Ballet Party - 4 years

At some point in their lives, every little girl dreams of becoming a ballerina. And so my daughter's fourth birthday party theme was ballet. Each invitation was a scroll rolled up and fastened with a pink rose. For decorations: The party room was filled with pink and purple balloons as well as some of the props for the party activities. At the entrance to the room I hung lilac curtains tied back with pink satin ribbons. We played music from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet over the hi-fi for the duration of the party. For costumes: To get the little ballerinas into the mood, I made each little girl a pink netting ballet skirt with satin ribbons to put on when they came through the door. I found some tiny silver crowns at the ballet shop and the girls were given these as part of their transformation into little ballerinas. We had a make-up station for eye shadow and lipstick. I had set up a photo shoot corner for all the beautiful little dancers where the

background was a wall covered in pink and purple balloons. I also happened to find a jumping castle supplier that had a beautiful pink and purple jumping castle which I booked for the day. Once everyone was kitted out and had spent a bit of energy on the jumping castle, we did our first activity. Edible ballerinas: I prepared a separate pack for each

child containing the following: 1x Jolly Jammer Biscuit (a face), 1x chocolate whisper (a hair bun), 1x rectangular strawberry wafer biscuit (leotard body), 2x mini white chocolate sticks (arm), 2x strawberry finger biscuits iced with pink icing on one side to look like ballet shoes (the legs),

1x strawberry whirl jelly (a rose), 2x twisty corn chips (ringlets), a cardboard backing, and a knife. A bowl of chocolate icing was placed on each table. The children then went about building a ballerina on the backing card, pasting the different body parts into position with the icing. While everyone was finishing off their ballerinas, we handed out the party packs.Each party pack was made using the bottom half of a plastic

2 litre Coke bottle. I placed a pink doily around the top part and fastened it with a pink satin ribbon. I punched a hole on either side and fastened the ends of a silver pipe cleaner through each hole to form a handle. I fastened a pink rose to the silver

pipe-cleaner. I tried to find only pink sweets to fill the party packs with. I made ballet slipper butter biscuits and fastened two of these with pink satin ribbons to the side of each party pack. The birthday cake was square with two ballet slippers (made using small loaf pans) on top. I made a cupcake for each child with a plastic ballerina figurine placed on top. I was lucky enough to find candles that looked like pink ballet shoes. The next activity we did was the ballet obstacle

course. I set up a ballet-themed obstacle course in the party room where the children had to perform a series of balletic moves like: plies at the barre, points and courtsies in front of a mirror, bouncing on a mini trampoline, leaping from within one hula hoop to another, pirouetting with hands held above head. The little girls loved this! And they wanted to do it again and again. It was really sweet to see

them try the different moves. To end off the party, I gathered the girls around for a short story (All Tutus Should be Pink by Sheri Brownrigg; Meredith Johnson). The party was a great hit with my daughter, and at the start of the next year she started ballet training for real.

Jessica - DURBANVILLE

Incredibles - 4 years

For my Sons 4^th birthday he wanted an Incredibles birthday party, and this year we decided to have his party at his play-school. I made his invitation using my trusty computer. The wording was… Dear Incredible (child’s name), You are invited to an Incredible party at my Incredible school!!

We also asked the kids to dress up in red if they could. On the day using an Incredibles poster found in an Incredibles "lucky packet" at Pick n Pay, I was able to introduce the kids to the Incredibles family.

The first introduction was to Dash – the fast Incredible. The word “dash” was explained and then all the kids were told to Dash outside to get their masks. Each child was then given a black mask. We used black blanket material to cut out the masks. Blanket material was ideal as it was cheap and stretchy and didn’t fray. It would easily go around any size head, so it just needed to be cut out, and it cost under R3 per child! The kids loved it, and best of all, they got to keep their masks and take it home with them.

After running around a bit we went back to the Poster of the Incredibles family and talked about Violet. It was explained that Violet could go from visible to invisible. To demonstrate this, The kids were all given a picture of an Incredible to colour in with a white crayon, they could also draw their own picture if they wanted using the same white crayon. We then explained that the white crayon was almost invisible on the white paper. To go from invisible to visible they had to paint their picture and suddenly they could see what they had coloured in or drawn. Invisible to visible!
I also used a magic pen, bought from a local party shop, to write their names on their works of art. This pen’s ink went from visible to invisible. Just like Violet!

then explained, that she was also special in that she could put a force-field the shape of a bubble around her! To demonstrate we then all went outside and using a giant Bubble wand bought from Verimark (also seen them in CNA and Pick n Pay), we were able to make huge bubbles, just like Violet! The kids enjoyed trying to pop the enormous bubbles. Everyone had a turn trying to make the biggest bubble. To keep everyone happy while waiting for their turn with the wand, we had normal bubbles for the kids too.

