Plate Party Dish

For decorations, create a table centerpiece by purchasing flatware, some ribbon and some flowers.  Group the knives in a bundle leaving an open center and tie them tightly with the ribbon. In the center place a few items of the flower of your choice. Buy a  short vase to hold the spoons and forks. Place flowers inside or around the vases.  Since the flowers will be without water during the party, wait until the last moment to add them to the centerpieces.

You can vary this party idea in so many ways.  Maybe they need furniture.  Ask guest to give a piece of furniture they no longer use.  The party would then change to "Bring Your Own Chair", or a "Bring Your Own Wall Art".

It all depends on the needs of the honoree. The concept is to help set up a new home, have some fun and make memories. I love the idea of an eclectic mix of plates and cups. Each individual item represents the friends and family of the honoree.  After all, memories of family and friends help make a house your home.

Wedding and Party Network is happy to bring you this party planning idea. Also, a special thanks to PittyPat's Porch, an Atlanta GA Caterer for the use of their southern Georgia Gumbo picture.

Setting The Party Stage

Set up the front walk way of your party event location with a red carpet. Do this by buying inexpensive red craft paper in rolls.  This will help you create the "red carpet" for an awesome kid’s party.

Every awards event has a red carpet photo op including paparazzi.  You can hire a  photographer or play the part of the paparazzi yourself.  As kids arrive at the party make sure they walk the red carpet.  If you hire a professional photographer make sure the teens shot for the country music star interview and photo experience.

This country music bash doesn't end with the red carpet.  Tweens and teens will need the whole country music award atmosphere. Party decorations must include glitter stars, balloons, fan banners and a glitzy food table with floral sheeting.  Add a country music band or DJ emcee with country music karaoke and you have the makings of a fine country music hall.  Take it to the next level by renting a dance floor. A the band plays or even during karaoke the kids will want to dance.  So, checking into renting dance flooring.

Award Them With A Country Feast

This party is more about dressing up and walking the red carpet. A fun night partying requires a fair amount of fuel.  Grab and run is the food of choice -  chips and dips, granola bars, sodas and bottled water.  To add a little WOW factor to the party get a country music theme cake and it the focal point of the food table.

Since the food and beverages are simple and relatively inexpensive, you'll have more money and time to invest in the party decorations. Be sure to make this party just as glitzy and great as the awards show.

And The Winner IS

All who attend this party! Give every person who attends an award – their own party favor or favors.  Create a goody bag for each tween or teen with an inexpensive cowboy hat, sunglasses and tiny chocolate cowboy boots.  To really make it memorable have some party glasses engraved with the date ad theme of the party.

With a little planning your tweens/teens next party will be a winner!

This party theme planning idea was brought to you by www.weddingandpartynetwork.com.

Decorations Are Like Bait

Fishing Lure

So this party must incorporate streamers into the decor.  Here is how to make fantastic party streamers using fishing line and bobbers:

Items you will need:

• 50-100 plastic fishing bobbers. These bobbers come in various colors — red and white are the most common.  Should you need a variety of colors, you can always spray paint them a different color to match your theme.
• 1 spool of fishing line (you can buy this at the same place as the bobbers)

To make the streamers, begin by determining how much line is needed to space the bobbers apart so they dangle but with enough extra line to attach to the walls or tables. To create a table streamer for a 6 foot table, you will need 7 feet of fishing line. If you want a swag effect with this streamer add another foot or two. Same principal applies if you are hanging these streamers from wall to wall or around a pole.

After you decide line length, take the bobbers and hook them to the line spacing them every 6-8” apart. When finished attach the streamer to the table using heavy duty tape or clear packing tape. Hint: Fishing lures come in many shapes, styles and colors making them a great items to decorate with. So you can do the same thing with fishing lures as the bobbers. However, you need to remove the hooks and barbs from the lures before using them in this fashion.

Party lights are another way to decorate. You can buy fishing theme lights at party supply stores. Attach these lights to some fishing nets and hang them on the walls. Use your imagination, don't be afraid to jump right in and tackle the decorating with any and all fishing related items.

If your having the party outside or if room allows, you can always use a small boat as a table. Place a sheet of painted or decorated (use stencil to decorate) ply board over the boat.

Rig Up Some Great Food And Beverages

Use a “live well” to hold your beverages.  A live well is a tank they hold the bait or the fish after you catch them.

Fish Face Theme Cake

I suggest a menu of catfish, smoked salmon or trout which can be catered by a local company. For "fingerling" food serve shrimp dip and use oyster or goldfish crackers for the dippers. Shrimp cocktail or peel and eat shrimp are great appetizers for a fishing theme.  Your caterer may have some party platters in fish shapes. A party store is another fantastic place to find themed serving platters.

