5 Unique Themes for Children's Parties

As a parent we want to make sure that our children's parties are always fun and entertaining. There is nothing more horrific for a child (or parents) when children aren't enjoying themselves. Here are five unique but easy themes that you can easily integrate into your party.

1. Pirates
Since the days of Captain Hook and Peter Pan, pirates have been of interest to children. It's a classic theme that was refreshed with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Use pirate invitations, pirate eye patches and pirate tattoos to help the party along.

2. A Cupcake Party
Kids love cupcakes. No, kids worship cupcakes, especially chocolate ones. A cupcake party is surely going to appeal to any age bracket of kids. You can find cute invitations with a cupcake feel to hand out. All of the games can involve cupcake. It could be a dress up party or kids could come dressed up as their cupcake or a chef and cupcakes can be served on cute little stands.

3. Superhero Party
Every kid wishes they were a superhero. With this unique party theme they will be able be a superhero for a day. Always make sure you have a few extra costumes lying around in case one of the kids wasn't able to get a costume ready. Rather have a broad superhero theme as then any type of superhero will be allowed at the party. Narrowing it down can isolate a few of the kids.

4. Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs have been of great interest to children for the longest time. Kids just love dinosaurs and you can have great fun, with games such as stick the tail on the dinosaur, dinosaur dig and pass the dinosaur. Use dinosaur invitations and drinking vessels for the little party-goers.

5. A Letter Party
A letter party is a party that is centered around a specific letter. For instance, if your child's name is Henry, you can have a letter H party. Kids will be able to get dressed up as anything starting with a letter H. It's a fantastic idea to get a lot of creative costumes.

There are some great unique children theme parties; you just need to be creative.

10 Drinks For Kids Birthday Parties

There is nothing worse than having to entertain a massive amount of children and having them feel unsatisfied. Make sure that your child's party is a hit by offering up a selection of tasty, great looking drinks that will not only impressive the children but also the parents. These drinks are really easy to make and can be made a couple of hours before the party so you don't need to worry about them right before the time.

Batman: Put a tot of grenadine (recommended is cherry) and then put over orange soda. It looks really cool and tastes absolutely divine once mixed a bit. You can make individual servings to get more out of the presentation or having them in big see-through jugs.

Blackcurrant Ice-Cream Float: Mix fizzy blackcurrant soda with ice cream. Absolutely delicious and it'll definitely be a hit with the children.

Spider Drink: Add in a spoonful of ice-cream into a glass and then cover it with cola. Make this drink in individual glasses as its better served that way.

Brown Cow: This is a very unusual drink. Add one cup of milk, add one cup of root beer (caffeine free if you can find it) and if you want a scoop of ice-cream.

Winter Float: This is an extremely easy drink to make. Mix together one cup of ice-cream and one cup of sprite. You can mix them together or add in the ice-cream and then top it up with sprite.

Banana & Strawberries Smoothies: This is a fantastic drink for nice summer kids parties. Add three bananas, one cup of strawberry ice-cream and one cup of ice. Add as much sugar as you want. It really depends on the tastes of the kids at the party.

Muddy Mountain: This is an unusual drink but is a hit with the children. Add one cup of orange juice, one cup of cola, one scoop of ice-cream and a couple of teaspoons of chocolate sauce.

Rainbow Sherbet Fizz: Add one sherbet fizz, a litre of lemon soda or lime soda and half a cup of pineapple juice. You can double the recipe or make it smaller depending on the amount of juice that you would like to make.

Kool-Aid Sherbet: Combine one cup of sugar, one packet of kool-aid and three cups of milk. Beat together with a whisk or in a mixing bowl to make sure that the sugar completely dissolves.

Zizic: Add lemonade, passion fruit, a few splashes of lime cordial and freshly squeezed orange juice. Play around with the amounts to find the perfect combination of flavours and textures.

Pick one or a few of these drinks and serve them at a kid’s birthday party. The drinks will definitely be a hit with the children and make sure that all of the children will have a fantastic selection of drinks to pick from. You'll also be loved by the children because you would have served such delicious drinks. Serving these drinks is a win-win situation.

Throw a Low-Key Kids’ Party

Tips on having a blast and surviving to tell the tale

Okay, so having a house full of five-year-olds is never low-key, but there’s a huge difference between taking 30 kids to an indoor theme park and entertaining a bunch in your backyard. Kids’ birthdays are getting out of hand. But, rest assured, there’s no need to keep up with the Joneses. Kids can be just as amused with a little creativity as they can with pony rides and a magician.

Themes

Television themes are a good idea, try a Fear Factor party where kids had to taste gross foods like bloody worms (cold spaghetti with ketchup), maggots (cooked rice), and cow guts (apple sauce).
Once you have a theme, whether it’s dinosaurs, princesses, or some popular Japanese cartoon show, ask your kids for activity, food, and decoration ideas that fit the theme. They know better than anyone else what their friends like to do and eat.

