I love giving parties, do you need some ideas?

[ShirleyKnot]

Hello!

If you don't know me I'm Shirley and I'm a great lover of planning parties. I do a blog about it (which I'm not going to link here, but if you look on the bloggers network for PartySpanner you'll find me)

ANYWAY

If you're chucking a do, I might be able to help - I'm not a business, I don't charge for my ideas or owt, I just love to trawl the internet find good invite ideas, games and food.

Jump in and I'll see if I can help.

skulls brains

OOO Rock.

I've still got loads of ideas for you. I might start a seperate Halloween thread, what do you think?

I am going to google you some amazing stuff this evening, and try and get an invite pulled together. It's been bubbling away in my brain all day.

Hazel, I think you ARE One of Us I'm afraid!

I would LOVE the recipe for the brains cupcake and the finger (although I have a feeling that one will involve sugar art which I'm a bit..meh at TBH)

I have found another zombie cupcake book. Will link when I can kick the kids off get on the computer.

Love this thread.

Shirls thank you! YY to starting a Halloween thread, I think that's a great idea.

Hazel hahahaha you're in and you can't ever get out now. You put forward good sites like that you have to stay.

Actually Shirls sugar art isn't all that hard once you've jumped in and given it a go. I'm the sad cunt that spent hours melting kilos of sugar to learn it

Halloween Thread

ooh now you see I love organising a halloween party - we always do severed fingers (hotdogs) and do hunt for the toy in the brains (jelly), its fab.

Shirley - have had a talk to ds this evening and it transpires that what he really wants is to have the same party as his 3 year old sister - ie a proper kids party, only thing is that her birthday is in may so we did it in the garden in the bell tent - am not convinced I want 10 of his friends in the house, some of them are really badly behaved or I cant control them - one of the 2.

So how do you do a kids party in the house for 10 7-8 year old boys without them running amok and me hiding in the toilet with the gin?

OH!

I'm delighted to hear this news Omni - you maybe, not so much.

(BTW there is nothing ever "pretentious" in a party as far as I'm concerned. A party is just that - A PARTY!)

I always split the parties at this age, so it was half and half girls and boys. There is something calming for both genders at having the other half there. Can you persuade him?

You can control them, believe me. All you need to do is become (in your head) the Teacher/Captain/Leader/Ruler

Ah! I'm all about parties for boys of this age - it can be magical.

OK, I'm going to steer you towards either a Pirate themed party (easy to arrange, cheapish and bundles of choices) or my Willy Wonka Party (which is sweetie heaven for them and a quick dash to get it over for you) Another alternative is for you to throw me a theme that he's into, or we could just go for a "basic" party. It's up to you.

Do the pirate, Do the pirate

I will question him tomorrow about themes and report back. The results of that convo could be terrifying though. He could well come back with James Bond or some such and all the other parents would be

HOORAY!

It doesn't matter what he fancies, we can work that out - James Bond would be dead pedestrian at this age! Don't worry about it.

Well omni! What did he choose.....?

oh god we had a disastrous day today and didnt approach it - we were too busy shouting 'stop shouting at me' at eachother cos thats how we roll some days.

I will though - maybe on the school run tomorrow.

Will try to get the Brains cupcake and the fingers typed up tomorrow Shirley. Sorry, I'd totally forgotten about it today.

I've completely forgotten about the recipes again!! Many apologies. I'm so worried about DS's first day at School I can't seem to concentrate on anything at the moment. He starts tomorrow so I should be better soon.

DD and DS were playing Teddy Bears picnic this morning so I'm definitely going with that for a theme now. It was so sweet watching them :)

No worries Blathers, I'm disappering up my own arse this week anyway.

Shirley - you may be my saviour here!

I just foud out at lunchtime thatmy daughter's party on saturday involves 25 kids aged 10-12 for three hours!!!. Twenty bloody five! Three bloody hours!! I knew i should not have let her dad get involved. What is promised on the invite is a great big water fight and a barbecue. What where they thinking? I am thinking that we will be evicted from our flat after the kids terrorise the neighbourhood, and so I am quickly diverting attention elsewhere.

We can't uninvite them, and so I am looking to get the kids away from the house soon after they arrive and spend 1.5 hours on a treasure hunt / adventure on the way to the beach (only a 10 minute walk to the beach.) On the way is a moor type place, a woods with ropes and a tunnel that is very scary and dark and optional.

