.
- You could do something special with one friend* and invite the others to a party. i.e. “I’d love to go see that new movie or go to so-&-so’s concert, but can’t afford to invite a bunch of friends, so would you go with me to celebrate my birthday?”
- Would your parents let you have two parties? If you keep the costs down by doing home parties and help with set-up and clean-up and explain why, you mom and dad will probably go for it.
- If your family parties aren’t too lame, maybe one or two friends can join you there.*

These ideas work well, too, if you have a friend who doesn’t know your school (club, church, etc.) friends.

Another possibility, if your parents allow, is to invite more friends. If there are enough people at the party your friends don’t have to spend time together and it won’t be obvious. But if you DO decide to invite them both, I suggest you speak to each one privately. Could say something like, “I know you don’t get along with ‘Janie,’ but she’s my friend, too, and for my birthday I’d really appreciate it, if you two aren’t disagreeable. I’m asking ‘Janie’ to do the same thing with you, too.”

*Where I work you can order as few or as many invitations as you like. How fun for the special people to get a special invitation. Here are a few of my favorites: Pajama Time, Indy Race Car, Circles of Fun & Make a Splash. Remember the wording is up to you! Click here to read more!

Thanksgiving Activities To Make Everyone’s Day Fun

I have several specific memories that really standout from my childhood Thanksgivings. The first one I was about 8 or 9 and my older brother (20 or 21) brought his fiancé home from college for Thanksgiving dinner to meet us all. At the dinner table a basket was passed around for us each to draw an after dinner activity. I think Dad’s was “take a nap.” Mom’s was probably “play the organ.” Mine was “read a book.” All were fun things except my brother and my future sister-in-law’s—theirs said “do the dishes.” In reality, all the slips said “do the dishes,” but the rest of us had been cued into make up some activity. Of course, we confessed to what we’d done. But I don’t remember whether that was before or after the dishes were done…

Anyway, you could use this idea several ways:
- A basket of Thanksgiving ideas, where each person draws out a slip and has to respond (i.e. someone you’re thankful for, what’s the best thing that happened to you this year, some thing you’re thankful for, your favorite part of Thanksgiving, your favorite Thanksgiving food, etc.)
- A basket of Thanksgiving chores divided up so no one person has to do all the cooking or cleanup
- A basket of after dinner activities with fun ideas

Here are some more ideas:

Thanksgiving Dinner Table Games & Activities

A Thanksgiving Game the Whole Family Can Enjoy

Kid’s Table Ideas

If you like me are traveling for Thanksgiving, have a safe and enjoyable trip!

Click here to read more!

Thanksgiving Parties

Many of us celebrate Thanksgiving with family, but sometimes it’s nice to do a party, too. And, if you’re going to invite people who don’t know each other well, party games and activities can be fun mixers.

Here are some internet resources:

Thanksgiving Party Ideas from 123greetings.com

Be sure and scroll down as well as click on tabs to see all the offerings here.

Holiday Spot – Thanksgiving Party Ideas – check out the links, too.

How To Throw A Thanksgiving Party, Man Style

Kids often get to celebrate Thanksgiving at school or in clubs or church groups. Here are some resources specifically for kids parties:

Kid’s Thanksgiving Party Fun

Classroom Party Ideas

Kid’s Party Ideas

Crafts for Thanksgiving Classroom Parties

Thanksgiving Party Ideas for Kids from Holidaypartyideas.com – choose by age and/or by theme

Thanksgiving and Autumn Harvest Party

And if you need some invitations, check these out.

Click here to read more!

Bat/Bar Mitzvah Parties

I’ve only been to one Bat Mitzvah and the party afterwards had food and dancing and talking. So I thought I’d go to the web for more ideas.

(In case you don’t know, the Bar Mitzvah is for boys turning 13 and the Bat Mitzvah for girls turning 13.)

Bar Mitzvah / Bat Mitzvah Planning and Resource Guide. This is a great resource with lots of ideas. The site also has info for Jewish Weddings.

