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Posts Tagged ‘party’

Planning your kids’ Halloween party need not be bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Here are ideas and recipes for a unique party that your little witches and warlocks will talk about for months to come.

When planning a Halloween party, the first thing to do is to send invitations. You can make invitations very easily using your computer and, if your children are old enough, they may like to design and print these themselves.

To avoid the frustration of people turning up at your party who have not RSVP’d, a good tip is to purposely omit the party’s commencement time from the invitation. Instead, try adding the line, ‘Please RSVP to know the party’s start time’ – this should significantly decrease the number of ‘gatecrashers’.

Costumes are next on the ‘to-do’ list and to kids this is one of the most exciting aspects of Halloween. Before talking with your children about the options, bear the following in mind:-

• Select a costume for your child that won’t disintegrate before the night’s festivities are over and one that won’t make the child feel too hot or cold.

• For safety’s sake, ensure the costume will not hamper your child’s movement.

• Face paint is a safer alternative to a visibility-impairing mask.

• If the costume is elaborate, dress your child in simple clothing underneath. This way they can easily step out of it to play games, to take a break or even visit the toilet.

Costumes can be bought, hired or home-made. If you’re considering the latter, there are hundreds of websites with a glut of unique ideas – head for Google!

As with any party, you can choose to either keep the décor simple with streamers and balloons or go all out and create your own Haunted House. When planning the party’s décor, bear in mind the ages of the kids who are attending. Younger ones may find just a few hanging bats sufficiently scary, while most teenagers enjoy a heavily themed venue with scary ambient music and sound effects.

Store-bought cobwebs and dimmed lights are wonderful additions to the Halloween atmosphere too. Older kids delight in sitting down to eat at a themed party table. All you need is a black or purple tablecloth, a vase of dead flowers, tealight candles and a scattering of small party favours to set the scene for a ghoulish supper. If the table is not large enough to accommodate all your guests, use it to display your food and beverages and provide a buffet meal.

Now….what would a party be without food? A quick Google search will result in many Halloween recipes for some superb but gruesome sounding food including Kitty-litter Cake, Baked Bones and Dracula’s Blood Pudding. You can really get creative when it comes to Halloween food but it’s best to keep it simple and not too gross-sounding for the younger elementary ages.

When it comes to quenching thirst… a Halloween party isn’t complete without a bowl of punch. Maybe you’d like to try a Blood Bath? This is made by mixing 64 ounces of cran-raspberry cocktail and four cups of apple juice with four cups of vanilla ice cream. Or perhaps you would prefer a Toxic Punch? For this wicked mix, combine four litres of chilled green lemon-lime soda, 24 ounces of orange juice concentrate, two packets of blue Kool-Aid and a few drops of green food colouring.

When planning your Halloween children’s party, prepare two to three games ahead of time. It’s also a good idea to have an extra little game or activity ready just in case. Children can be unpredictable and you need to be flexible – so, if a game is not working or is not being enjoyed, having a back-up means that you can easily substitute one with another.

Many well known party games can be given a Halloween twist – for instance Pin the Hat on the Witch and Pass the Pumpkin. Halloween’s classic and traditional game however is Bobbing for Apples in a bowl of water. At our parties we quickly follow this (with faces still wet) with a game of Bobbing for Marshmallows – on a plate of flour.

Making ‘Ectoplasm’ is always a big Halloween party hit. This eerie substance is made by combining two cups of cornstarch, one cup of water and a few drops of green food colouring. It is made in seconds, is a great consistency to play with and guests can also take some home in a sturdy zip-lock bag!

It is always a good idea to provide a quiet corner at parties for children who are not into games. Crayons, some colouring-in sheets, a batch of play dough and a few biscuit-cutters will keep little hands occupied. At sites like Hello Kitty Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Hello Kitty coloring sheetswhile little boys would perhaps enjoy the coloring sheets at Pokemon Coloring Pages.

As an extra activity, fill a plastic jar with sweets and have each guest write their best guess as to how many are in the jar. This is a great game to play at the beginning of the party, as guests filter in. Announce the winner at the end of the party – the champion wins the jar! As your guests leave, surprise them with some spooky treats to take home.

One of the simplest and most effective inclusions in the traditional goody bag of sweets and chocolates is the Ghost Pop. Place a square piece of white tissue paper (or kitchen roll paper) over a lollipop, tie with a small elastic to make a head and then use a black marker to draw eyes on the ghost. These small treats also make great prizes for games.