Don't forget the sweets. Have a local bakery create a theme cake in the shape of a fish. This will give them a tasty treat and add to your decor at the same time.

Entertainment – GO Fish

Rent a Playstation or a Wii game console with the fishing game. This game is great for kids and adults. In fact, adults love this game – all the fun and no mess.

Don’t want to rent a console. Create your own fishing game. Grab some fishing rods and hook the bait (candy bars tied on with fishing line.) Now have players stand on the opposite side facing the people who are holding the rods. Cast out your bait – just far enough for your teammate to be able to eat the candy bar (no hands can be used). Whoever eats their candy bar first wins. Or can always play a rousing  game of go fish!

Using a bit of creativity along with some real fishing tackle will ensure you and your party will defiantly not be up a creek with out a paddle.

***A little side note for those in the Port Coquitlam, BC – Luscious Creations created the awesome fish face theme cake in the picture above. ***

So the groom isn’t into the standard bachelor party of going to a bar with the guys. But, the groom is all about fishing. Make fishing your theme for your bachelor party.

Pick The Right "Fishing" Location

If you’re lucky enough to live in area where fishing is prevalent, rent a cabin and decorate it to the rafters with all types of fishing theme items. If you can't rent a cabin or a lodge, you can always use your home. Wherever you choose to hold this bachelor party, it can be transformed into a honey-hole.

Lure Them With Party Decorations

Colored bobblers found at any tackle store are the foundation for this bachelor party decor. With a little fishing line you can use the bobblers to make awesome streamers. To create the ultimate fishing atmosphere, beg, borrow and buy any type of fishing theme item you can find and deck the place out completely. Don't forget to buy a few inexpensive tackle boxes to decorate with or use as serving pieces. You can hang lures and lights from fishing nets to create a fantastic back-drop for the party. As a final decoration pick up some fishing theme napkins, maybe ones that have fishing lingo on them for fun.

Food and Drinks: Serving The Catch Of The Day

“Fingerling” foods will make this a record book party. Catfish fillets, fries, hushpuppies and all the "fixins" make an tasty treat for this bachelor party. If the frying pan isn't your thing have a local caterer prepare the meal for you.

Want a more casual bachelor food atmosphere?  Clean out those tackle boxes and fill them with chip and dip. Serve your own version of a jig-n-pigs (fishing lures) sandwich – a little fried bologna, ham, or other cold cuts with a variety of cheeses.  Add in a little beer, wine, soda or mixed drinks and you won't need a lure to get them to the buffet table.  For a fun twist to the evening, everytime someone gets a drink make them sing a song that uses the word "live well" (a fishing term).

A bachelor party should be all about having fun. Theme parties are all about creating fun around a theme. So playing up a theme based on the groom's fishing passion it will net you a great bachelor party.

This bachelor party planning idea was brought to you by weddingandpartynetwork.com.

]]> http://www.weddingandpartynetwork.com/blog/party-themes/reeling-in-a-great-bachelor-party/feed/ 0 http://www.weddingandpartynetwork.com/blog/party-themes/under-roof-beach-party-theme/ http://www.weddingandpartynetwork.com/blog/party-themes/under-roof-beach-party-theme/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:51:07 +0000 Leigh Morrisett http://www.weddingandpartynetwork.com/blog/?p=656 Creating The Tropical Indoors

Everyone loves the beach.  Everyone loves a party.  Sometimes you want both and that is where a beach party theme comes in handy. Unfortunately depending where you live or the time of year, an outside beach party…

Creating The Tropical Indoors

Everyone loves the beach.  Everyone loves a party.  Sometimes you want both and that is where a beach party theme comes in handy. Unfortunately depending where you live or the time of year, an outside beach party isn't always possible. So what do you do – throw a beach party indoors!

Decorating For The Beach Experience

Throwing a party with a tropical theme indoors isn’t as hard as it would seem. In fact, an indoor beach or tropical party theme works very well for back to school parties or birthday parties for kids and adult. Teens will love this party theme and the tropical drinks that go along with it.

Beach Theme Party Cake

As far as decorations go, you’ll want to have as many tropical items as you can possible fit in your indoor area.

To go all out rent some palms from local florist. If palms are not available for rent try a party supply store. They often have inflatable palms or even card board cut out palms or other tropical items. Add a little pizazz to table centerpieces by cutting holes in pineapples (like you do with pumpkins) and place votive candles inside.

If you’re an especially daring party thrower, set up a kiddy pool inside filled with sand. If your not that daring then buy an awesome party cake decorated like a  beach party and use it as your room's focal point.

Beach Grub Is A Must

Beach food is all hands on – literally.  So finger foods need to fill out the beach party menu. You can pick these items up at a deli or make them yourself.

