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"THEME PARTY SUGGESTIONS FROM OUR VISITORS"

TRAINS
- Make invitations in the shape of a lantern, railroad crossing sign or locomotive
- Draw train tracks along the driveway and sidewalk
- Have pre-cut construction paper in the shape of different train cars and decorate with lifesavers, cotton balls, licorice, pasta shapes, etc. and use for wall decorations
- Use empty appliance boxes to decorate for a "train" to play in. - Thanks to John, Sycamore

TEDDY BEARS
- Cut out paper dolls in the shape of a bear. Put a portion of the invitation on each one
- Invite guest to bring their favorite teddy, dressed in their finest party clothes
- Decorate with bears of every shape, size and condition, inside and outside
- Lay out a big picnic blanket, inside or out
- Pack each guest's lunch in a small basket and label
- Give "bear" awards for each guest's teddy - oldest, best dressed, biggest, smallest, etc - Thanks to JoAnne, Wheaton

ON THE FARM
- Make a scarecrow by stuffing an old shirt and pair of pants or coveralls with pillows or newspaper. Use a paper bag for the head and draw on a face. Top it off with a straw hat and a red bandana.
- Put smallplastic farm animals on each guest's party plate for them to tuck in their treat bags as favours
- Have each guest plant some seeds in a clear plastic cup. Choose seeds that have a short germination time. Label each cup and send them home with each "farmer"
- Cut out simple animal shapes from a colouring book, trace on coloured construction paper, and use for invitations
- Play barnyard bowling and cow roping (throw a hula hoop over a cardboard box painted to look like a cow)
- Have a chicken egg hunt
- Make "cottonball" sheep - Thanks to Vicki, Oak Park

FIRE ENGINES
- Use firefighter hat or fire chief's badge shape as an invitation
- Make a "fire engine" out of a refrigerator box, and decorate with ladders, hoses, etc.
- Have a fire hat for each guest
- Arrange a tour of the neighbourhood fire station. (Take a polaroid camera and give pictures to take home) - Thanks to Cindi, Homewood

TODDLERS' PARTIES
My daughter will be turning two on her next birthday and we are celebrating by having a royal ball at a children's museum in Wilmette, Illinois. All the young toddlers are to come dressed in their finest to honor Princess Tiara's second birthday. It should be quite an event. Her first party was a beach ball Pooh Bear Bash. The rooms were filled with beach balls, instead of balloons, and all of the children enjoyed jumping into it and throwing them around. I think they had a lovely time and it would have made quite a home video except that we forgot the camcorder! - Thanks to Nicole, Wilmette

MAGIC SCHOOL BUS
Last year I did Magic School Bus for my son. I rented a school bus and I hired someone to be Ms. Frizzle. When they came back from the "field trip", I had a huge safari hunt. They each got safari hats, binoculars, and a butterfly net and started searching for insects. They loved it!! - Thanks to Luanne, Chicago

TOY STORY
For my eldest son's birthday in January we had a Toy Story 2 party. For games, we played Pin the Tail on Bullseye (the horse from Toy Story 2), and we searched for the Sarge and the troops (they got lost). Each child got a cowboy hat and a bandana and each made a vest from a paper grocery bag. It was a blast. The hit was searching for the Sarge and the troops. The kids just kept loading up their hats with them. We also threw horseshoes into the water trough, while some kids made their vests. - Thanks to Bill, Chicago

RUNAWAY BALLOONS
We had just moved into a new home before my oldest child's 2nd birthday. I had a small party for him that year and offered the guests balloons at the request of my son. Well, all of the balloons ended up floating at the top of our two story foyer. The next year my son asked for balloons again and I was so reluctant to have them. Then I got an idea....I bought several packs of Hot Wheels cars and tied the helium-filled balloons to the cars. They made excellent party favors, and no balloon reached the height of our ceiling! - Thanks to Marion, Palatine

ART PARTY
Last year when my oldest son turned 7, he wanted to have an art party. So, I agreed to let him invite 10 kids (ages 2-8) to come to our basement and make messes. I told parents on the invitations to dress their kids in old clothes. Before the party, I draped the floor in painting tarps, and covered some old card tables. We made homemade finger paints, face paints and play dough. The kids decorated cookies, each other, and their own take-home bag (brown lunch bags). I even went to the local butchers' and got some of the end of the rolls of white wax paper and we pinned it up so kids could color the walls. The kids had a GREAT time and made PLENTY of mess. I had parents calling me for two weeks telling me how much fun their kids had and asking for recipes. I, on the other hand, learned my lesson. This year my kids get roller rinks, parks, and back yard parties. I only hope that one day my boys grow up to have children of their own....Grandma will be sure to tell her grandkids how much fun daddy had at his art party, and how they should get to have one too! - Thanks to Maria, Palos Heights

