Star Wars Sleep Over Party- Invitations & Decorations

DETAILS

This party was for a 9 year old boy.

It was held in the winter.
We had a total of 8 boys spend the night.

INVITATIONS

We printed the invitations two to a page on cardstock.
The envelopes were each addressed to "Jedi (friend's name)"

DECORATIONS

We had a lot of Star Wars toys that we were able to incorporate around the house... books, action figures, masks/helmets, etc.

The kids' masks fit nicely on the stair banisters.

We picked Black, White & Yellow colored balloons to match the invitations.

Books

I found a Star Wars Subway Art print online that I framed and put on the foyer table, along with a sign-in sheet for parents to put their contact numbers for the night & any food allergies we should be aware of.

We stuck Star Wars quotes on the mirrors and photo frames through out the house.

Here are a few quotes that we used:

"The Force is strong with this one!"

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"

"I am your father!"

"Happy Birthday, Jedi (Name)"

The Dining Room was set up for dinner & crafts...

Games took place in the family room...

The movie watching & sleeping would take place in the upstairs media room...

We made bunting that said "Happy Birthday Jedi (name)! May the Force Be With You!" and hung those from the exposed beams in the media room.  We also had some silver foil star decorations hanging down.

I bought two of the outer space table clothes- one for the dining room table, and one for the wall in the media room.


 I used it as a backdrop to take photos of them dressed up in their Jedi robes with their light sabers.

Another fun find were the Star Wars face masks! 

I found these online by Google image searching "Star Wars Masks".  I used elastic string (left over from the Scooby Doo party craft!) 

The boys had a lot of fun picking out the mask they wanted (I made sure to have plenty of duplicates on hand)

Add your ideas in the comments below!

Related Posts:
Games & Activities 
Food & Goodies (coming soon!)

Scooby Doo Party- Invitations & Decorations

DETAILS

This party was for a 5 year old boy.

It was held in October, outdoors in a field.

INVITATIONS

We came up with two designs and let the birthday boy pick the one he liked best...

Birthday boy chose this one!

We printed them up four to a page on cardstock.  

On the back of them we printed a bat with the year.
This makes it a cute momento for the baby book.

DECORATIONS

The best part about having a Scooby Doo Party in October is that we could decorate for Halloween & it goes with the theme!

So, aside from bats, spiders & other Halloween decor, we went with a purple/blue/orange/green color theme.

Since the party was being held outside in a field, we put up a 10x10 party tent to serve as a "base" for the food & drinks.

We set up a variety of tables to  serving food & drinks from.



We hung paper lanterns & streamers in the tent.

We had tables set up in the field for the kids.  

The table accessories included:

-Scooby Lunch Plates

-Dog noses

-Blow horns

-a Scooby Doo lunch box to anchor balloons

-Purple & black table runner (bought a large roll of it at TJMaxx during last year's halloween clearance)

- a Scooby Doo Happy Meal bucket to hold cookies

A couple of other fun finds that we used to decorate were: 

-an inflatable blue alien won at the county fair this summer

-New doggie bowls to use as serving bowls

-The Christmas Tree Shoppe had a summer clearance sale with all kinds of blue/green/orange plates, placemats, tableclothes, paper plates, napkins, and paper lanterns

-Helium balloons

-Lava Lamp

OTHER IDEAS 

Things I've found after-the-fact, that I would have liked to use!
(isn't that always the way?)

Scooby treat bucket

Balloon Bouquet

Add your ideas in the comments below!

Related Posts:
Games & Activities
Food & Goodies 

St Patrick's Day Brunch

FOOD

This year, we had a brunch for St. Patty's Day.  We set up the food as a buffet (putting them in crock pots to keep warm).

Menu included:
Scrambled Eggs
Sausage
Oatmeal with fixings (brown sugar, cinnamon, dried cranberries, raisins, maple syrup)

Potato Cheese Soup (toppers of scallions & extra shredded cheese)

Corned Beef & Cabbage Paninis

Crab Deviled Eggs

Irish Soda Bread

Pastries
Brownies
Oh Ryan's Irish Potatoes

Drinks
Leprechaun Lemonade (yellow lemonade dyed green)

OJ
Coffee with Irish Creamer
Irish Breakfast Tea

Mimosas

Wine with green labels

Harp & Guinness beer

Baileys

Water bottles (with St. Patty's labels)

Soda


Games & Activities
We set up a kids table with some crayons and activities for them to do.
Roll-A-Leprechaun 

Coloring pages
Word find
Jokes
Trivia & MadLib from Snapfish

Decorations

Free Printables from How Does She 
Free Printables from Simply Create Designs on Catch My Party

Free Printable from Landee See Landee Do

Using picture frame coasters,
I inserted color printouts into the frame.
Used as spoon rests for the crock pots & coffee pot.
See photo below!