Finally, remember to charge your camera and camcorder and capture each spell-binding moment.

Halloween will soon be here and many parents are wondering how and where to celebrate this spooky annual event.

When it comes to Halloween, there is no lack of variety in what is available. From trick or treating to hosting a scary movie marathon, finding something not to do would actually be more of a challenge! Here are some frightfully good ideas for you that will make for an interesting evening.

If your neighbourhood is a friendly one, you might like to trick or treat. This works incredibly well if you give advance notice to your friends and neighbours of your intentions by leaving a note on their doorstep a few days before Halloween.

Certain neighbourhoods and gated communities really do make an effort to be prepared with treats and some even decorate their front gardens. My children still remember the house of the guy who turned his whole front yard into a dark catacomb and who then sat quietly in the dark as we walked up the path before scaring us all half to death!

If Halloween falls on a school night this year, young children who need an early night will still feel as though they celebrated if you set up a few special treats, some arts and crafts and perhaps a fun movie before bedtime.

Print a few coloring pages and activities for them based on their favourite characters, for instance little girls love princesses and fairies and at sites like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find the best fairy colouring meanwhile at Spongebob Squarepants Coloring Pages you’ll find heaps of coloring pages of Bikini Bottom’s most absorbent dweller!

Halloween fancy dress parties are great to both host and attend and if you are stuck for costume ideas, again – head for Google and do an image search! If you have teenagers, they may scoff at the thought of having a Halloween party but may like the thought of a night of terror and suspense. Depending on the children’s age, you could arrange to hire movies such as Hocus Pocus, Psycho or the Blair Witch Project. Just add a bunch of their best friends, popcorn, soda and a pizza delivery for instant teenage heaven.

Scour the web elsewhere too for a variety of activities including paper plate pumpkins and pipe cleaner spiders. Older children may enjoy making slime with two cups of water, half a cup of cornstarch and a few drops of red or green food colouring.

Murder Mystery parties are incredibly good fun and if you choose a theme that is Italian, Chinese or Indian, you won’t even have to cook– you can just order a home delivery – or pick up a take-away from your local Chinese or Indian take-away or from your favourite pizza place. Choose guest with a sense of fun who will get into the spirit of the evening by dressing up and taking on the mannerisms and accent of the character you have chosen for them and you are in for a memorable evening.

To spend the evening playing games with family is also a great way to pass the time. Board games such as Cluedo or the types of jigsaw puzzles that involve solving riddles are just perfect. Prepare some themed nibbles and a few drinks and you will have spent some true Halloween quality time together.

These are just a handfull of ideas that will keep you occupied this eerie evening – happy howling!

Great children’s parties do not happen by accident – oh no! Behind every great kids’ party, a well-organised and creative Mum or Dad has spent a great deal time and effort crafting a memorable event for their child. Here we reveal the key elements of a successful children’s party so that you too can throw a party that your child and his friends will remember for years to come.

If you begin the planning stage by focusing on the party’s theme, the rest of the planning will be much easier. So think … does your child have a favourite book, cartoon, movie, or television show? Maybe they have a fascination with fire fighters or cowboys? Discuss theme options with your little birthday child – and – before you know it, you could be arranging a birthday adventure with Rhino and Mittens (from Bolt the movie), or a 1960s psychedelic extravaganza or a nerve-jangling murder mystery event.

Next, involve your child in designing the party as much as possible. Chat about the invitations, the guest list, the menu, the program, the décor and the goodie bags. All of these are a great opportunity for the child to learn about what goes into organising a party, about making decisions, about how much (or how little) things cost and best of all, it’s an excellent opportunity for any parent to understand their child better. For example, you may find that your little one prefers small and cosy parties of five or six friends as opposed to the banquet you were planning or that he or she is very thoughtful about everyone’s beliefs and asks for no pork or beef to be served when food is discussed.

Once you and your child have decided on a theme and a date, it is time to create invitations – these should include the date, time and venue of your party as well as a date by which you require RSVPs. This date should be set 4 or 5 days before the actual party to give you time to shop for the appropriate amount of food, prizes, party-ware (such as straws, plastic plates, cups etc) and goody bag contents.

When shopping, always purchase more than you think you will need. It is not part of every culture’s ‘protocol’ to RSVP their attendance, so expect unexpected guests!

The games, food and fun activities you have planned may not be well received if the atmosphere is not welcoming. Good decorations that are centred on your theme are pivotal to a successful party. Use bright colours and funky music to set the stage for an energetic disco party or dim the lights, scatter beanbags and have the smell of buttery popcorn greet those who are attending a pre-teen movie marathon party.

