Planning A Party For Your Pre-teen Daughter?

Of course you can always do a party for your tween girl using the many tween idols of the day; Hannah Montana or High School Musical.  While these are great themes, every party your child has been to in the last six months has been a Hannah Montana party. UGH!! By now you’ve grown tired of the same theme, but your tween’s birthday is drawing near. So what to do?

Creating Your Own Teenage Superstar

Ask yourself what does my tween girl want? To be glamorous and dress up like older (teenage) girls. You know the phrase 12 going on 20.  So for one day, her birthday allow her to be a teenager (with full adult supervision of course). Employ a teenage girl and maybe her friends to do the tween girls make up and hair.  Buy a few inexpensive foundations, and eye shadows, lipstick for the teenagers to use on tweens. Create a runway decorated with streamers and lights. Have the tweens walk the runway as the teenagers vote on who has the best style. You can even give the winner a special prize. For party favors give mini little lip gloss along with some inexpensive nail polish and bracelets. Hanging out with real teenages is the best part for these tweens.

If it is a small party, you can have the tweens make their own pizza. If not, order pizza from your local pizza parlor. For the “cake” choose something unusual like cup cakes or fancy cookies. Create a special drink for the tweens or serve an assortment of canned sodas.

Using a popular tween idol for a themes is certainly okay, but it can also be fun for you to do a creative party such as the one above.  Plus this is an added bonus teenagers like to be idolized by the younger set as well so you get bring the two groups together.

Things All Expectant Mothers Should Have After Her Baby Shower

Attending a baby shower anytime soon? In the past few months I’ve attended more than my fair share. What I’ve walked away with is an extensive knowledge of things that the expectant mothers received–and a long list of things they wish they’d received.

You’re probably not going to the baby shower for kicks. You’re most likely going because you’re good friends with the mommy-to-be and want to make sure that the little tike is taken care of for a while. Props to you for being a concerned friend/relative/father/mother!

Pick up these items for the baby shower if you want to make sure that your best gal pal and her little one have the “wants” and “needs” that make life easier.

1. DIAPERS – Yeah, it’s a cliche but you’d be surprised how many people think that someone else will bring the diapers. Believe me. This is the perfect baby shower gift.
2. Diaper Rash Ointment – What’s a baby without diaper rash? A content baby but that’s not the point. Babies get this pitiful condition often. Make sure mommy can handle it quickly with rash ointment.
3. Tear-free Baby Shampoo – Most babies cry enough as it is. Keep their little eyes free of stinging shampoo chemicals with a trusted tear-free baby shampoo. Tired mommy and daddy will thank you.
4. Moisturizing Lotion — Baby skin is naturally soft and supple but can dry out quickly. Don’t forget to supply mommy with plenty of moisturizing lotion! This also helps prevent diaper rash and itchiness after bathing.
   
5. Diaper Bag — Every mom wants a cool diaper bag! If you want to bring a baby gift that you know she’ll love, bring a tricked out but easy to manage diaper bag.
   
6. Baby Bathtub — Baby has to be bathed! Save mom this expense and bring this baby gift.
   
7. Baby Wipes — Anyone who has ever changed a diaper understands how important these tiny pieces of heaven are.
8. Baby Bibs — Babies eat but babies are messy. Bring along a few cute baby bibs!
9. Baby Blankets — Want to hold him or her when they get here? Baby blankets from you will keep the sweetheart warm and snuggled up in your arms.
10. Baby Outfits — Baby clothes are starting to be the most adorable fashion items ever. If you want a trendy baby gift that mom will “aww” over, bring baby outfits.
11. Manicure Set — Most people forget how important it is to keep baby’s fingers and toes clean and cut. Otherwise, mom will wake up in the middle of the night because baby has scratched himself/herself accidentally.
12. Thermometers — Unfortunately, babies get sick quickly and easily. Mommies can make sure it’s not worth a trip to the doctor by having a thermometer around.
    