Partyspot has good ideas on how to pick and apply a theme

Party411 one has some themes for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah

PartySpot.com announces Bar Mitzvah Party Trends

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Planning Guide from That’s a Wrap

Here's my favorite Bar Mitzvah card from our site. Click here to read more!

Elementary-aged Kid Birthday Parties

Wow, are there tons of possibilities for this age.

Hands on style are lots of fun. I remember my kids doing:
- Craft parties – making the craft is the main activity and taking the finished craft home can be instead of a goody bag.
- Build your own pizza parties – provide the pizza dough, sauce, cheeses and toppings and let them at it.
- Scavenger Hunts – in your back yard, a local park, or you can even hide items in your house.
- Fashion Show – provide lots of different dress-up clothes (check your closets for those out of style clothes you hung on to, visit garage sales and thrift shops for fun items), use a digital camera to take pictures of the models and the printed pictures can be take home gifts.
- Charades – have a basket of starter ideas and be prepared to explain this to children who have never played. Camera shots of the skits can be fun take home items.

Outside the house parties:
- Sports – swimming at a local pool (I found the high school pool had times you could schedule a birthday swim at a reasonable price), roller skating, ice skating, laser tag, bowling, etc.
- Movie – matinee prices or a discount theater to save you money, tell the kids upfront what you’ll pay for as far as treats (can do movie gift certificates) – just make sure you double-check movie times and, of course, pick an age appropriate movie. (I’ve heard horror stories of 8 year olds being taken to R movies!) Here are some fun invites for this theme.
- Video game parlor – Give tokens to the kids and tell them when they’re gone, they’re gone.
- Museums – check the museums in your area to see if they offer children’s birthday parties.
- What’s coming to town? Circus, carnival, dog show, air show, a fair? These can get expensive, so you may want to limit the attendance list to 2-3 friends.

More Ideas from the Internet
Buggy Birthday Party

Birthday Party Games Lady

Parties for School-Age Children

Boardman's Birthday Party Ideas

I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but it just is too good of a resource to not list again.
Birthday Party Ideas

Have a great time! Click here to read more!

Halloween Movies can provide an alternative for a party or to a party

Whenever I think of Halloween Movies, I always think of the classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. A movie I saw recently where I loved the witches was Stardust (may still be in theaters) – probably okay for more elementary age kids and up. I’m not much into horror, but one I saw that is probably out on DVD that was scary was The Prestige with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. I’d say for teens and adults. The Seeker, in theaters now, was a tense and scary kids movie – couldn’t believe the one family that brought preschool children to it, as it is definitely not aimed at that age! Upper elementary and up could probably handled this move. The movie is based on The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper.

I figured the best I could do for everyone is give some sites that have resources for Halloween movies.

All Family Resources provides a family friendly list of Halloween movies. Two they mention that I love are the new Phantom of the Opera and Little Shop of Horrors.

Kidz World offers a list of scary movies. (Some on previous list as well.) Be sure to click on More Scary Movies, which mentions some fun ones like: Night at the Museum.

Top 10 Haunting Halloween Movies for Kids (for the little guys) has a description of each movie.

Top 7 Halloween Movies for School-Aged Kids – by the same writer, Carey Bryson, as the above site.

Halloween Movies for Kids – animateds from Kids’ Turn Central.

Here’s a review of a Goosebumps movie. Links at the bottom to more movies.

Top 10 Horror Movies for Teen Parties

Have fun watching! Click here to read more!

Glow in the Dark

This week online I saw someone asking about Glow in the Dark party supplies. What a fun idea for a Halloween Party! Or a disco party – just add mirrors and flashing lights.

I bet you can find glow in the dark material at craft and party stores, but in case you don’t I’ve provided some online resources below. The only place I personally have ordered from in this list is Oriental Trading.

Resources

The Glow Inc site includes terminology, painting techniques, and projects to make.

