A Tea Party Birthday

Throw your little girl a tea party birthday celebration.  The kids, and the parents, have so much fun with this theme.  Little girls in pretty dresses, sipping tea from their miniature china cups, is the sweetest thing to see!   Here are some tips for throwing your little one a tea-rrific par-tea!

 PLANNING

• Choose a theme for your party (i.e. Princess tea party, Victorian tea party, Mad Hatter tea party, etc.). 
• Choose a date and time.  Weekends are best for most parents.  Parties usually go on for about 2 to 3 hours (at most).  
• Choose where you want your party to take place - indoors or outdoors.
• Three to four weeks before the scheduled party, send out cute teacup or teapot invitations with a teabag inside.  A teabag, cake, hat, or old fashioned shoe invitation are great invite ideas as well.        

DECORATING

• Colour Scheme: Soft pinks, purples, yellows, and blues are ideal.
• Decorate your house or yard with pastel-coloured balloons and streamers.  
• For the tables, use a pastel-coloured tablecloth and a lace cover on top.
• Choose napkins the same colour as the tablecloth.  Fasten napkin rings (with mini roses) around the napkins and place them on top of white (or floral-designed) porcelain china.
• Place silverware next to the dinner plates.
• Place the teacups and saucers above the plates, and to the right.
• For placecards, cut out teabag shapes from card stock.  Write out the names on each teabag placecard and tuck it into the teacup.
• Display the sugar and creamer near the middle of the table.
• As a centerpiece, place a small bouquet of flowers in a clear vase, trimmed with pastel-coloured ribbon.  You could also place the flowers in a teacup or teapot in keeping with the theme. 
• Tie a pastel-coloured bow around all the chairs.  

PARTY DAY EXTRAS

• Set up a tea party table for dolls.  You can even let the girls know ahead of time to bring their own dolls.
• Play tea-inspired music in the background.  You can play some classical tunes as well as some kid favourites such as, "I'm a Little Teapot," "Tea for Two"
• Have hats with ribbons and bows, as well as little white gloves, available for all the little girls attending.  You can even provide some  feather boas.  
• When the girls are seated, you can go over what proper table manners are, such as saying "please," "thank-you," and, "no thank-you."  Have them put their napkins in their laps, and wait until everyone has gotten their food before eating.

FOOD

• Serve little quiche tartlets or a variety of different crustless mini sandwiches on fancy tiered servers.  Some examples are cream cheese and cucumber, cream cheese and jam, grilled cheese, smoked salmon, ham/turkey and cheese, egg salad, and tuna salad.  If no one is allergic to peanuts, serve peanut butter and jelly, and peanut butter and banana sandwiches as well.
• For dessert, serve cupcakes in a teacup.  Create a teacup design on the frosting, or garnish with teacup sprinkles.  You can also make your own teapot or teacup cake.  Another idea is to put a variety of desserts on a tiered server.  Scones, cupcakes, fruit, biscuits, etc.  Tuck mini roses in between each of the different dessert items for visual effect.

DRINKS

• Serve tea of course.  There are hundreds of varieties to choose from but think like a kid - they'd probably like fruit flavours, chamomile,  vanilla, cinnamon, etc.
• You can also have water, ice tea, soda, juices, and milk on hand in case some of the kids prefer that over tea. 

GAMES

• Dress-Up - Little girls love to play dress-up.  Have a chest full of old clothes, shoes, hats, gloves, scraves, etc. out so the girls can play adult for a day.
• Tea-rrific Hats - Have the girls build their own hats.  Offer wicker or straw hats and a variety of different decorations (i.e. stickers, beads, gems, glitter, bows, fabric, etc.)
• Piñata - Have the girls take a swing at the teapot or teacup piñata and dive for the goodies!

FAVORS

• Before leaving the party, hand all the little girls a purse filled with fun items such as stickers, body glitter, lip gloss, a pearl necklace, little books, and sugar cookies and chocolates shaped like teapots and teacups.

Vesna :)

Playground Party

With summer approaching, parents are looking to celebrate their child's birthday party outdoors.  A very popular theme is the Playground Party.  I threw this type of party when my daughter turned two.  My husband and I chose a more secluded park near a small river - it was breathtaking!  We gathered up some picnic tables, and decorated the party area with bunches of pink helium balloons.  We used pink napkins, paper plates, utensils, and tablecloths.  Using a thick bristol board, we displayed a variety of photos of our little girls second year.  It was a hit, our family and friends loved seeing how much she'd grown and changed over the last year.