13. Rubber Syringe (Nose Sucker) — Most people forget these. Most mommies find out quickly how useful these little booger suckers can be!
14. Trash Bags for Diaper Can — It’s nasty and stinky in that can. Help keep mom NOT asphyxiated by giving her trash bags that reduce the smell or keep it limited to the can.
15. Baby Wash — Wash a bye baby. No, that’s not right but you still need baby wash to go with the baby bathtub and bath supplies!
16. Hair Accessories — Whether boy or girl, baby hair accessories come in quite handy as the infants begin to grow a bit. These can include bows and ribbons for little girls, baby combs, and other things that mom may need.
17. Baby Bottles & Inserts — Mom will love not having to wash the bottles as often and having a handy supply around!
18. Baby Monitor — Most new moms are rightfully obsessive about keeping their little ones safe. Baby monitors make that easier for everyone.
19. Baby Bouncer, Activity Pad, Walkers — When baby grows, so will his mind and his muscle!
20. Stroller — Tired moms don’t want to cart around sleepy babies on their hips, especially if a lot of walking, lifting or stretching is involved. This baby shower gift makes it fun for mom and baby to walk the mall, grocery store, or around the block.
21. Pacifier — A handy dandy little invention that no parent should be without!
22. Rattles, Stuffed Animals, Small Toys — Noise is great for small children. They love. Their parents may not but it’s helpful for child development. Plus, playing with these toys develops their motor skills.
23. Burp Clothes — Mom’s got the bib, the bottles and the food. Now she just needs burp clothes to keep her own clothes from getting dirty!
24. Mobile for the Baby Bed — It’s a unique baby gift that moms will love. If you’re close to the family and know the layout of the nursery, get a mobile for the baby bed!
25. Baby Books — This can be the baby memory books that parents keep as their child grows or books designed for babies that like to look at pictures. Either way, these are always big hits at the baby showers.

When someone retires, it is a great time for an office party.  However as with all parties, it requires organization and planning. Of course, the focus of the party should be on the life and work of the retiree which can be tricky. So how do you throw a great retirement party for some one you only know as a co-worker?

Simple get their family involved.  Ask their family to share the hobbies, favorite color, food, and drink of the retiree. Get those questions answered then run with it. If you’re having the parties at work, decorate the party area with balloons, streamers and table cloths in their favorite color or colors.  It also a nice touches to have a “Happy Retirement” banner made.  If you’re having a quick retirement party, you can serve cake and ice cream with water, soda, and juice for the drinks and food. If you found out the retiree’s hobby is golfing then purchase napkins with a golf theme.

To do a more formal dinner party, you can book a room at restaurant. For larger parties with entertainment,  rent a party hall and hire caterers. as for decorations, skip the streamers and balloons instead use candles and flower arrangements. Keep table cloths in basic black or white and use flowers in the favorite color of the retiree. If this party is for multiple retirees, go with company colors in the table flower arrangements. That way you’ll offend no one by leaving out their favorite color.

Being in charge of the office retirement parties isn’t really a difficult task when you ask the right questions and follow key party principles.

Your primary goal when planning for a children’s birthday party is to make sure the birthday child feels special. Your secondary goal is to ensure that everyone has a good time at the party. The entertainment part of a children’s birthday party is a very important part! You want to be sure that the entertainment you have planned is well thought out.

Let’s start off with a little entertainment that doesn’t take a lot of work to get planned. Children usually have a large imagination and just about anything will get their attention. The number one thing to add festivity to the air of a birthday party is music. Play kid-friendly songs, or have a musical DVD playing on a TV in the main party room. Besides the music , children’s party activities always make a party a lot more fun for every child.

Here’s a simple idea that doesn’t cost much to do. You could set up a game room inside your home, or even outdoors. This game room could be arranged with a variety of homemade games that cost very little to do. You could then provide each child that completed or won the game with a “prize”. This could be anything from candy bars to glow sticks, whatever you think would be fun for any child. A couple of homemade games you could set up are soda bottle bowling, or even mining for jewels. Sounds fun!