BUBBLE WRAP
The best and cheapest party game we played was with Bubble Wrap, the plastic wrap used to protect fragile goods. I glued a backing on to the bubble wrap with old wallpaper to stop it from being slippery and cut it into 2' lengths. The game for the children was to burst all of the bubbles on the sheet by any means they wanted. Although very noisy, I have never seen 15 children so animated before, and the adults had tears rolling down their faces from laughter. Definitely my best idea yet! - Thanks to Susan, Chicago

KINGS AND QUEENS
My five year old and two year old sons were invited to a three year old girl's birthday party and had the time of their life. My friend decorated an outside area with a beautiful home-made cardboard castle that the children entered. The girls decorated tierras and the boys decorated king hats. Each also decorated a cape and a little wooden treasure chest. They used paints, feathers, jewels, sequins, and stickers for their decorating. Then they went on a treasure hunt to find chocolate coins in gold shining wrapping. The cake was a beautiful Barbie princess cake....the cake being the beautiful dress. When it was time to go, the girls got princess cupcakes to take home that matched the cake with a doll in it. The boys got parachute army men cupcakes. My sons dressed up for weeks in their royal outfits they had made and played with their treasure chests. - Thanks to Alice, Naperville

BUG PARTY
The best birthday party I've thrown was for my three (turning four) year old. It was a bug theme! I made marshmallow caterpillars, ladybug and turtle cupcakes, a lizard cake, bugs in dirt dessert, beetle sandwiches, bug jello. The decorations took 2 months to make!! It was a great success!! - Thanks to Jeannie, Naperville

TEA PARTY
The greatest birthday party I had was for my daughter's 9th party. It was a tea party. The guests came dressed in their mother's finery, ate on glass plates with tea cups, made tiaras, had a fashion show, did makeovers, decorated individual cakes, had a treasure hunt. I dressed as the maid, and each girl took home a tea cup and saucer. Fun! - Thanks to Barbara, Orland Park

MICE PARTY
submitted by Alex, Germany
- Invitations: Cut out rectangles from grey construction paper and fold it in order to get an inside and an outside. Stick pictures of mice on the inside and outside. Write on the inside of the card: "YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO A MICE PARTY TO CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY", and add "Please dress up a as a mouse! You could wear black, grey or white leggings and a T-shirt or leotard in the same colour. Don't forget the mouse tail and big ears as well as a black nose and whiskers."
- Decorations: Grey and white balloons or confetti everywhere; hang up posters or pictures of mice on the walls; white or grey tablecloths; put mice figures and pieces of cheese on the table.
- Cake and Food: Mice love cheese, so serve cheese cake, cheese pizza or other things made with cheese, but note that not every child likes cheese, so serve also things without cheese (chocolate cake, cookies, etc.). Make "Mice Ice Cream" with a scoop of vanilla ice cream decorated with a "cherry" red nose, "chocolate chip" black eyes, and two big "chocolate cookie" ears.
- Goody Bags: Make big grey gift bags for the kids. Fix a picture of a mouse to each bag. Fill the bag with a Mickey Mouse magazine, mouse stickers, a pencil printed with mice, a black or grey bracelet, or other mice things.
- Game and Activities:
   - "Food Search" - Hide lots of "mouse" treats around the house or yard and have each "mouse" hunt for their food on all fours (like mice).
   - Show funny cartoons with mice.
   - "Cat and Mouse" - Have the "cat" chase the "mice". As each "mouse" is caught, he sits down until all but the last "mouse" is left. He then becomes the "cat" to catch the "mice".
   - Take funny snapshots of each "mouse" with a Polaroid to send home in goody bags.

BEAUTY PARLOUR PARTY
I usually try to have unique parties for my kids. Last year, my 7 year old had a party in a hair salon....the kids got to have their hair styled, nails painted and make friendship bracelets. The salon provided treat bags and I bought pizza, pop, chips, and cake and ice cream. It was a blast. This year she is turning eight and I am having a dance party with a DJ who will teach all the latest dance steps and some of the old to the girls. - Thanks to Vanessa, Dundee

WINTER LUAU
One that I didn't exactly see on your website was something I came up with for my 12 year-old sister. She wanted something colorful, yet mature. So, we gave her a "Luau in the Winter Party". Kids came in their bathing suits, grass skirts, and Hawaiian gear. They had a great time! We served them tropical fruit, and a white "Hawaiian Dancer" cake. We handed out little plastic leis to the kids. We played "Tropical Musical Chairs"....musical chairs to Reggea music! We also played a few relay games in my basement that they enjoyed. We played under/over with a helium balloon....The kids got into two equal lines. The front of the line passed the balloon over their heads, the next person between their legs, and so on. It was tough, because the helium balloon wanted to float away the whole time. They also learned how to Hula, and we had a Hula-Hoop contest to see who could Hula the longest. It was a lot of fun, and the kids loved wearing their bathing suits in the middle of November. - Thanks to Erika, Bensenville