Food
You might be tempted to slave over a hot stove for hours, creating tasty hors d’oeuvres for your mini party guests, but remember that when it comes to food, kids are pretty easy to please. Find out about any allergies your kid’s friends have from other parents. You might even want to include an allergy question in the RSVP request. But, generally speaking, pizza, hot dogs, and chips are party pleasers when you’re in primary school.
You can make the food fit your theme with a little creativity. For instance, for a Spiderman party, create spiders out of hot dogs. Cut two slits into both ends of the hot dogs, making eight “legs.” Don’t cut all the way through the hot dog. When you boil them, the legs will curl up and your hot dogs will look like spiders. For a princess party, order a party-sized rectangular pizza and cut each square slice into crown shapes. And when it comes to cake, if you’re not a prize-winning baker who just adores creating icing animals, just buy one from your local grocery store. You’ll find lots of choices to fit any outlandish party theme.

Activities
Girls love a pedicure party. This doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune at the Spa! If you know any High School girls, why not ask them to help out or if you have older daughters, maybe a few Moms can help. All you need is a couple of tubs filled with soapy, warm water to give the girls pedicures and then maybe some temporary tattoos.
Scavenger hunts are always a hit. If the children are younger, just prepare a simple list and send them off in small groups with a bag to collect the items. As they get older, create clues so they have to figure out the item and then go find it.
The best activities are the outdoor ones for two reasons: less mess and less noise. If your kids are born in the winter and you can’t face a snowball fight, a cheap alternative is taking the whole crew to a bowling alley. But, similar to the menu, kids are usually easily amused activity-wise. Any activity from when you were a kid is always a hit: hot potato, unwrap the present, carry the egg with a spoon, water balloon toss, apple bobbing…! Younger kids need lots of quick, easy things to keep them busy. As they get older, they come up with their own ideas and enjoy being able to do their own thing.

Decorations and Loot Bags
The dollar store is your best bet for inexpensive décor and prizes. Balloons, streamers, party hats, and paper plates can all be bought on the cheap. If you’re afraid of all the banging and breaking that comes with normal balloons, spring for the helium-filled variety and let each guest take one with them when they leave.
Let your loot bags follow your party theme. For an outdoor scavenger hunt theme why not fill a bug catcher with some outdoor activities and candy, or a sand pail filled with some sand toys.

Finally, one of the most important party preparations: Make sure that the wine is chilling while the party is going on so that it is ready to crack open when the last guest leaves!

The Cinderella Party

IN A NUTSHELL: Reenact the Cinderella fairy tale with each partygoer as the belle of the ball. THE RIGHT AGES: 4 to 7 years (the age of play-acting).
THE INVITATIONS: A picture of Cinderella, photocopied for a simple invitation.
THE DECOR: Fancy table set for cake; furniture moved for the Ball; during the party, bedsheets were laid over the floor to catch any glue drips and spare sequins.
THE PROPS: Rags and feather dusters, one Duke (Dad), the invitations to the Ball (in gold ink with a crown drawn on top), one elegant container for invitations (a former gum-ball container), a clock that chimes, silver (tinfoil) footprints.
THE PARTICULARS: When the guests arrived, the bithday girl announced that each girl was now Cinderella, and each received a rag or feather duster to clean up the house. While seven Cinderellas were busily dusting, a knock came at the door. When they opened it, no one was there–the Duke had fled, the bithday girl told them–but a glass ball sat on the steps, filled with royal invitations to the Prince’s Ball.
“The girls’ excitement over the mysterious Duke was wonderful,” writes the bithday girl. “But then we all realized we had nothing but our rags to wear to the Ball.” So the girls made their gowns–simple, sandwich-board-style dresses that the bithday girl had cut beforehand from extra-wide sheets of crepe paper bought from an educational supply store. The girls were given white glue and faux jewels, sequins, and beads to design their dresses and a long piece of lace to tie around their waists. Each girl also received a party-store tiara.
With all the Cinderellas dressed for the Ball, the bithday girl played a recording of the “Nutcracker Suite,” and the girls danced around the living room. From time to time the bithday girl turned off the music to present a prize to “the best twirler” or “the most elegant couple.” She had written out these awards ahead of time; everyone received a prize. Inside each package was a Cinderella paper doll with little rags and little gowns to wear.
During the last dance, the clock struck twelve. The girls ran from the room, leaving one shoe behind them, as the bithday girl had instructed them to do. Back in the kitchen, they stripped down to their “rags.” (“They didn’t mind taking off their gowns,” says the bithday girl. “They really went along with the story.”)
Meanwhile, dad gathered up the lost shoes and laid a trail of tinfoil footprints upstairs, where he filled the shoes with candy and penny jewelry. The girls followed the footprints to their surprises. When each girl had her slipper back (they all fit perfectly), it was time to celebrate with cake. At the table each girl received a small, covered jar of fairy godmother dust (sparkles).
THE AFTERGLOW: “Samantha loved the things her dad did in secret,” says the bithday girl. “She knew there would be a knock at the door and the clock would strike twelve, and she anticipated that.”
CAKE AND DRINK: the bithday girl designed a castle cake with ice-cream-cone towers, a graham cracker drawbridge, and candy decorations. Try making this magestic castle cake.
THE FAVORS: Tiaras from a party store, candy and penny jewelry, fairy dust made from sparkles in little corked jars with ribbon, paper dolls bought from a department store.
THANK-YOU’S: The notes included a picture of all the Cinderellas (in gowns and crowns) sitting on the front porch.