Glow in the dark jewelry, part favors, etc. from these websites:

Glow Source

Happier.MakesParties.com

Cool Glow

Oriental Trading Company

Glow Stick Factory

And here’s an article just for fun: How does glow-in-the-dark stuff work?
Click here to read more!

Halloween Songs

I recently saw someone asking on the internet about Halloween songs. Of course, the Monster Mash comes to mind. Bill Lamb lists and comments on “Top 10 Halloween Pop Songs” including MM. But what if you want some sing-a-long songs, too?

So I went searching the internet and thought I’d share what I found!

For younger kids

Cute preschool songs – one even has actions – here.

Download 3 Halloween songs for free for early elementary age at Songs4teachers.com

These at lessonplanspage.com are sung to familiar old tunes and also have guitar chords to help out.

These songs unfortunately did not have tunes, but were Halloween songs from different countries which made them interesting.

Below the poems on this site you’ll find some songs.

For older kids, teens and adults

The songs at this site have familiar tunes – they’re all set to Christmas music! Lyrics are fun and the music plays when you click on the page.

Same idea of lyrics set to Christmas music at theteacherscorner.net.

And a 3rd site, alphabet-soup.net, using the same music, PLUS some other familiar tunes for their Halloween Carols. Click here to read more!

Halloween Treats

When I was a kid we had this one friend who made homemade maple bars that she gave us on Halloween. I remember my mother making popcorn balls. In both cases, they were not given to strangers. Of course, it was a big deal about not taking anything but store-wrapped candy from strangers. There were warnings about having your parents check what you got. Rumors of razor blades in apples, contaminated candy, etc. Is it true or not?

Unfortunately, yes, there is some risk regarding sharp items. Read this write-up for more info.
Poison, not so much; read this one. For further info you can check out a book called Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath. And the FDA has advice here.

But enough yucky stuff. Let’s talk about yummy stuff. I’ve pulled together some sources for recipes to make your Halloween party fun and tasty.

My favorite at Halloweentreats.com was the Crunchy Eyeballs (under cookies)—quite impressive looking. Other categories include drinks, snacks, candy and cakes, although at the moment only one punch and one snack is listed in those categories.

This site is a motherlode of recipes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have pictures, but there are more than 70 different recipes that include sweets, snacks and beverages.

Wow, the Vampire Kiss Martini is something else. This site says it has “frighteningly good” recipes and has good pictures of the results.

Forgot to mention that the previous site had some breakfast items. So, too does Rancid Recipes. They also include the following categories: Sickly Soups & Salads, Atrocious Appetizers, Delightful Dinners, Ghoulish Goodies, and Potion Sickness. Don’t know how tasty they’d be, but I sure like their titles! No pictures, but their descriptions make the results pretty clear.

Allrecipes.com has an Eerie Entertaining section. Some have pictures. I’ve used recipes from this website before with good results.

Signing off before I get more hungry! Click here to read more!

Halloween Party Games

One of the Halloween parties I remember from when I was a kid, was a haunted barn. It was dark inside and our guides told us a story about a dead cat and put our hands in bowls. This is the cat’s eyes (peeled grapes), his guts (cold spaghetti), etc. I also do remember bobbing for apples, both in a tub of water or hanging from a string (which is nicer as no one gets wet), and wrapping someone in toilet paper to make them a mummy, but I really can’t remember much else.

So I did some web surfing and came up with a bunch of resources for Halloween party games.

Children’s Halloween Games

Classic Ghoulish Games – as stated, those classics.

Everything Halloween: Games – this says games, but they also include party theme ideas.

Great Adult Halloween Games

Halloween Party Games from 1 Halloween net

Halloween Party Games from Pumpkin nook

Halloween Party Games for Everyone! – this site has suggestions for all ages.

Kids' Halloween Party Games – many of these ideas are good for school parties. Click here to read more!

Halloween Costumes

Going to a costume party later this month? Or need a costume for your trick-or-treater? I thought I’d pull together some online resources for easy costuming alternatives from what’s in the discount and party stores (i.e. latest popular movie themes). And now would be the time to order to you get your costume in time!