Then it was time to have something to eat and drink. So we went inside and introduced the next member of the family, the Incredible Mommy - Elastagirl! It was explained that elastic could stretch and to demonstrate "stretch", I had earlier put stockings around my waist and through my jacket sleeves and the kids enjoyed pulling "Elastagirl's" arms!

We then handed out the party boxes. The boxes were filled with a few goodies to eat and an apple juice each.

To make the Party boxes, we had pasted pictures of Elastagirl on them and cut off her feet. We then punched holes where her feet should be on the box (see pic) and threaded stockings through the holes to make longer stretchy legs. The "legs" were then stretched around the box and tied. The feet we had cut off were then pasted on the end of the stockings. Looked very cute and the kids had fun trying to untangle her legs!

After most of the contents of the party boxes were devoured, the children met the Villan’s big bad robot in the form of a Piñata!!

Making a piñata is time-consuming but lots of fun especially if the kids help! To make your own piñata: Inflate a balloon and attach a rope to it. Paper Mache the balloon, and remember to make it nice and strong at the top where the rope and balloon are attached together. You will add the sweets later, so leave a small area open at the side or near the bottom for first. When totally dry, pop the balloon and then add the sweets, use individually wrapped sweets to fill the piñata especially if you are still going to paint it. Paper Mache the open section closed and leave to dry. Once completely dry – paint and decorate it.

Finally it was time to introduce Mr Incredible! As the strongest of all the Incredibles, and the one who does most of the fighting against the Robot in the movie, it was time to find our muscles just like Mr Incredible. So out came the boxing gloves and each child had a chance to punch the big bad Robot Piñata.

Lots of fun was had by all, and unfortunately Jack Jack… was too small to come to the party!

Bernadine - CAPE TOWN

Mary Poppins - 4 years

By the time my daughter turned four, Mary Poppins had become the number one watched movie in our home, so it was decided that that would be the theme of her fourth birthday party. For the invitations, I made cardboard teapots with hinged lids as invitations. I used flower shaped brads from Making Memories as the hinges. Each teapot was decorated with glitter glue and stickers. When the lid lifted the invite read: Chim-chim-cheroo, chim-chim-cheree, please come to my Mary Poppins party. There'll be scrumptious treats and games galore, all because I'm turning 4!

I made a silver plaque for the front door which read: No 17 Cherry Tree Lane. To make it I traced formal letters onto an A4 size card. I then used cold glue to fill in the letter shapes. I repeated this glueing over several days, allowing each layer of glue to harden before applying the next coat, until the letters stood quite high off the card. I then crumpled a piece of aluminium foil roughly, straightened it out by hand, and then glued it onto the card with craft glue carefully rubbing it smooth over the hardened glue letters. The final result was a very effective embossed silver door plaque.

I had two friends help out with the games as there were a lot of children. My girlfriend dressed as Mary Poppins (MP). She wore a long black pleated skirt, white chinese collar blouse, black hat with big red cherry beads and white daisies glued appropriately in place, black boots, red ribbon bow at collar, simple scarf knitted for the costume (20 stitches knitted on size 15 needles in purl stitch for as long as the scarf needs to be) and umbrella, of course. My male friend dressed in black trousers, shirt, suspenders, cap and dusted himself with charcoal to be the on-site chimney sweep.

When the children arrived each was measured by MP with a tape measure, top to toe and given a suitable description, as happens in the movie. The birthday girl was Practically Perfect in Every way. The descriptions were prepared beforehand and written on the back of a name tag with long ribbons and a pin. As each child was measured their name tag was pinned to their clothing. This was in preparation for a later game as well as for easy kid management.

The first game we played was "Mary Poppins Says", played according to the "Simon Says" rules.

Next were the penguin skittles. I made a set of penguin skittles from cooldrink bottles. The children each had a turn to knock them over in a game of skittles. once they had the hang of it a new handicap was introduced. Each child was given a penguin mask which had to be worn in the second round of skittles. I made the masks by copying a fairly plump penguin onto card and simple cutting eye holes and attaching elastic suitable to hold onto each child's head.

The tongue twister game drew a couple of chuckles. each child was challenged to say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Being 3, 4 and 5 year olds this was quite a challenge.

Pin the tail on the kite was a fairly straightforward take on pin the tail on the donkey. The children used their ribboned name tags as kite tails. I painted a brightly coloured Kite on card and positioned it at a child-friendly height for this game.

The highlight of the party was the chimney sweep obstacle course. I collected a bunch of gross motor toys and equipment and set up a safe but challenging obstacle course in the garden. The route was created using: a small plastic slide, 4 hula hoops hung from a rope suspended between 2 trees that the kids had to climb through, several large cardboard cylinders (the chimneys) that they either had to run around or crawl through, a balance beam was also erected that had to be crossed with an open umbrella in hand. Children had to sweep a ball around two chimney obstacles with a little broom. A small trampoline added bounce fun and the course ended with the children collecting plastic balls from a great wooden toy box and throwing them down a tall chimney - basketball style.