A successful party has age-appropriate games and activities to keep the children entertained, young children love the old favourites such as musical chairs and pass-the-parcel, while older kids enjoy scavenger hunts and murder in the dark. Kids can often be unpredictable so have more games/activities planned than you think you need. If a certain game is not working out or is causing conflict, having an alternative on standby will be a great help.

Make sure you have a 2:10 children/adult ratio meaning that for every 10 children there are at least two adults present – this will ensure that the party will run as safely and as smoothly as possible.

On the day, start the party with an un – structured activity such as coloring in, so that any early kids have something to do and late kids do not feel like they have missed anything by arriving on time or a little late. So for example, if you’re hosting a Bratz themed party, at sites like Bratz Coloring Pages you’ll find the best

Have a plan regarding when you’ll play games and when you’ll break for food, cake and the opening of presents but be 100 percent prepared to ditch it. The idea is for everyone to have fun and you may well have to sacrifice the plan to achieve this. Not all children will want to play all the games. You may find that some will happily play with toys or colour-in, while the others compete in an egg and spoon race – and this is okay.

Entertainment other than games could encompass arts and crafts, gameshow style quizzes or perhaps you would consider hiring a professional such as a magician, a Bratz, a clown or a puppeteer. If you opt for the latter, ensure you book these entertainers well in advance and make a note of this on the invitation – not all children enjoy clowns for instance and a word of ‘warning’ on the invitation will be much appreciated by the parents.

Party food is at its best when it is kept simple. Teens love pizza, garlic bread and soft drinks while toddlers love tasty finger foods and ice cream. You cannot go wrong with snacks and treats such as crisps, cookies and chocolate but bear in mind that it is very likely some of your guests will have dietary requirements or allergies that you will have to cater for.

Children love the idea of a bag full of sweets to take home and party goodie bags are universally expected these days. However, they do not have to be a complex or expensive affair.Simple bags that contain a few sweets and chocolates plus a couple of small toys are always well received.

All through the party, do not forget to record the event for posterity by taking many photographs and footage. Perhaps a capable friend could be assigned this task so that – for a change – you and your family members all appear on the photos and in the footage as well.

How you close the birthday party is just as important as how you begin it. As much importance should be placed on the farewell as was placed on welcoming your guests when they first arrived. Brief your child before the party regarding the good manners required when parting with guests who need to be handed a goodie bag, thanked for attending the party and for the gifts they brought.

After the event, the tidying up of the mess can wait. Instead, spend some quality time with your child to chat about the party, his favourite highlights, the games, the gifts and the lovely friends who attended.

The wedding industry is a multimillion dollar industry and just when you think that they can’t get any more money out of brides, a new trend pops up that is quickly sweeping receptions all over America. The new trend of wedding cake toppers is almost a must for any bride at her reception. In the past, options for cake toppers were extremely limited. The choices were two figurines or flowers of your choice. As the years went by, someone got smarter and customized the figurines. You were able to have your figurines have the same hair color as the couple. Now, there is no limit to what you can have on top of your wedding cake. There is a cake topper for everyone.

A Google search on the topic of cake toppers can be mind-blowing as there are thousands of difference websites with staggering selections. There is a site for the Harley Davidson minded couple that has two figurines on any number of Harley models. If you and your husband-to-be are sports fans, there are many sites that have sports-themed cake toppers. Through this particular site, you can order your couples in different team jerseys or in any type of sporting gear. Some of the selections you can order are football, soccer, golf, fishing, baseball, and even rugby.

See also: wedding cake toppers

Another specialty site that was very popular was the armed services figurines. These are becoming more popular with so many men and women in the armed services now. You can honor your husband’s or your own military service by choosing a cake topper in a formal uniform. There were many comments on this site from customers that purchased their cake toppers for their wedding and had gotten so many great comments on their cake.

Finally, there were also sites that offered more whimsical and humorous wedding cake topper. For the whimsical side, they offered Mickey and Minnie mouse cake toppers and even a bride and groom PEZ dispenser cake topper. The more funny ones were figurines of the bride dragging the groom up to the alter and even the bride pinching the groom’s behind. At last, brides all over the world can really make their cake as special and unique as they are for their special day that they’ve been dreaming about for years.