Dressed up an old wreath

For the labels on the lids of the crock pots, I used a cookie cutter to mark a shamrock shape on foam sheets.  After cutting it out, I used a sharpie to write, and wrote upside down on the other side (so that when the lids were hung up on the stand behind each pot, you could still see through the glass and read the sign).  To adhere them, I used an Elmers Glue Stick.  They stuck nicely, and the residue cleaned off easily with just some soap & water at the end of the day.

Kid-made Irish Heart craft/decoration:
-Paint a sheet of paper with green paint ranging from light to dark green.
-Let dry, then cut green paper into small squares.
-Cut out template into desired shape (heart, clover, etc.)
-Paste squares onto template in pattern from light to dark (or stripes, etc)





Recipes for:
-Potato Cheese Soup
-Corned Beef & Cabbage Paninis

Curious George Party- Invitations & Decorations

DETAILS

This party was for a 3 year old boy.


INVITATIONS

We printed these out on 4x6 folding cards.

I found the gif files of Curious George here,
and incorporated it with a photo of the birthday boy.
He was originally swinging on a tire swing in the picture.



DECORATIONS

Driveway
-We have a signpost out front.  From it we hung a stuffed money holding a sign saying "Enter Here for Monkey Business" along with some yellow balloons.










All Around House
-Bunches of Bananas as balloon weights for blue & yellow balloons

Banana Balloon weights

-Blue & Yellow Streamers
-Yellow table cloths
-Curious George books on tables & window sills.
-Blue & Yellow "Happy Birthday" Banners

Books

Foyer

-Pinwheels in vase
-Monkey party hats
-Made a banana tree out of the newel post at the bottom of the stairs.
-Garland made from print-outs of Curious George book covers.
-Pin the banana on George game hanging on wall

Banana tree
(with two little monkeys sitting under it!)

In Family Room

-"Monkeys at Play" sign hanging in family room doorway.
-Stuffed Curious George in red wagon, holding kite that was strung from the ceiling.  As guests arrived, we placed the gifts in & around the wagon.
- Kid size tables & chairs with yellow table cloths.
-Sombrero hat, spray painted yellow.
-Play stations were marked with signs with related Curious George book covers.  I glued the cover art to a pinwheel stick.  Then took a Starbuck's bottle and stuffed some blue tissue paper in it, and glued an image of George for the label.   I stuck the pinwheel with sign into the bottle, and put one at each station.  (More on the play stations coming soon in my "Games & Activities" post!)  

Sign at the Family Room entrance

Play station signs

More Ideas

-palm fronds or banana tree leaves taped to ceiling fans, with brown streamers hanging down from center to make trees.

-Use yellow paper cups & plates to make "yellow hat" centerpieces.  See example here

Related Links:
Curious George Party Games & Activities
Curious George Party Food & Goodies

Knight Party Invitations & Decorations

DETAILS

This party was for a 4 year old boy.

INVITATIONS

We printed the invitations on 5x7 card stock paper, & placed them in envelopes.

For the kids at school, names were written calligraphy-style on the front of the envelope, & we used a dragon wax seal on the back.

Note: we also put a seal on each of the mailed invitations, but unfortunately it fell off before it got delivered.

Seal on back of envelope

DECORATIONS

Foyer walls covered with "stone"

Foyer/Entry

-Personalized Knight Banner

-Banners from printed dragon, knight & shield images

-Created castle walls with gray tablecloths purchased by the roll. Drew stones with sharpie marker.

-Placecards around mini knight statue

Place cards put out on table

Dining Room

-Red & Blue streamers and balloons

-Silver tablecloth on "Feast Table"

-Silver & gold-toned serving trays
-Table set with "goblets" and "gold" plates
-Hang knight cut-outs to chandelier

-Replace photos in all frames with print outs of knight portraits-"Armor" tunics on backs of chairs, and party hat helmets set on plates

Decorations hanging from chandelier

These party hats were the best!
The kids LOVED them!

Replaced photos in frames with images of knights

Living Room

-Toy castles, dragons & knight figures, books & castle puzzle (toys we already had)

-Place shields, swords & helmets on mantle and shelves (toys we already had)

-Dragon pinata hanging in fireplace until ready for use

-Hang dragon gliders from chandelier

-Change chandelier candles to fake ones that light up on a timer (safer than open flames)

-"Armory" sign above the balloon swords

-"Royal Privy" sign pointing way to bathroom
-Green & yellow balloons

Outside

-Use cut out cardboard to make play set into a castle

-Store games supplies in red IKEA "trunk"

-Gray tablecloths on outside tables

-Balloons

Related Posts:
Knight Party Games & Activities
How to make the Knight's Tunic
Knight Party Food & Goodies