CHRISTMAS BIRTHDAY
My favorite party was my daughter's 4th birthday, because her birthday is December 18, close to Christmas and she loves the color red. I had a surprise dance party with 100 red and white balloons, discoteque lights, and a Santa DJ. I had the kids in the room holding on to the balloons and when my husband brought her in, we told her that we had a surprise for her. When we turned on the lights, 15 little kids screamed "Surprise!" and let the balloons go. She was so excited and delighted about the balloons. The DJ was wonderful, and taught the kids some dances. We had all of her favorite CD's, and we did contests, and had chips and franks, and even the grown-ups were dancing and partying. They were exhausted when they left. - Thanks to Sarah, Chicago

CIRCUS CARNIVAL
I am planning a circus party for my 5 year old. The big top is going to be under a beautiful gazebo in one of our state parks. The festivities will include a magician and a party bouncer, the decorations will be brightly colored table linens and balloons. I will hang hula hoops from the ceiling with clown posters inside each one. The menu is basic: hot dogs, bags of chips and a drink, the kids will get popcorn during the magic show and we will have a cotton candy machine too to spin cotton candy. The treat bags are popcorn boxes filled with windmills, circus coloring books, crayons, and circus puzzles and blow pops. I will have teenagers helping as part of the circus people, and we are passing out tickets for the magic show and for the games. We always have a pinata towards the end of the party. We will do face painting too. It should be a great time. The cake is a carousel and I will also have individual cupcakes, as this age tends to bring siblings as well. I'm looking forward to a fun day! - Thanks to Maria, Chicago

CAMPOUT PARTY
One of the best parties given at my house was for my son's third birthday. We had a camp-out in the front yard during the daytime. Everyone brought gifts to go along with the theme. He received a tent from us and a backpack full of camping equipment (of course, most of the equipment was toys). He also received a fishing pole, and a camping chair which he enjoyed taking on our real camping trip that next weekend. For food we had a picnic lunch pre-made for all of our guests, and then played a simple game of scavenger hunt with the children throughout the yard. It turned out very well. - Thanks to John & Sue, Naperville

FIREFIGHTER PARTY
I had a great birthday for my son's 4th birthday. We had a guest fireman (our neighbor) visit with all of his garb, and we sent invitations cut out from construction paper of a firetruck and ladder. We had red buckets with stickers and a firetruck with dalmation straws and all sorts of related items. We played games like pin the tail on the Dalmation; rescue the cat from the tree; put out the fire with red bean bags and red plastic cups; crawl through the tube. They decorated their own fire truck with wheels and ladders. We had a firetruck pinata and pizza, cake and ice cream for the kids, and adult treats for the parents! - Thanks to Vicki, Bartlett

CAR PARTY
I saw a party theme years ago that I haven't forgotten and will keep in mind for a couple of years down the road - a Car Party for about 5-6 year-olds, girls and boys. Invitation could be for a party and come and learn to drive and build their own car! Upon RSVP, have the invited child provide name, address, date of birth and a school photo. With this information, the mom, dad or other siblings can make a driver's license for each child and place on cardboard. Perhaps even provide a little case from a dollar shop. With the good sized boxes that computer paper comes in (most are white boxes), have one for each child. Tin plates make great rear and head lights. Paper plates, cheap ones, can be coloured to make rims. Cut a hole in the bottom for the childs feet. Paper plates, pie plates, etc. for steering wheels. Use fun foam sheets for making personlized license plates. Loot bag items can include horns, stickers, handcuffs, badges....in case they want to make a police car. Decorate the birthday table with large sheets of brown paper and have the children draw roads and garages, airports, etc....Use your imagination to think of many other wild things to add...fuzzy dice, odd handles.....Thanks to Lesley, Wilmette

POKEMON TWISTER
My neice will be 7 this month and wants a Pokemon Party. She also loves the game Twister, so to keep it with the theme, I turned over the plastic game sheet and used clear contact paper and attached Pokemon to it - 4 different characters across, with 6 in each row, just like the colors. I printed the Pokemon out on my printer and cut them out. She likes Eevee, so we used only Eevee's forms. For the spinning piece, I'm going to print out small ones and using the contact paper, attach them to it (under the colored spots so that it can be used either way later). Just thought I would share one of our many ideas.....we have lots more, even Pin the Pokeball to Misty. We are going to give the kids badges from the Pokemon Print Shop for participating in activities. - Thanks to Lori, Wheaton