There were lots of different foods to choose from (Subway sandwiches, pizza, venison, potato and macaroni salad, and lots of little treats).  The birthday cake was ordered from a local bakery - we had them decorate with trees, flowers, and water, but added the sand and little plastic playground figures ourselves.      

For games we filled an inflatable pool with balls (instead of water).  We had the kids participate in a potato sack race, they blew bubbles, and swung at a piñata.  They spent most of their playtime in the playground area - what a perfect theme!

The party was extremely successful and the kids absolutely loved it.  Lucky for us, the weather turned out nice, but we did have a back-up plan just in case.  For more detailed tips on how to throw a Playground Party, click here to check out our website. 

Vesna :)

Cupcake Craze!

Cupcakes are all the rage right now.  Instead of serving cake at a particular function or event, people are opting for that sweet little individually wrapped mini-cake to serve their guests.  The hot seller right now is the red velvet cupcake with sour cream icing...yum!

Why Choose Cupcakes?

• They don't need to be sliced (it's your own personal-sized cake)
• They can be easily distributed (display them on a table and have guests serve themselves)
• You can have a variety of flavours and toppings
• You can be really creative when decorating
• They are easy to assemble
• They are inexpensive (in relation to a cake)
• Simply put, they are fun!  It reminds us of being a kid again - we clearly remember the feeling of excitement when unwrapping a cupcake, and long to relive the experience.

Magnolia Bakery in New York is said to have been the major trendsetter for the creation of cupcake shops everywhere.  They create a moist cake, with a good cake to icing ratio, and a unique flavour combination.  When buying your own cupcakes, make sure to taste test, as some shops make dry cakes with too much icing.   

Today, the cupcake industry is just as popular as the coffee industry.  It's so popular that people have started to mobilize their business.  Mobile cupcake shops have started to explode across North America.  No need to try and find where the nearest cupcake shop is - it will find you!  Some popular mobile shops are CupcakeStop, Curbside Cupcakes, Kara's Cupcakes, and Cupcake Diner.

Cupcakes may be a trend for the moment, and one day it may fade, but for now it's here and we like it!  

Vesna :)

A Royal Hat Party Anyone?

The hat worn by Princess Beatrice at Prince William and Kate's royal wedding ceremony on April 29, 2011 has sold on eBay for $131,341.  Incredible!  Proceeds of the famous Philip Treacy "unique sculptural celebratory headpiece" will go to two children's charities.  Princess Beatrice is said to be very surprised by all the attention the hat received, and goes on to describe how happy she is that the money raised is going to help "some of the most vulnerable children across the world."

Royal hats are all the craze right now, why not throw a royal hat party?  Send funky hat-shaped invitations out to all your friends.  Tell them to buy or make their own wild and trendy hats and wear them to the party.  Serve British inspired foods like fish and chips, roast beef, sausages, roast potatoes, roast vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, scones, and butterfly cakes.  Don't forget to serve tea!  

Remember, you don't need to wait until a royal wedding happens, you can plan this party for any occasion - birthday or theme party, or even a girls night in.   

Vesna :)

Birthday Party Checklist

Calling all party planners!!!  We need your help.  When people visit our website looking for birthday party ideas, we would like to offer them a useful, printable checklist, to help them organize for the event.  In our research, we have noticed that this is not a service provided by other party ideas sites.

Please send us your suggestions as to what you believe should go on this checklist (i.e. balloons, cake, invitations, etc.).  We value your feedback.

1. Leave a comment here on our blog.
                             or
2. Comment on our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/pages/Partyideaspage/163542493703938
                             or
3. Comment on our website contact form at: http://www.partyideaspage.com/contact.html

Thank-you,
Vesna :)

The Perfect Fireworks Display!

As Victoria Day (MAY 2-4) and Memorial Day are approaching, now is a good time to consider organizing your fireworks display.  Here are a few tips on how to make your day a memorable and safe one:

FIREWORKS!

Remember what fireworks were like when we were young?  They've come a long way from the days of the Burning School House.  Fireworks that are available to the general public nowadays are actually quite impressive and reasonably affordable.  Here are some tips for setting off the most impressive fireworks display. 