Need bigger entertainment ideas? One major hit at most children’s parties is to book an entertainer. This could be a standard clown or magician. To change things up a bit, you could even book ”character entertainers” who come as popular TV, movie, or story book characters. But before making your decision to hire an entertainer, you need to be sure of a couple of things. Try to see them in action performing before the party to determine if they are the right entertainer for your child’s party. Another thing is to be sure and let your entertainer know ahead of time if your child is shy. This would prevent the entertainer from asking your child to participate in the show, if you know that’s not what your child would have in mind.

Another entertainment idea that any child is for sure to enjoy is to rent out a “bounce gym” or also known as a bouncer. Kids love them! These bouncers usually tend to cost $150+ per day including delivery and setup. They also come in lots of fun themes. Not only do kids love them but these bounce gyms are even actually good for their bodies. They have fun while doing a little exercise. Talk about two for the price of one!

Regardless of which of these entertaintment ideas you use, your birthday party is sure to be well entertained. Just make sure to have back up plans in case one of your entertainment ideas ends up not being possible. Which is why planning ahead of time is always a good first choice!

Summer is finally here! School’s out and it’s time for a vacation! You probably wont get to see your friends much, so what better way to catch up on things and have a good time than by throwing a summer pool party! It’s time to do some planning and make a few phone calls.

When it comes to summer, the main thing most teens focus on is going to shop for that perfect swimsuit. With that in mind, what better reason to throw the ultimate summer pool party? Who doesn’t think about going to the tropics for a summer vacation getaway? How about creating your own tropical paradise at home!

Decorations- Here comes the most fun part to throwing any party. Being a tropical paradise theme you want to think outside of the box to make this a very memorable summer party. Let’s begin with the back yard, since it is a major part of this party. Putting up a couple of inflatable palm trees around the pool area would definitely give the party a more tropical feel. Setting up 2 or 3 picnic tables around the yard could be used for eating, or even to set some exotic tropical centerpieces on top. This party is more than likely to last through the night. A creative, inexpensive idea would be to buy a few mini beach bucket tea light holders. Setting these throughout the pool area or the backyard would definitely lighten up the place. Now for the pool, just throwing in a few beach balls and a few pool rings would do the trick.

Entertainment- To help your guests work up an appetite for delicious tropical party foods, the right party games and activities are necessary. Here are some ideas that might interest you and be fun for your friends too.

Music- Playing reggae music, beach songs, or the songs you know your friends like would be perfect for this tropical party.
Limbo Contest- Who doesn’t love to limbo? Having a limbo contest would keep the fun times going.
Beach Games- Some beach games to include could be volleyball or even water fights.

These are all activities your friends are sure to enjoy.

Food- Of course, no party is complete with out a delicious food menu. This being a tropical paradise party, exotic foods is what comes to mind.You could start off by giving an appetizer, some sizzling chicken skewers, this would only get them ready for whats coming next. A very exotic main dish idea would be to cook a pan-grilled salmon with pineapple salsa. How much more exotic can it get! Finally, for dessert cooking up a key lime pie will leave your friends full, but satisfied.

Voila! You have thrown an unforgettable pool party. Your friends had a blast and are sure to be waiting for another one. Be thinking on how to throw your next summer party, and by the looks of it, it’s sure to come soon!

Most of the time it’s easy for the person throwing a baby shower or wedding shower to run around like a chicken with their head cut off. After all, there’s tons to do in preparation! Truth be told, that’s probably why you’re reading this blog in the first place. That’s awesome because this checklist will make your life a little easier.

If you’re like me, you could double check or check 50 times and you’d still forget something. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hotel stay or planning a party, I’m going to forget something. That’s why these checklists help me and this one will help you! When planning a baby shower or a wedding shower, don’t forget this essential checklist!