Animal themed costumes


The Jungle Store has animal costumes and masks for all ages.



An inexpensive costume can be made by using a mask or face paint with a headband, sweats in the appropriate color and a tail. i.e. White clothing and the owl mask below would be quick and easy.








The Jungle Store’s costumes are not limited to animals. Check out these two!







Small kid themes


ArsaToys has some cute frilly girl costumes.

Costume Hub had some cute costumes for either boys or girls.








Adult costumes


Lingerie Diva has some fun adult costumes for women. Though some are very risqué and you should reserve for the bedroom! Warning: many images on this site are definitely R rated! Here’s some G rated examples.





The PhillyBurbs site has men's costumes organized by themes. Reading the reviews on the costumes is half the fun. As far as I can tell each costume has a link to a site where you can buy the costume if you desire. Here’s a sample costume.

If you’re into making your own, fabric stores have easy patterns. I’ve also found pieces and parts of costumes at thrift stores (SHOP EARLY) for costumes for myself and kids.

Have fun!

Click here to read more!

Murder, you wrote

Ever thought of writing your own murder mystery script for a party? Halloween is still almost a month away, so there’s time. Or it could be an unusual birthday party idea. Try this site for help on the “how to”s.

Of course, you can buy mystery party materials. This site looked interesting.
And this one was especially aimed at kids.

Here’s a helpful article: “Host a Murder Mystery Party for Your Tween or Teen.”

And I know you can also buy mystery jigsaw puzzles. You put the puzzle together to solve the mystery story that comes with the puzzle. If you can’t find them at local toy store or bookstore, try this site.

This fill-in invitation might work for a mystery party. Click here to read more!

The Kindergarten birthday party

My grandsons have birthdays coming up in October, November and December. They’ll be 6, 4 and 1. The one year old is easy. And the 4 is pretty easy, too. But now that the oldest is in Kindergarten he has all these friends he wants to invite, too, so a simple family party isn’t enough anymore.

When my own children were young, I limited their number of guests to their age. At 6 that meant 6 friends. Other parents were not so restrictive and their children were allowed to invite their entire class or an unlimited number of friends. I always figured my kids didn’t need that many presents!

Okay, back to my topic. Parties with schoolmates for kindergartners.

At this age, they are pretty easy to please. There’s so much that they are interested in--superheroes, princesses, animals, professions (police, firefighters), cartoon characters--that there are lots to choose from. Party stores have all kinds of decorations and small toys to fit these themes.

Kids this age enjoy a party at a fast food play place, or a park, and are old enough for activities at entertainment venues. They are also content with at home parties, especially if some fun activity is planned.

When planning a party for this age think about:
- Will the guests’ parents hang around like they do for preschool parties, or will you be left in charge of these children, some you may have not met before? What is expected by other parents can vary from community to community, so clearly indicate on your invitation whether parents are welcome to stay, don’t need to stay, etc.
- If you aren’t having parents stay, request an emergency contact number with their RSVP or when you meet them. (Of course, you’ll meet the parents when they drop their children off.)
Keep the party short. 2-3 hours is plenty long.
- If serving a meal, besides cake and ice cream, keep it simple. Expect to have someone not like what you are serving even if it is something as universally liked by children as pizza or hotdogs. (I had a daughter who didn’t like the latter!)
- Planning, supervision, and clean up at an outside venue can be easier, since the restaurant or play place does most of the work. However, it will probably be more expensive than a home party.
- It’s customary to do goody bags so each child goes home with something. Give them out as kids leave and you’ll avoid things being lost.
- Kids will want to play with your child’s new toys. Sometimes the birthday kid has trouble sharing at this point. One solution is to open the presents right before parents are scheduled to pick up their children. Another solution is to have an exciting game planned immediately following, though it may be hard to drag them away from all those new toys.
- If you’re activities will be messy, warn parents ahead of time. Nothing worse than having party clothes ruined by paint, or torn on the homemade obstacle course, etc.

