Ready for Autumn? The air is crisp in the mornings and at night, the summer’s bounty is about to be harvested, and it is a time to enjoy the season with your children and family. Here’s to a celebration of the traditional season of fall. If your child is having a party in September or October, this is an excellent theme.

This is a great party to do either at your home or at an outside venue, such as a local farm. So, take a look around and see if there are any local farms in your area that allow for parties. If you hold your party at such a location, the hayride and picking of apples and pumpkins will be great activities.

Invitations:
Cut out leaf shapes or autumn harvest shapes and place them on card stock and include all of the information on the inside of your card.

Decorations:
Orange, brown, and yellow are great colors for this theme. Purchase party and table ware in these colors. Alternatively, you can use leaf patterns.
Use mini pumpkins for your table centerpiece.
Tall cornhusks and bales of hay would add another decorative touch to the party.

Crafts: 

Paint/Decorate mini-pumpkins and have the kids can take these home. 

Make Scarecrow Candy Necklaces. Using straw, have the kids string round candies with holes in the center to make their necklaces.
Sponge paint placemats with leaf shapes.

Games/Activities: 

Bob for apples. 

Have a Pumpkin Roll Contest. Divide the kids into two teams and provide a pumpkin to each team. Have the kids roll it to one end and back and pass it along to the next person. 

Throw a Hula Hoop around a large pumpkin.
If you have bales of hay, have the kids jump over the bales of hay as an obstacle relay race.
String up donuts and tie the kids’ arms behind their backs. Have them eat the donuts off of the line without using their hands.
Hold a scavenger hunt outdoors. If at night, hand out glow sticks for the kids to search for the loot.
Fill a large cardboard box with leaves and place toys in the leaves. Have the kids put their hands inside the box and pick out a toy.
Play Hot Pumpkin, like Hot Potato. 


Menu:
BBQ is always good for this type of a party; spice it up with spare ribs. 

Chili is also an excellent option. Have all of the fixn’s so that people can enjoy topping it off. 

Serve corn bread muffins.
Make Rice Krispie Treats and add orange food coloring to them. Stick them on a Popsicle stick for a treat.
Serve Apple Cider. As an added treat, place caramels on fancy sticks and have the kids stir it into their apple cider for Hot Caramelized Apple Cider.
Make caramel apples.
Make sugar cookies cut out into autumn shapes. Have the kids decorate the cookies with frosting and candies.
Make a batch of cupcakes and ice them with orange frosting and little black, orange, and white sprinkles. The kids can always do the decorating.

Goody Bags:
Purchase little plastic pumpkins, which are so popular as trick or treat bags this time of year. Fill it with all things “fall” - caramel apple cider packets with a cinnamon stick, little themed notebooks, pencils, erasers, pumpkin candy, and candy corn packets.

For school-aged children, there may be nothing like a Mad Scientist Party, especially as school gets underway and kids are back in science class. It will be a fun party theme that holds their attention, and could even be educational. If your child is interested in the wacky side of science, seriously consider this theme!

Invitations:
Using large size test tubes with a rubber stopper, print all of the party details on a small piece of paper that can be rolled up and placed into the test tube. On the outside of the tube, write in permanent marker, “Inside contains the Mad Scientist Secret Formula for Party Fun!” These will have to be hand-delivered or mailed in cushioned envelopes.

Decorations:
• At the entrance to the party, make a sign welcoming them to Dr. X’s Mad Lab!
• In the party room, make it look like a high tech lab using the colors of silver and black.
• Using black construction paper, cut out question marks, mathematical formulas, etc. and place around the party room.
• Have green slime on the tables and around the room.
• Fill different sizes of jars with colored water. Inside, place plastic eyeballs, hands, noses, plastic animals, etc.
• At the tables where the Mad Scientist experiments will happen, place face masks, magnifying glasses, test tubes, etc. to make the area look authentic.
• When the kids arrive, provide them with white coats, and have them create a nametag. Don’t just have them use their own names, but make up a mad scientist name, i.e. “Dr. Insanity.”

Activities: You can either have the kids do the activities together, or rotate throughout the party room to different lab stations to complete the different mad science activities.

Make Green Ooze! 3/4 cup cornstarch, 1/2 cup water. Mix together. Add green food coloring to look like Slime.

Static Electricity: (balloons, aluminum soda can) Blow up balloons and rub them in the kids’ hair to make it rise. Set soda can on a hard surface so it can roll. Use one of the rubbed balloons and move it closer to the can. Does it move the can? Will the rubbed balloon stick to a wall?

A Shocker: Need one per child: 1 penny, 1 lemon, 1 paper clip. Cut a slit 1/4 inch in to the lemon to fit the penny, then another for the paperclip, close to but not touching the penny. Let the kids touch their tongues to each of the metals.

Falling Coin: 1 glass, 1 index card, 1 coin. Place card over glass evenly. Place coin in center. Flick the card end with your finger to send it flying. What happens to the coin?

Suck an Egg into a Jar: 1 hard boiled egg, peeled and at room temperature,
1 narrow top jar (baby food jars work well), hot water. The egg will not fit into the jar on it’s own. Fill the jar with the hot water for 2-3 minutes. Pour this out and set the egg on the opening. The egg will end up inside the jar.