Things To Remember When Planning A Baby or Wedding Shower

• The party food is essential!!! Who doesn’t want to at least snack at a shower? Hor d’ouevres are great. Finger foods are fine. Don’t feel like taking on the hassle of food preparation for a large group? Hire a party caterer. They have to be good at it. It’s what they do! Plus it saves you a lot of time. Party caterers are a win-win here.
• Don’t forget the photographer or videographer! Whether it’s Suzie Q with a digital camera or you hire an actual party photographer, don’t forget the person that will preserve these memories forever. Besides, “toilet paper bridal gown” just isn’t as funny in stories.
• Remember the party decorations! I know. It seems silly that the host would forget something as huge as decorations but you never know. Do you have the streamers? Are the tablecloths ready? How about napkins, drinking and eating utensils, balloons, trash bags a plenty? Trust me, it’s too easy to forget at least one of these things. If you go to a party supply store, let the clerk know exactly what you’re planning. They’ll make sure you get everything you need!
• Remember to get rid of the guys! Or the girls. The same rules apply for bachelor parties and bachelorette parties. While there are exceptions to the rule, many of these parties are typically not mixed-company events. Some are. Just remember to give them plenty of time to plan an alternate location if you want it to be a girls-only party.
• Remember the music! Throwing a bridal shower? Get the couples’ favorite music on a mixed cd and have a ball. Throwing a baby shower? Classical music in the background is a great addition. Whatever your tastes, whatever suits the occasion–don’t forget the musical entertainment!!!
• Remember the party invitations! By now the invitations are probably already in the mail or on the guests’ doorsteps. If you’re still early on in the planning stages, don’t forget the party invitations! Be as kitschy or as elegant as you want. Just make sure to have fun!

Ready to have a great time? Just print out this shower checklist and have fun at your party!! Don’t forget to return to the Celebration Advisor and let us know how everything went.

Sometimes we just can’t afford to have a dog and pony show party for our children. Yet, we still want them to have a special party.  Throwing a party for your child can be done frugally and still filled with with fun. Inexpensive treats such as popcorn and movie rentals are just the ticket.

Your thinking popcorn is not a party theme. A party revolving around popcorn is boring. Not so! Popcorn can be a fun party activity, a great party theme and a hectic of a good time.  You can pop your own and make popcorn balls or pop up a big batch of plain popcorn and set up a table with “fixings” for the popcorn. You can even rent a popcorn machine that looks like an old popcorn cart.

How To Make A Popcorn Party Exciting

Create a special popcorn table with all the “fixings”. Your “fixings” table should have some sweet items, sour items, flavored salt and cheese toppings. Sweet popcorn fixings are items like raisins, M&M’s, peanut butter chips, gummy bears, anything sweet and chewy.  Sour items such as mustard, sour patch candies and pickles will add interest to popcorn.  Flavored salts or cheese need to be shakable. Black pepper, garlic salt, shakable cheese and special popcorn salts that come in a variety of flavors will satisfy and intrigue many palates. All of these toppings will create a Yummy treat!

You can put the popcorn in paper coffee filters and allow each child to mix up his/her own popcorn. Now you have both a treat and a great party activity (you get a twofer with this one). Kids will mix all kinds of things like mustard and gummy bears and dare each other to eat their creations. What could be more entertaining. Kids will love it because they get to make decisions. Kids like to feel important.

What goes better with popcorn than a movie. Movie rentals are inexpensive and a convenient way to take the party up a notch. Need a bigger screen? One thing you might look at is renting a projection screen. One day projection screen rentals can be very inexpensive and it certainly gives the kids the feeling of a movie theater with out the cost of the movie tickets.

It’s finally your senior year of high school, the year every student waits for. Of course its obvious to know why, after 12 years of being in school, this is finally the last year! How exiting! Preparing for graduation can be a long yet exciting process. What better way to top of this moment, than by throwing your graduating friend a graduation party. It’s time for party planning!

Theme- Having a themed party always makes the atmosphere a lot more fun. A very popular theme used for many parties is a Hawaiian theme! Hawaiian colors are bright and tend to make people think of either the beach or a Hawaiian shirt. It’s your decision whether you want the party indoors or outdoors. Personally, I d prefer an outdoors party. Having a party outdoors gives you a lot more space. Meaning more room to PARTY!

Decorations- Decorating is one of the best parts when it comes to planning and throwing a party. The decorations are one of the first things your guests will notice. Think about making them really stand out! Try using different outstanding bright colors (neon orange, baby blue, lime green, etc.). One idea that is easy and fun to set-up up would be some colorful beach chairs and even a few lit-up tiki torches. Another decorative idea would be to go to your local party store and shop for a few party supplies. You could include Hawaiian-colored plates, cups, napkins, etc.