Articles for further thought:

This article title implies one answer, but that may not be the case. Read the full article: "Bashes for little darlings get bigger and bigger"

"Birthday Parties: Kid's Dream, Parent's Nightmare"

"All You Need to Know About Birthday Parties"

Activity and game ideas:

- Duck, duck, goose
- Cup cake decorating – one to eat now and one to take home!
- Pin the tail on the donkey
- Pinata bash
- Yard scavenger hunt, where everyone is a winner
- Water balloon toss or smash – an outside event

Resources for games and activities:

Ecology Theme brings nature to kids’ birthday parties

This list goes beyond birthday parties, but a number of the ideas could be used as a party activity. Each idea has a clickable link with more details.
Kindergarten Learning Games and Activities

And the best resource of all—THE BIG LIST: Birthday Party Ideas where parents have shared what they’ve done for a variety of parties. Click on an idea and it’ll even have what age they did the party for.

Click here to read more!

Halloween or Harvest party?

Some parents are not comfortable with taking their children trick-or-treating, or are looking for alternative ideas to the witches and goblins, etc. of “All Hallowed Eve” on October 31st. Some adults may just want to try something different from the “same old, same old.”

Planning a party is an obvious solution, but it’s nice to have a source of ideas. We’ve gathered together some suggestions and resources for you here.

If you want guests to wear non-scary costumes, you can plan a theme based party that will gently guide your attendees. Ideas include:
- wild animals
- pets
- robots
- a specific movie or book theme (though be sure the villains in these stories aren’t too villainous looking)
- a good guys theme such as superheroes (no enemies welcome)
- a Biblical story (i.e. Noah and the ark – for kids; the Garden of Eden – for a risqué adult only part)
Of course, you’d want to carry your theme through with decorations, food, and party favors.

Teenage or adult parties could be different with these themes:
- masked ball – think of the 18th century Europe and their highly decorated face masks
famous historical or political figure costumes
- tree theme – have materials around for guests to decide what kind of tree they are (strong like an oak, ornamental like some flowering trees, etc.)
- for adults only – a wine tasting

Think outside. What’s fun to do in your area in the big outdoors? You may find community events or fall festivals where you want to invite a group to share in the excitement.

You can do breakfast events, too.

A few resources to check out:

15 Fun Fall and Harvest Outdoor Party Games for Children

Autumn Outdoor Entertaining

A Fall Harvest Party

Halloween Drop-In Party Ideas

Teen Parties: Setting the Rules

And don’t forget to get your invitations at IBY.com – Invitations by you! Here are some fall themed invitations we have available.

Click here to read more!

More ideas for invitation wording

How about starting with a movie quote?

Take this one from the The Godfather, "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."
Change it into an invite:
I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.
See you at my party next Friday, 7 pm.

What lines do you remember from movies? Play with them and see what you can come up with.

If you need movie quotes, at this site you can download 100!

If you want to continue with a movie theme for your party, this theater invitation could be fun. Click here to read more!

Help! What do I say?

Don’t know how to word an invite? Try a simple poem.

Some easy types are:

Cinquain – a short, unrhymed poem of five lines. The first line has 2 syllables. The 2nd 4. The 3rd 6. The 4th 8. And the last 2 again. Want more info? Here’s another method: http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/poetry5.html

Haiku – 3 (or fewer) lines of no more than 17 syllables total – go here for a good explanation on how to write one: http://haiku.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/Start-Writing.html

Light Verse – usually brief and humorous – check this site for more info: http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/attempt_light_verse.htm

Limericks – you’ll probably remember these from your childhood – here’s a how to link: http://www.poetryamerica.com/Limerick.asp

Or change one.

Take a familiar poem and alter the last two lines:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet,
And so are you

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Party time, we said,
You’re invited, too!