Haunted Halloween

Most people have been at least ones in their lives in a real scary haunted Halloween house. But why is one better than the other? We all know those creative people who try their absolute best, but it just never is really frightening. And some of the actual scary haunted Halloween houses seem be made with nothing special. So, what are the ingredients for an extremely haunted Halloween mansion?

Darkness helps

During the light of day nothing seems to be very scary, so to create a frightening atmosphere the darkness is your friend. You should eliminate all normal lightning during the Halloween days and keep your house and yard covered in a deep deep darkness. You can of course use the slightly tacky strange colored and flashing lights but this will often not create the haunted Halloween feeling you are looking for. In fact you need to give your house a slightly desolated feeling. Trick or treaters should be wondering if anybody actually lives in that dark and dusty house. You can use some subtle small lights to make sure they see the spiderwebs and other stuff that enhances the scary atmosphere.

Use all senses

You feel frightened because of everything you pick up with your senses, all smells, sounds, sights, tastes and feelings create that scary feeling. And lets not forget your imagination, because your imagination is what makes a bowl of spaghetti in to a bowl of worms and a skull with Cookie dough into a brain. Artificial spider webs are only by your imagination made in to real scary ones. And when you are already slightly scared you will be scared to dead when somethings pops out of the darkness of your desolated house. When you add sound and smell even grown adults will run away. But you need to trigger the imagination with the element of surprise or it will not work.

Good haunted Halloween houses do not need to be expensive

A lot of people think you need to spend a lot of money to create a real scary haunted Halloween, but this is not the case at all, in fact less is more in this case. When you buy a lot of stuff it will look nicely decorated for Halloween but will it be scary? You can scare the whole neighborhood with limited funds but you need to spend your money wisely to create some scary special effects. Sound is very important and it needs to be used carefully, when you use to much it is not frightening at all. It is better just to use the sound of a deep hart beet that people feel rather then hear then those eerie music you can buy at most stores and even download online. One well placed awful scream at the moment something pops out does more then all the Halloween sounds all together. But you do need that one perfect scream sound!

Light is the next important thing again strategically placed to light out some simple scary desolated item does more then all the colored lights together. Illuminating some dripping blood in the darkness will scare most people and can be very cheap. As you can see you do not need a lot of money to create a haunted Halloween. Just start at the entrance of the yard and work the scary feelings up to the door for the big scary fright.

Kristin King is a real Halloween lover, at here website AheadOfHalloween.com she likes to write about a Halloween theme party , Halloween craft ideas and much more.

There are a dozen beautiful and effective ways to personalize any baby shower gift and the results can change a gift into something very special.

A gift may be personalized by adding a sticker on the base, embossing the side or adding stitching to it across the top. And your addition can show the baby’s name, the the names of the parents, the names of the grandparents or the name of the giver.

The gift can even be decorated with a meaningful photo, logo or phrase. The text used to personalize the gift might be selected by the giver or added by the gift’s designer. A logo can be created by a professional or by the individual who gives the gift. A photo might be picked from a range of stock images or suppliedand then incorporated into the baby gift.

Personalization transforms an impersonal gift into a keepsake which is going to be kept and treasured for many years. It provides a reminder of festive occasions and provides an incentive to hand the gift down from generation to generation. Monogramming can add names to cloth items and printing can personalize any item which can absorb ink.

A Slumber Bear, for instance, makes for a great gift. Children adore the cuddly, teddy bear design and parents are happy knowing the gift is robust and manufactured out of good materials. In later years both parents and the then baby will be able to look back on the baby shower when the gift was received and personalizing the gift will make the memories all the sweeter.

Another wonderful gift is a Dilly the Duck cashmere booster pillow which presents the ideal opportunity to stitch on the name of the baby. In the years ahead this gift will grow from a loved nursery item to a reminder of those tender years. Many years after it has been received both parties can remember back to the many happy moments spent reading a story while the young one’s head nestled into it.

And storybooks themselves can be personalized in the form of a Fairy Tale book which carries all manner of individual markings. For stories that are written by the parents, the book can be signed with the author’s name and date. When the book is purchased then the gift giver can sign and date the book and print the name of the recipient on the flyleaf. All these methods and more turn a simple storybook into a precious souvenir of childhood.

Yet another baby shower gift which allows personalization is a birth plate on which you can paint the baby’s name across the rim or on the base. Here the best option is possibly to print the name of the baby, birth weight and date along the rim to mark the birth of that special person who came into your life on that date.

These are of course only a few of the many ways in which you can create personalized baby shower gifts.