Food- Yummy, here comes the best part! An easy cooking idea that everyone is sure to enjoy would be to have a grill-out. Grilling out some buttered shrimp, Hawaiian flank stake, or Hawaiian grilled chicken and having a fresh Hawaiian salad as a side dish would be a delicious idea. To drink making a homemade Hawaiian fruit punch would be very fruity and delicious. A tasty suggestion for dessert would be to have a large platter of mixed mouthwatering fruits like strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, etc. After all, the pineapple is one of the most common fruits found on the island. But if you really want to sweeten things up a bit, a coconut cake would definitely be the icing on the cake for your overall meal.

Music- Since this is a graduation party, you’re more likely to have many people there with different tastes in music. What better way to please everyone than to get a DJ to entertain the party. A DJ is definitely a great choice, since they usually have a wide variety of music choices to play. This way everyone gets to dance out to their favorite music thought the party. The fun will never stop.

This graduation party is to celebrate for a couple of reasons. One, to throw them a party and congratulate them for getting this far. And two, to celebrate for this chapter they have completed in their life, and the start of a new chapter that’s about to begin. Not only will they appreciate the party you threw for them, but this is sure to be a memory they will never forget!

Ask The Celebration Advisor: I am looking for a recreation center or facility/room to have a 50th birthday party for my mother. I am having a hard time finding a room that we can rent and bring in cake and dessert buffet. I am open to any suggestions that aren’t restuarants (since it is just a dessert party) unless they only serve dessert and that are inside (not a pavilion). We are expecting 40-50 people and hope the facility has tables and chairs. I was able to find this at White Rock Lake; however my date was already booked. We are needing June 20th. Thank you in advance for your help! ~~TN

The Celebration Advisor: Good question, TN! Before I name off places you’ve probably already tried, I have a few ideas for the types of reception locations and party venues that fit your needs. You’ve said the party location that you will select needs to provide tables and chairs, seat 40-50 people, and let you bring in your own desserts. Based on that information, here are a few types of reception locations that I recommend.

• Churches often have a fellowship hall that will seat many people and are already equipped with chairs and tables. Large churches tend to rent these places for a small fee while smaller churches often opt to provide their fellowship halls for church members only. It never hurts to ask local Dallas churches if they would be willing to allow you to host your mother’s 50th birthday party there!
• Community centers usually have rooms that members of the community can rent for their occasions. Depending on the size of the center and their policies, most provide chairs and tables or charge a very small additional fee for their use.
• Libraries may seem a bit off the wall but libraries in large towns often have small rooms where receptions and parties can be hosted. For the size of your guest list, I recommend a very large library!
• Banquet halls are an obvious choice and fill up quickly. Banquet halls in Dallas Texas often book a few months in advance. However, ask if you can be put on the cancellation list or find out if there have been any cancellations. Though finding an available banquet hall during wedding season may be a bit of a stretch, it never hurts to ask. Plus, the person you speak with may be able to recommend another venue for your party if they are not able to provide a reception location.

I hope these ideas help! I’m sure your mother’s 50th birthday party will be a huge success! All of the places mentioned above allow food and beverages to be brought in which means your dessert buffet is right on track. Your mother will love being surrounded by 40-50 of her best friends, great party foods, and the best party planner in Dallas — you! Thanks again for your question, TN! Don’t forget to return to Wedding And Party Network with some of your party pictures. We look forward to seeing the fun in progress!

Ask The Celebration Advisor:

I am trying to plan and through a surprise Birthday party for my Aunts 50th Birthday up in MN from NE. I haven’t had any luck in finding a cake to go along with her Hawaiian theme birthday party. Her favorite colors are Pink and Sapphire Blue. I really liked the Beach Time Bridal shower cake but would like to personalize it a bit. Could/Can it be done? The party isn’t until the end of September so I have some time yet but I’d like to get the ball rolling and place an order as far in advanced if at all possible.

Thanks,
Jennifer

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