If your planning this party for your teenager, you'll want to serve hot dogs and hamburgers. Of course you'll need a signature drink. Make tropical drinks such as (non-alcoholic) blue Hawaiians by using blending ice cubes, a lemon-lime type soda and a few drops of blue food coloring. Serve the drink in an inexpensive margarita style glass. You can find plastic ones at party supply stores. Ta da, you’ve got great tropical drink. For a super fun fruity idea get some ice trays and add small pieces of fruits such as pineapple chucks, cherries, raspberries, blueberries and freeze them in ice trays covered with water. Pop them out of the ice tray and put them in an ice bucket for the kids to add to their fruit punch or other tropical drink.

With just a bit of creative decorating, you’ll find that a inside beach party is easy to do. This party theme is  great fun for teens, kids or even adults. So get started now planning your beach party right under your own roof. Oh, don’t for get to tell the invites to dress in their best swim and beachwear.

A special thanks goes to The Party Place & Bakery, a Herber Springs bakery for letting me use the picture of their beach cake.

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Rent a space to hold the party.
Although you could hold the parties outside, I recommend an indoor space. Why? Because you will be using a lot of electrical equipment. Outdoor locations are great but they make it more complicated with the chance of weather. Electronics and bad weather do not mix well.

You will need to rent a stage
All rappers need a stage. If the place you have secured for the party does not have one, you'll need to rent one. The stage rental place should also be able to help you with the lighting and a sound system, as well. Remember this is the Ultimate Rap Party and every rap artist needs the right atmosphere. So, you’ll want lots of lights and a great sound system for the rap artist to work their rap skills on.

Gotta Have The Lingo
Print of some rap lyrics from the Internet. Have your teenager help you pick out the songs from their favorite rapper. Have them printed on some colorful paper to hand out to the party goers. They can choose a rap lyric sheet to take to the stage to show off their skills or even free style. Don’t forget a video camera or hire a videographer. You’ll want to catch all the rapping action!

Party Decoration: Gotta Have The Bling
Flashy – that's the goal of the decorations. So bling is a must. Use any type of bling like item you can think of as the room's decor. Take a que from Rappers who like styling cars. Giant posters of cars and maybe posters of your teens favorite rappers can be used to decorate the party room. Don't forget strobe lights. A stage, lights and a rapper atmosphere will have the party goers flowing with their own rap lyrics about this ultimate rap party.

Decorations from a Twilight Sleepover Party

• Apple mylar balloons or crescent mylar balloons
• Plates, napkins, cups and other dinnerware with Twilight prints or in golden and black colors
• Chocolate brown tablecloths, latex balloons and other decorations
• Twilight themed flowers

If you don't want to see the faces of Bella and Edward on all of your party supplies, use a color theme instead. Think very earthy and dark like a Halloween theme. Use chocolate browns, topaz and golds (Edward's eye color) and black.

Twilight Punch – It's easy to create your own blend of Twilight punch. Make sure the punch is blood red. You may want to add a small bit of food coloring to achieve this color. If you are worried that the punch will stain, use only a small amount and keep in mind that blood red lips will be an appropriate costume effect for the movie release.

Another tip for the punch is to use sparkling ginger ale instead of regular. This is carbonated, of course, but adheres to the image of the vampires' sparkling skin.

Have A Local Baker Create A Twilight Party Cake

Twilight Party Entertainment – The enchanting theme of the book makes your Twilight party the perfect time for an illusionist (skilled magician). If you'd rather stick to entertaining each other, throw in the first movie.

You can also play a Twilight trivia game similar to a popular bridal shower game. Create mouths with fangs using velvet and a permanent marker or visit your local party store and see what Vampirical tags they have. Ask questions to each player who loses a pair of fangs for each wrong answer. The last person with a fang is the winner. If it comes down to a tie or a tiebreaker, make sure each has a chance to answer at least one question.

Your Twilight party is going to be awesome. Your tween will think you're the coolest parent alive. If you're hosting a Twilight party for yourself, your friends may snicker a bit but the Twilight enthusiasts in the group will know how much you rock. Have fun!

This party idea came to by way of my neighbor, an ever inventive father of two. His daughter’s birthday was soon approaching. Since he is a single father in need of party help, I suggested he choose a party theme related to one of his daughter's favorite activities. It seems Christina, 4 soon to be 5, was into drawing. In fact, her dad said he had works of art everywhere in his house.

So the party girl was into drawing and this lead to Chris (the father) to decide a party outside on his driveway would work. His plan was to get several tubs of sidewalk chalk for the entertainment part of the party. The little party Picassos could draw all over his driveway to their hearts content.