I am looking for ways to make a 10minute walk last for 90 minutes at least, and then they can have their blessed water fight in the sea. And even a barbecue if necessary, though I'd rather provide a small mountain of other party food and have 2 adults available for crowd control.

I need ideas (quick) for what to do onthe way that focusses them and so they don't run riot, and kills the time on the way to the beach. There are som boisterous lads inthe group. I know it sounds crap asking what they can do , but they have all of this available to this most of the time and so it needs to have some kind of grab to it, or my daughter will be an outcast.

I was thinking of a treasure hunt but can't imagine 90 minutes of things to do. might bribe them deep into the tunnel with pressies, money and chocoalte hidden along the way - that will kill 15 minutes.

Shirley - you seem to be just the woman to save me - help! Waht else can i do?

ZOMG!

Ok. Dead quick, off the top of my head ideas (cant help tomorrow, have a funeral and I'm slightly pissed tonight at the thought so..)

1. DON'T worry about filling the entire 90 minutes with activity. Kids this age are amazing at just getting on with it.

2. so to turn a 10 minute walk into a 30 minute walk? Go for the treasure hunt idea. Um. Divide the kids into two teams. Each team has to find 10 items (a leaf, a discarded chocolate bar, a twig in the shape of a Y etc etc) give them the list, head to the beach, get the BBQ on (other adults keep eye on kids) although to be fair at this age I think they'll be OK.

Judge their findings.

Give out prizes.

Food.

Water fight about 20 minutes before pick up time.

Any gaps will be filled by them pissing about, believe me it will go so quickly, you'll be thinking "HANG ON! CAKE!" you'll be fine.

thanks - cake - I hadn't even thought about that!

Have had a serious think about it with dd and we are going to do the tunnel thing witha mega prize at the end of the tunnel for anyone who gets that far, plus bursting water ballons in team colours in the woods plus a three legged and blindfold race in teams around the moors. Maybe a game of sardines somewhere along the way. And a treasure hunt for the stuff you said - good idea, that!

Unfortunately the party is 3 hours long, and I know these things can go one of two ways - it either rushes by as you siad, or else it drags painfully minute by mnute ( ir it did last year when the same kids in smaller numbers decided to have a waterfight in the shared gardens).

Thanks you for yoru reassuring words. Sorry you have a funeral tomorrow - good luck for it, if that is the right way to say it. (Whispers quietly - are you arranging the party after the event? ...)

Hi shirley. I know you're at a funeral today(hope it went okay). I just wondered if you can maybe work on my gruffalo party a bit?

Dd is three is nov and wants a gruffalo party. My dad managed to photoshop a gruffalo pic to become a good invite. I went on the gruffalo website, ive got some large pics of the owl, snake and fox etc to decorate. Party bags ive got some julia donaldson books for party bags and im confident to do the cake.

I was going to have the party in the local wood but ive got about ten kids and 25 adults and the park wont cater for grownups.

I need to get that woodland feel rather than just gruffalo charcters stuck on the walls. Any more ideas?

Sorry i meant get the woodland feel at home.

doctor's wife - maybe rustic baskets of logs, camouflage nets to mimic greenery - maybe even make a childsized tunnel / space for them out of camouflage nets, a brown rug for the path, logs strewn around... beginning to sound crapper by the minute - just ignore me!

How about covering the table in astroturf fabric or even a green blanket to look like grass and then laying a picnic blanket over the top. Spinkle on some plastic ants or even some raisins to look like ants and then theme the food too. You could try creating a Gruffalo crumble, scrambled snack, Owl Ice cream etc...

excellent idea, blather!

Oh I need help, I really do

DD is going to be 14; I have always done bags not party bag so:
a pencil case
a drawstring bag
a toiletry bag
a make up bag
a bag with a 'pandora' bead on a bit of leather for a bracelet

last year we made bags out of scarves (you know like

What on earth do I do this year?

Shirley - hope the funeral went as well as it could.

Am just back to say that today ds proudly announced that he had been thinking about it and wanted a party at the climbing centre (he loves going there and it hasnt been done before - very important apparently) - great I thought but its 120quid for 6 and will now have the dubious pleasure of talking the ex into half of the cost.

He's really keen though yay.

Thankyou for ideas on mine. Ive been looking into woodland parties rather than gruffalo and think your right about grass, moss etc etc.

Katymac can you do some of those calico bag for life tote bags? I see quite a few of girls at bus stop waiting for school bus with similiar?