1. Get as many people involved as possible (friends, neighbors, family).  More people pitching in, means more fireworks.
2. Lay your fireworks out in a row, on a table or on the ground, and spend some time organizing a firing order.  You can let your guests get involved in this part.  You want to start off with a fairly big bang to get your audiences attention.  Then shoot off your smallest fireworks, gradually getting bigger and louder as you go.  Now, throw in your second most impressive firework and call that your pre grand finale, after it goes off pause for about 10 seconds.  This will have everyone thinking that the show is over but...you start back up with a few more small to medium fireworks.  Then, all at once, set off the big guns and this will be the grand finale that will make everyone's jaws drop.  
3. Get set up while it's still light out.  Set chairs/blankets out at a safe distance.  Line up all your fireworks in their proper firing order, set up, and ready to ignite.
4. This is a great idea: use a road flare to ignite the wicks, you can get a road flare at any automotive store and they are only about $5.  Road flares burn for about 20 minutes, which is plenty of time to light all your fire works, they give off a lot of light, and they add about a foot to your reach.  One more advantage to using the flare is it won't blow out with the wind and that is important for timing.
5. Be safe, have fun, and enjoy the show!!     

Vesna :)

Movie Night Party

If you're interested in a low-key party with a few of your closest friends, try watching a movie or two, and turn your home into a movie theater.  Call it a "Movie Night Party."  Send out invites in the form of a ticket stub.  Use your kitchen as the concession stand and set up a seasoning station for your popcorn - Kernels makes a variety of flavours.

Here's a list of all the different food items and treats you would purchase before watching a flick at the theater.

DINNER                    SNACKS                    DRINKS
Pizza                        Buttered Popcorn        Coca Cola/Pepsi
Hot Dog                   Junior Mints               Sprite/7up
Soft Pretzel              Raisinets                     Ice Tea
Nachos                     Nibs                            Cream Soda
                                Twizzlers                     Root Beer  
                                Gummi Bears        
                                M&M's
                                Skittles
                                Milk Duds
                                Maltesers
                                Reese's Pieces
                                Starburst
                                Cotton Candy

Below is a top ten list of some of my favourite movies:

10. The Sixth Sense
  9. The Hangover
  8. Back to the Future
  7. Final Destination
  6. Stir of Echoes
  5. The Butterfly Effect
  4. The Ugly Truth
  3. Knocked Up
  2. Click
   1. My Father the Hero

Visit our site for more Movie night party ideas.  www.partyideaspage.com

Vesna :)

Kate Middleton vs. Wonder Woman

While Kate Middleton has been in the news a lot lately, you may not have heard that her family owns a party store/website.  I thought it was interesting that the future Queen of England and I had so much in common!  Something else I noticed is that Kate Middleton and Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) look a lot alike.

Another interesting coincidence is that Lynda Carter's name, on the hit TV series, was Diana Prince, and Kate Middleton is married to a Prince!  Hmmm...I think if they make a new Wonder Woman movie, Kate should play her.  What do you think?

Let Them Eat Cake!

To mark it's 30th anniversary, Dairy Queen recently broke a Guinness World record for largest ice cream cake, weighing in at a whopping 22,334 pounds - that's 10 tonnes of ice cream!  The previous record belonged to Beijing Allied Faxi Food Co. of China in 2006 with 19,290 pounds.  It took over a year of planning, dozens of DQ chefs, and a whole lot of ice cream to achieve this much deserved accomplishment.
Hundreds of people gathered the streets of Toronto to get a glimpse, and a taste, of this colossal  "Cool Treat."  The money raised at this event would go to the Children's Miracle Network and Hospital for Sick Children.

With summer approaching and cool treats on our minds, it's a good idea to consider what desserts to serve for birthday parties, as well as for Father's Day.  Check out the Father's Day page on my website at http://www.partyideaspage.com/father_s_day.html

Welcome to my first Blog post!

It's so hard to find time for myself these days, as I am raising my two toddlers full time at home.  But finding time for my passion was very important to me, so I started my own website, www.partyideaspage.com.  I'm so excited to be sharing my passion for party planning with you!  On my website, I provide all the most fun, memorable, and current ideas for planning an event.  My focus is on holiday, birthday, and theme parties.  From decor, to food and drink recipes, to gift ideas, I want to make your life a little easier.

The website is still a work in progress.  I try to contribute as much as I can when the children are napping, and in the evenings.  So this may explain why you might click on certain birthday ideas or upcoming holidays and get the message, "COMING SOON."

I'm so happy for what I've accomplished in the four months since I started.  The long nights have definitely caught up to me, but it's well worth it.  I encourage you to visit the site and tell me what you think so far.  Please leave comments or suggestions, your feedback is very important to me.  Contact me at vesna@partyideaspage.com.

Vesna