HALLOWE'EN BIRTHDAY
I would like to tell you about my daughter's 4th Hallowe'en Birthday we celebrated last October. We sent out spooky invitations created on the computer that read: "Bring your 'Mummy' and come see what's 'Brewin'at Morgan's Hallowe'en Birthday Party!" We decorated the entranceway with spider webs, a skeleton door hang, a haunted welcome mat that greeted our guests, pumpkins, and a jack-o-lantern with "Happy Birthday Morgan" carved into it using an alphabet stencil. Everyone was told to come in costume and we decorated with black and orange balloons, crepe paper, candles, etc. I draped our L-shaped island with bargain black material and cut up the bottom edges to look tattered. I had a witch's cauldron with sherbert/lemon-lime cola inside. We had candy corn, popcorn balls, nuts, etc. along with hot dogs. The cake was shaped like a jack-o-lantern (two chocolate bundt cakes placed together with an ice-cream cone iced green on top) and served with orange sherbert. We hung lots of spooky ghost and pumpkin decorations (found at a local dollar store) from the ceiling and walls and had black and orange napkins, plates, cups, etc. We got lucky in finding Hallowe'en "silverware" with witches, ghosts, and skeletons carved into the handles. We hung Christmas lights with little pumpkin and ghost clips over the bulbs which looked great as dusk turned to night and the kids played Pin the Nose on the Jack-O-Lantern. Before our little goblins left, our teenage friends dressed as ghosts and handed out "Ghostly Goodie Bags". Everyone had a great time and my 4-year old is already making plans for this year's party! - Thanks to Amber, Schaumburg

UNDER THE SEA
My son has a summer birthday and when he turned 3, we celebrated it "Under the Sea". We played find the sea shells, the "King Tryton" dance (a Maypole type game where the kids held blue crepe paper and danced around a broomstick), a fishing game (we hot-glued magnets onto plastic fish, made poles from branches and tied metal washers to them for bait), and had a wet obstacle course (the hose was on the kids while they hopped, skipped, and crawled). Prizes were shells and plastic sea animals. Food was sandwiches cut with a fish-shaped cookie cutter, goldfish crackers, and fruit. Everyone had a great time! - Thanks to Karen, Crystal Lake

BARBIE TEA PARTY
So far the best birthday I have planned was my 7-year old daughter's Barbie/Tea Party this year. All of the girls were invited to bring their favorite Barbie (or borrow one of ours) and come for tea. I went to a thrift store and picked up several pretty tea cups for the girls to use and take home. They had iced tea, instead of hot tea. They all dressed up, and everyone got an inexpensive ($4.99) Barbie as a party gift. Everyone had a great time! - Thanks to Jennifer, Oregon

PRINCESS PARTY
My daughter's 3-year old party was a princess party. We told all of the girls to wear party dresses, princess ones if they had them. We made crowns and had marshmallow staffs with cut-out stars stapled to them. We took polaroids of the girls with their princess things on, and made necklaces with their pictures on them to take home. The cake was very cute. We made it look like a castle by baking cake in soup cans, and putting them on top so they looked like towers. My daughter is now turning nine, and she still has the necklace we made with her photo, and so do some of her friends. - Thanks to Valarie, Tinley Park

HAWAIIAN PARTY
Since our family is on a budget, a vacation is out of the question. Last year we experienced Hawaii in our living room! We invited friends and cousins over to our Hawaiian Party. I asked each child to bring something that they learned about Hawaii. After learning about the islands, the language,and the fun things to do, we ate Hawaiian recipes, and played Hawaiian music. We played games like pass the coconut, and limbo! The kids had fun making the decorations for the "big day". - Thanks to Roxanne, Addison

POOL PARTY
One of the best parties we planned was when our oldest son turned one, it was at the end of June and I wanted to do something big for his first birthday so we had two blow up pools (they were quite big) and then set up three different beach umbrellas with their own chairs and own cooler with different beverages for their convenience. Then we let the children make their own sundaes with different ingredients of their choice. It was a great hit as far as having a pool party without having an "actual" pool! - Thanks to Stacey, Glen Ellyn

BATMAN PARTY
Our Best Party was Batman. We had 73 children who were all kitted out in handmade capes and masks. The ultimate was seeing Batman (Dad dressed up in a hired Batman suit- mask and all) on the roof of the house. There was a long queue to stand next to Batman and get him to pick you up was something else. Two years down the line and the children still talk anout Michael-James 4th birthday party and the amazing Batman. My daughter has just turned 4 and we had a "Chefs and Cheffettes" party where the children were equipped with chef aprons and hats and allowed to create their very own "sweet dish". - Thanks to Cathy, Chicago