Osmotic Celery: Cut celery stalks and set them in glasses of tinted water. The stalks will absorb the color and then the kids can eat them!

OUTDOORS ACTIVITY:

Volcano Eruption: Make a volcano from a soda can, set on a tin pan, and form papier-mâché around it. Leave the hole in the top open. Dry and paint browns and greens. To make the volcano erupt, place baking soda in the can then pour in vinegar, tinted with food coloring.

Rocket launch: Fill a small plastic film canister with one teaspoon of water. Quickly add one Alka-Seltzer tablet, put the lid on, and place the canister on the floor with the lid side down. Wait about 10 seconds and then your rocket should fly into the air.

Games:

Atom Burst: Tie two balloons to each of the kids’ ankles. Have them run around trying to burst the atoms. The last kid with a “live atom” wins!

Mini-Molecules: Take very close-up pictures of everyday items around your home. During the party, have the kids use their magnifying glasses to figure out what they are.

Scientist Scramble: Muddle up the names of famous scientists, and have them work them out properly.

Menu:

Serve snacks in clear bowls and name them madly, i.e. electric chips, magnetic munchers, etc.
• Serve electric dogs, i.e. hot dogs.
• Serve green Kool-Aid. Place plastic critters and body parts into the punch for extra madness!

Goody Bags:
Send the kids home with a facemask, test tubes, green slime, goggles, magnifying glasses, magnets, etc. Alternatively, send them home with test tubes filled with candy like M&Ms.
Have a fab mad party!

It is almost time for the new school year to start. This means brand new shoes, sharpened pencils, fresh school supplies and cool book covers. As a kid, I lived for this time of year. Call me crazy, but I was happier in school than with all of that summer time on my hands. So, for me, I think time to celebrate this new beginning. If you are thinking along the same lines and want to celebrate this time of year with your kids, check out a few of the ideas and resources below:

If you are going to have a proper party with some friends, hand-deliver a fresh apple with a little tag attached that gives the details of the gathering. You could also cut out red apples or pencil shapes and provide the details as well. Those could be easily mailed off.

For decorations, have a chalkboard or white board out. Place a desk in the party area filled with books, school supplies. Make the party room look like a mock classroom. If there are specific school colors, decorate with balloons, streamers, and a school banner with these colors as well. Apples on the party table would also be excellent.

For the activities, make it a combination of word and mind games and gym class. Play Bingo, Trivia Pursuit, 20 Questions, Word search, etc. Also, play Simon Says, Red Rover, Dodge ball, Kickball, and Twister. Hold some relay races. A particular themed race would be to have the kids get ready for school filling their back pack and lunch bag, and then racing to one end and back for the next kid to do the same in line.

If there are older kids around, you may want to pop in a video like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – fun and easy for this age group.

For crafts, have the kids make bookmarks and/or book covers.

Food ideas are easy: pack school lunches. Small sandwiches, string cheese, a pack of goldfish crackers, apple or banana, and a little candy bar.

If you are going to hand out goodies, send them back to school in style. Purchase paper gift bags, fill with tissue, and add lots of school supplies like pencils, notebooks, erasers, locker mirrors, sticky pads, and gel pens.

A good end of summer party idea is a camp out!

This theme works especially well with children between the ages of 8 and 12 and, of course, when it’s warm outside. Late August is a perfect way to end summer with a fun overnight slumber party.

Here are some fun campy activities to pass the time:

Enjoy a proper cookout, and end the evening with s’mores.

Have a water balloon fight.

Tell scary ghost stories before going to bed. Have the storyteller hold a flashlight.

Play flashlight tag.

Pitch tents together.

Use a telescope and gaze at the stars. Teach a fun astronomy lesson while you do this.

Make tie-dyed T-shirts – a great take home camp out party favor.

Blow bubbles and shine your flashlights on them. This produces cool effects everyone is sure to love.

Make luminary bags with your guests to light the path to their tents.

Take a long hike/walk through your neighborhood, or, even better, in a nearby wooded area or park.

Have a sing along around the campfire. Does anyone play guitar?

Provide bug jars and catch fireflies.

Favors for this party can include: flashlights, tie-dyed T-shirts, or little knapsacks filled with camping stuff (bug spray, glow-in-the-dark stickers, water guns, glow bracelets, little plastic animals that you would find in the woods, etc.). The ideas are endless.

As you can see, overnight camping parties are great fun. Kids love them, and you will too, given the variety of activities that can easily fill the night.

One cautionary note, and this is true of any sleepover: Make sure to get contact information from parents when they drop their kids off. Some kids are ready to spend the night away from home and others are not. In case someone wants to go home or gets sick, make sure to have the parents’ contact details on hand to make that important call.

Happy camping trails to you!

ABCDEFG….

It’s that time of year when kids are heading back to school and learning their ABCs and 123s. Alphabet and initial parties offer a unique birthday party theme for you to throw your child. Many people like this theme for a first birthday party. As long as you have some older children attending, up to 4 years of age, these activities will be fun and engaging.