The day before the party Chris power washing his driveway and sets up some tables he rented. On the day of the party, I helped him by stringing some colorful streamers and balloons, as well as assembling the party favors bags. Each child received a bag of party favors containing coloring books with crayons, black craft paper with chalk (black works best for chalk) and some bubble gum and assorted candies. The cake was an airbrushed version of one of his daughter’s art pieces. The cake was so cool! Christiana squealed with delight when she saw her own drawing on her birthday cake. Between the cake, the party favors and sidewalk chalk entertainment, the kids had a blast. Chris could not have picked a better party theme for Christina's birthday party.

I suggest, if your going to have Chalk It Up Party, you do it in early spring or early fall. Driveways either cement or asphalt get extremely hot during the summer months and can burn bare feet and knees. You’ll find this theme is a minimal effort party that young kids can enjoy. As a parent you can pull it together in a short amount of time and clean up is a breeze.

Skating Your Way To A Party That Is Off The Hook

Ask yourself "what do tween boys want or like?"  Think of what your tween's interests. I know several tweens who are in to skateboarding. Using the party theme like skateboarding is a fantastic place to start.  Seek out some skate boarding teens that can show the tweens some cool tricks (keeping in mind safety). Ideally it would be wonderful to rent a skate board facility.  Don’t fret if a skateboards facility is not available. Create a skateboard paradise at your house. Decorate your party area with mini skate boards, posters with skate board heroes such as Tony Hawk or Andy MacDonald and graffiti boards. Buy some thin ply board and spray paint and write graffiti on it.

Entertainment That Will Have Them Stoked

Keep a few ply boards and spray cans for your party goers to graffit up. Use teenage skateboarders as another form of entertainment. Have them give the young kids a demonstration. If your party area allows let the kids show off the skateboard skills learned for the older teens. Remember safety comes first. All kids should wear protective gear before they skateboard. You can also have them play a game of follow the skate board leader. Have one of the teens do age appropriate tricks for them to follow and when each tween fails to complete the leaders action, they leave the game to go drink a soda or power drink such as Gatorade. Listen to your tween and he will give you plenty of idea to make this party a success. Savor the memories of this party, hire a videographer to document the skateboard fun.

Party Favors They'll Be Down With

Party favors STICKERS … that is all you have to give to 8-12 year old boys to make them happy. This age group loves stickers. Need to fill your gift bags with more? Granola or power bars and skateboard key chains will excite these tweens. When looking for skate board theme items try a skateboard. You can even find great skateboard items online.

Grindage Must Haves

These tween will build up quite the appetite after all that skateboarding. Pizza is a good choice for the food, as well as hamburgers/hot dogs and soda. The big wow of this party is the cake with graffiti air brushed skate board and your tween's name.

A skateboarding party is a great way to have fun and allow boys to be boys. By the end of the day, your tween will think your the best bro a boy could have.

What I first need to do as a host is to decide who out of my buddies would be willing enough to come and help out the cause. Then I would write their names on a call list. Most women would not like the idea of lifting heavy objects so this party would most likely end up as a Dude Night. Next, I have to come up with a scheme to have them all over and camouflage the idea of them helping me with an adult party theme they'll all enjoy.

After considering party themes, the idea hit me. Why not have my guests each pick out a box or piece of furniture from my old house, drive it over to my new house, and place it inside? If I find there is an issue with fitting all those items in vehicles, I could easily arrange a rental van or trailer to help haul a load or two. With each new delivery by a guest, the house becomes more full of essentials to a party. With one shipment would come a chair, then a couch, then a TV and sound system. Soon thereafter, a guest would arrive with a BBQ grill and a cooler full of meat ready to cook. Each new guest that arrived would share the satisfaction of doing their part in ensuring that the party keeps going and be instantly relieved by their job well-done and being able to sit down on a newly arrived couch and enjoy a cold drink.

A neat beverage choice would be one that people who perform manual labor or grill outdoors regularly would enjoy; some ice cold beer, lemonade, iced tea, or jack and coke.

Being the middle of summer, backyard parties with some delicious food such as Hamburgers, Beer-Soaked Brats, potato salad, coleslaw, and refried beans would suffice. Of course after a day of heavy lifting, food that sets like a brick in your stomach would surely take the edge off. Of course if there is concern with time, hiring a catering service to provide the food would surely alleviate some stresses that come with hosting a party.

A running joke in my group of friends is to wear cut-off jeans or the aptly named "Jorts". So as a manual labor/chore party theme, guests should wear Jorts and consignment shop t-shirts to really bring the feel of sweat and hard work to the party (beer gut optional).

Who doesn't enjoy to be treated to a southern style grill-out after working out in the sun? My friends are sure to enjoy our upcoming backyard party and what's best about it is that I can spend the night in my new house. Remember to throw a Moving-In Party when you are just at an ends as to how in the world you're going to find help to furnish your new home.