Shirley's party advice part 6 - don't be afraid to interrupt us!

[Tinkerisdead]

Okay, this is shirley's party advice part 6. Shirley ducked out a while ago and you'll notice us chatting about all kinds of stuff whilst we wait for party planners to barge in.

So, don't lurk, jump in and chat. We'll give you any advice on parties from costumes to cakes....

The only problem with glitter pixie dust is that I'll have to clean it up afterwards :)

I think DW's pass the treasure chest could work. We can stick on the sound track and they can pick chocolate dubloons and candy treasure out of the box. Maybe some sort of guess where the treasure is game...? I've got a Tuff spot we could fill with sand to make an island then we could mark it off into squares and get them to put a pirate figure (of which we also have loads) or a flag with their name on where they think the treasure is. I'll pick a square somehow and the winner gets a prize?

I like the fishing idea too. Maybe instead of water I could do blue tissue paper and get a load of fish and a tick-tock croc? The person who pulls out the croc gets a prize?

But then, they're only going to be 3 and 4 so maybe having winners would cause tears?

JatNLP colouring would be easy to do as a welcoming activity that I can string out until everyone is there. I'm only thinking of having 10-ish kids so it'll be quite small

In my experience, pinatas are always a nightmare. They either come apart on the first whack and all but 1 child is disappointed or they're so indestructible that all the kids get bored and one of the fathers has to beat the thing to death. Plus, the scrabble for the sweets always ends up with someone feeling hard done to and possibly crying.

Pinata cookies on the other hand - rock

Ahhh someone has her mojo back

Im gonna insist on watching it tomorrow and actually watch it properly, all these details have passed me by! Its like octonauts, or mike the knight, its been on probably daily but i couldnt tell you a character name!

Incidentally i think 3/4 year olds are fine with winners/losers if they get a sticker or sweet for taking part.

Mine were 2 onwards and all got a lolly or small bag of haribo for taking part with the winner choosing a 'real' prize. No one was worried about losing - in fact, most of them wanted to lose so that they got a lolly!!

JATNLP help a friend in most episodes don't they? I've seen mermaids and seahorses. Make games from that? Although I'm not sure what/how at the minute..... Fishing sounds good. You can get magnets or magnet tape to stick to the fish and paper clips to the rods? And the paper sounds fab as you can really hide the 'fish'

I will try to put photos up once DH has put them onto the laptop.

how cool are these?

Which made me think of Jake's sword, Cubby's map and Izzy's pixie dust. All of which needs to be incorporated somehow.
Personally, I would use popping candy for pixie dust but that's because I love it!

OK, so much of this is basically a list for myself so bear with me...I'm trying to do food as I'm usually quite good at that so I thought it might get me going. So far I've got:

Salty Sea hot dogs. With pirate sails on skewer masts
Watermelon shark
Skull and Crossbones cookies - I've just ordered a cutter from ebay
Jelly cups with sharks and orange wedge ships - I've wanted to do these for years! Like this but with jelly sharks swimming in the 'sea'.
Bottles of something to drink relabelled as 'Grog'

I think I'm fancying a treasure chest cake.

I really want to do the table like this !!

Then I got distracted :)

We've got a sea monster rocking sea-saw type thing that I could take along to play on too

Photo booth?

A cardboard "Bucky"?

Craft idea? Too messy maybe?

This with blue tissues paper instead of the sand I think instead of party bags? I could wrap the right amount of little presents and bury them and then let them dig for one before they go home.

I'm also quite handy with pirate face paint...?

This is ace!

Oh yes, loving the hook toss!!

And you must do the table like that!
The jellies are cool and you could print a picture of one of the characters as the sail if you wanted.
I was wondering about two arid board buckys in a race but I'm. It sure how you'd race them but I do love the craft idea. If you painted the paper beforehand so it was just the handprint needed at the time I think it'd be fine. And the digging for their treasure is great, they'd love that!

Loving these sandwiches

Ive still got one packet of blue jelly if you want it? (You know you're special if you're being offered the blue jelly!)

And i actually laughed out loud at "ive ordered the cutter on ebay"

Use sawdust for lucky dip, way more fun than tissue and easier to sweep off a hall floor than sand.

Is that not a recipe for splinters though? I had rabbits for years and that stuff can be very scratchy!

They digging in it not bathing

I've been deprived of internet access for the last few days and all i have wanted to do is search the internet for party ideas. So frustrating

I think i am indeed a Shirley's party thread groupie/ addict and may need to go into rehab by November

I have ordered these for the girls party bags

i love these

The jake and the Nlp party looks brill- i wish my girls were just a little less stridently girly and would entertain the idea of a more unisex theme- sigh!

Oh dear. I am in need of serious help.

It's DDs christening in October so I am thinking about that and I am also thinking if DS2s birthday in January!!

That's not weird though is it?

Not weird at all. That party of DD's that I've half planned above is for December!

Yeah and my pizza party is november. I think i had dd2's christening planned before she was born as initially i was gonna do a family tree theme to showcase my ancestry findings.

And dd1 is having a science party when she's 7. She's not even 5 yet. This is the place where you can openly plan random events without shame! Just be warned your children will throw in their own demands and upset your carefully dreamed up plans!

I can't help it though. Sunday night after the party, I said to DH how weird it felt to literally have nothing to do - not even any lists or ideas running through my head! It felt so strange and I didn't like it!
It doesn't feel normal to not be planning and researching things.

So just having a little peek, with no plans to put any solid ideas down or anything.........

DS2s party is going to be farm themed and look what I just found!!! I can totally do that!!

Oooooo my dd2 might like a farm party too in feb! Bit cold tho. I may go for a dc3 to secure a summer baby for wider party ideas and options.

Any age I'd say
DS2 is in January..... But I'm sure I could kit out a hall somehow. He loves farms and animals and I toyed with the idea for this last birthday but didn't get organised in time so I'm determined to make the next one perfect.

DW what did you do for DDs christening? yes I know I should read the threads but I am too lazy