Invitations:
Cut out the initials of the birthday child and either make the cutout be the invitation and provide all details on the letter, or place the letter onto white card stock and inside provide all of the party details.

Use alphabet stamps to decorate the front of the invitation, perhaps spelling out the birthday child’s name.

If a first birthday party, take a picture of your child playing among alphabet blocks and put this on the front of the invitation.

Ask the kids to wear bold, bright colors to the party.

Decorations:

Pick several primary colors as the color scheme of the party and go to town. Purchase helium balloons in these colors and have them all around the party room. Spell out the name of the birthday child and the party guests on the balloons. If you don’t have enough balloons, you can use initials only. You can give the balloons away to the kids at the end of the party to take home.

For a table centerpiece, try and find big wooden ABC blocks and attach a few balloons to each of the wooden blocks.

Cut out the letters of the alphabet, as many as you can, and post them all over the party room. Teacher resource stores will also have the alphabet letters already pre-made and you will just have to cut them out.

Spell out alphabet signs to greet the guests when they arrive, i.e. “Elizabeth is Two! Hurray!”

Crafts:

Cut out letters of the alphabet and have the kids decorate them.

Have pre-cut foam in the shape of alphabets and have the kids stamp their names on big sheets of paper.

Provide kids with a white T-shirt with an iron-on alphabet letter for their initial. On the back of the shirt, have the kids make a handprint with wearable paint. This can be a part of the goodies they take home.

Use wood block ABC’s as stamps, and have the kids make art creations with them. They could also make birthday cards for the birthday child with these same stamps.

Have the kids make ID bracelets using alphabet beads.

Party Activities:

Hire a face painter to paint letters on the kids’ faces, and/or paint their names.

Hold a book exchange. Have the guests bring a favorite book of theirs to give to another party guest. Have the kids sit in a circle, and play music, and let the kids pass their books around the circle. When the music stops, this is the book they get to keep! You could do this several times before stopping.

Play charades, and have each kid act out a word that starts with a letter of the alphabet. So, if it is “B” ~ it could be for a bear ~ and the child can act out a bear and the other kids will have to figure out what he is.

Make little alphabet letters and stick them all over the house on things that begin with that letter, i.e. G is for glass, so stick a “G” on glass, and have the kids find all of the letters and shout out the letter and what it stands for.

Menu:

Serve any type of sandwich you like, and cut them out with alphabet shapes.

Serve alphabet cereal, little goldfish crackers, carrots, and fruit as additional snacks.

Serve gelatin cut out in alphabet shapes in a variety of flavors.

Bake sugar cookies and cut them out in different alphabet letters You can ice them yourself, put them into clear cellophane bags, and tie with a pretty ribbon as a goody item or have the kids decorate the cookies and enjoy eating them right at the party as another activity.

Serve Oreos on a Stick: place a Popsicle stick into an Oreo cookie, and dip the cookie into melted chocolate. Let it dry and then use an icing tube to write different letters on each one. This can also be a take-home goody, just wrap it in cellophane with a ribbon and add to the goody bag.

Make regular cupcakes and frost them. Top them off with the letters of the alphabet. Spell out the birthday kid’s name.

Goody Bags:

Find out each child’s name before the party, and decorate a brown paper bag using their initials. You can do this with markers and/or stickers. Inside the bag include alphabet stickers, iron-on patches with their initials, Alphabet coloring books with a small box of crayons, magnetic letters, a wooden block with their initials, etc.

If you are looking for a fun, inexpensive party to organize for your two to three-year-old child, you can take the simple game of Hide & Seek and build a complete set of party activities around the idea. This will be loads of fun and low-key. Parties really can be so simple for kids this age. Take a look at the Hide & Seek fun to be had:

1. Play Hide & Go Seek ~ the classic game, of course.
2. If adults will be attending the party, reverse it and have the kids look for their parents.
3. Provide toddler-sized boxes that are either pre-decorated by you or that the toddlers can decorate themselves.

What a great craft activity! Have them use markers, crayons, etc. to make their own “Jack In the Box.” (This can also be the take home goody from the party!)

4. Play Jack In The Box. Have the kids climb into the box, and duck down so as not to be seen. Play music, and let the kids pop up just as a Jack In The Box would do.
5. Hide a Piñata that the kids must find in order to enjoy the fun.
6. Organize a treasure hunt for chocolate gold coins.
7. Make a mock tent using a large cardboard box and a sheet. Let each child hide in the tent and pop out surprising the others. You can ask them to pop out using their imagination and become a lion, a dog, a cat, etc.
8. Give them boxes of Cracker Jacks to enjoy finding their prizes.
9. Hide candy treats in a batch of cupcakes. The kids will discover the surprise as they enjoy their cakes.
10. Play “I Spy.”
11. Read books that have flaps to reveal hidden pictures.
12. Have the kids make creations using Play Dough. Hide some small prizes in each little Play Dough jar for the kids to discover.

There will be plenty of surprises and prizes for the kids to find and take home at this party. This is very low-cost, high fun party for the toddlers. Amazing how a classic game can give a party full of kids a great afternoon.