If you want more info on writing poetry, go to this site: http://www.poetry4kids.com/

If you get frustrated trying to create your own, here are some poetry sources. Note: Poets really appreciate it if you give them credit for their poems—this protects their copyright. You can do so at the end of a poem or under the poems name.

http://www.funnypoets.com/

http://www.poemsforfree.com/

And, of course, we do have some suggested wording on our site. Just look up an invitation by the specific occasion and see if something appeals to you. Then match it up with the design you like best.

Here's an example of a fall or halloween poem on one of our invitations.

Click here to read more!

Teen Birthday Party Ideas

I have to admit that girl teen party ideas are easier for me than guy teen ideas, since I was a girl and had teenage daughters myself. So besides my list of ideas for either single or mixed gender parties, I’m giving you some resources where you can find more ideas.

Gaming. What’s one of the fun spots in your area? Like a game themed restaurant or entertainment center? Ideas include: laser tag, video gaming, miniature golf, paint ball. Obviously, this costs money, but it often means no prep or clean up at home, since you can have the cake and present opening there.

Hiking. Most areas have cool places to go, even if it’s just a park. Combine it with a scavenger hunt that requires each team to have a disposable camera or (if the teens have camera phones, they can use them) to “capture” items on the list.

Mystery Meal. This is an at home party, and you’ll need a few volunteers to help you serve. Assign “new” names to each food item, each piece of silverware, napkins, toothpicks, beverages and make a menu using these “new” terms. Names can be nonsensical or fit a theme (motorcycles, movie idols, music artists). Each teen sits at the dinner table and is provided a menu of enough items to make 3 to 4 courses. A waiter or waitress takes each person’s order for the first course. In the kitchen the serves know what the code is and load up the plates appropriately. One guy’s choices give him a glass of juice, a toothpick, and a fork. The girl beside him receives dessert, salad, and a napkin. Kids find what they get pretty hilarious. (Menu items can only be ordered once per teen.) Mystery meal invite idea.

Bike Rally. Bicycle that is. Teens have to go in pairs. Each pair is given different directions (i.e. turn right at the T in the road, or turn left after the fifth house on the left, or at the swimming pool, go west). One partner has the odd numbered directions and the other the even number, so they must stay teamed. The goal is to see which pair can get to the destination in the shortest time. Of course, you want the actual “mileage” to be similar for each route. You may also need some adult spotters at key locations to make sure the teens are on the right route. Of course, an adult host should be at the arrival point, too.

Concert. Many areas have free concerts—they’re the bands who haven’t made it big yet, or the concert may be a benefit for a community food bank. For afterwards find a nearby restaurant where you can bring in your own cake and just buy beverages.

Lights, Camera, Action. Have a video camera or two and have the teens make their own videos. It could be a new music video for a favorite song, a commercial for some item, a short skit. Provide them with some starter ideas, some costumes and/or props. If you want something different than what you have around your house, thrift shops are a good source (except near Halloween). You can even take the teens to a thrift store or dollar store and give them each a few bucks to buy whatever they think they’ll need. And don’t forget the popcorn! An invite idea.

Teen Birthday Party Online Resources

Ideas for teen boys.

Ideas for teen girls.

Article of ideas for either gender.

Diverse list of birthday party themes.

Expert Teenage Party Tips. Click here to read more!

Tailgate Party Ideas

The summer pool party season has wound down and it’s time to move on to other things. Like football and tailgate parties.

Family members who aren’t football fans? You can always plan a dual themed party at home – one room (or the deck or driveway) with the game on the tube and another room with card or board games. Everyone can meet together at the food “locker.”



Here are some resources:

How to Throw a Tailgate Party
http://www.ehow.com/how_11148_throw-tailgate-party.html

Official Tailgating Check List includes: Must Haves, Would Be Nice and Now You Are Just Showing Off.
http://www.tailgatingideas.com/2007/08/13/what-every-tailgate-party-needs/#more-5

And how about a football themed invitation?

Enjoy! Click here to read more!