Party prizes for games were things like Old Maid card games, funny whistles and little kites. These little gifts were presented to the children in little paper bags I made from paisley printed paper to resemble mini carpet bags.

I made a carousel cake which was fairly simple: one large and one smaller round cake. I used a wide cardboard cylinder decorated with foil and ribbons as the central part of the carousel pressed through the center of the larger cake, and secured the smaller cake above it, balanced on a firm card. I found four carousel pony candles and used these at regular intervals in the large base cake. The cakes were decorated with icing matching the colours I had chosen for the party as well as rainbow sprinkles and plastic icing flowers and butterflies. The best thing about this cake was that I presented it on a well covered rotating table server - "a lazy susan". The server was decorated with green coconut grass and a brown sugar pathway leading to the carousel. Because of the server, the carousel was able to turn while we sang happy birthday. I also made umbrella-shaped biscuits, raspberry ice and toffee apples as treats.

As a take home treat, each child was given a celophane wrapped spoonful of sugar. I found a spoon shaped chocolate mould and made each child a chocolate spoon. I cut marshmallows in half, dipped them in milk and rolled them in coloured sugar crystals. once these had dried I iced them onto the chocolate spoons and had a truly splendid result.

Jessica - DURBANVILLE

Spiderman - 4 years

For my Son’s 4th birthday party, the theme of choice was obvious: he was a Spiderman fan, through and through.
The invites were the standard Spiderman store-bought ones and the kids enjoyed a couple of themed games such as tangled web, where the kids stand in a circle and those standing opposite one another each hold one end of a length of string. We then played a “twister” type routine which ended up with them getting all tangled up in the string and once they were securely entangled, had to get themselves free again without letting go of their end of string.
The highlight of the party was when each child at the party was presented with their very own Spiderman mask, made by myself in the weeks before hand. I made a basic balaclava style mask and drew spider webs on the masks with a laundry marker.
The party packs had to be bravely retrieved from the mouth of a giant black widow spider which my mother and I paper mached using a mixture of flour and water, a large punching balloon, newspaper and some black paint.

Tanya - DURBANVILLE

Pirate Party on a Cabin boy’s budget - 4 years

May 2009

My son recently celebrated his 4th birthday party and quite excitedly decided on a Pirate theme for his party, which was held at his school. Practically all of his friends attend his nursery school and with the teacher’s permission, we held a party for him there.

The invitation reading, "Aarg, me Matey, We Pirates of the “Nursery School name” Seas are getting together on the 19th of May at our secret hide out for some swashbuckling fun for Pirate Connor’s 4th Birthday……Come prepared for some real hearty Pirate fun and don’t forget to bring ja swords, we may just have to fight for Treasure!! Aargg..Please let the Captain know if ja coming or ja may have ta walk the plank", was printed out on some beige cardboard, a rough diagram of the school’s location drawn on the map, cut roughly and “dirtied” like a map using scrapbooking chalk.

Once he had blown out the “cannon” candles on his pirate ship cake, I very anxiously announced that the party packs had been taken by pirates. Concern for the lack of sweet treats caused wide spread panic and the kids readily jumped from their seats in order to search for the pirate’s stash. The “treasure chest” was made using a cardboard stationary storage box, wrapped in brown paper and painted. The kids searched the schools grounds for the treasure (which was previously hidden in the wendy house while the kids were all waiting inside). The treasure, finally found, was filled with the party packs made of brown paper bags with skull decorations, which my children eagerly pitched in to help make and were filled with treats such as candy necklaces, chocolate coins and a variety of age appropriate treats.

After the kids had eaten their sweets it was time to go to the “tattoo parlour” and each child was given a stick on tattoo of their choice and once each of them had been tattooed it was time for the craft. What good is a pirate without a sword and eye patch right? I found a fantastic pirate foam craft pack, perfect for the age group (2-5 year olds). All the kids had to do was “peel and stick” their crafts together which was fantastically easy for most of them. The grown up’s that were there assisted with inserting the elastic cord for the eye patches. Before we knew it the two hours was up and they kids all had a blast, especially my son who thoroughly enjoyed being the Captain Pirate for the morning.

Tanya - DURBANVILLE

Garfield - 4 years

My son Kieran had his 4th Birthday party last year and he was very keen on Garfield. I got a Party Planner to do the party for us and it was such a hit with the kids!

It is easy to do and you can have a successful Garfield party on a budget without using a party planner. The main colours were light blue and orange. The tablecloths were blue with normal orange plates with a cut out picture of Garfield and my son in the middle, (any photo shop can design the picture for you). The Oros bottles' labels were also replaced with a label of Kieran and Garfield with a personalized message, the same on the party boxes which were orange and some white to break the orange. You can hire tables, chairs, tablecloths and chair covers from party shops if you would prefer to cut costs instead of having a party planner arrange everything for you.

The cake was done by a lady we use who is very talented and works from home instead of going through a Home Industry who put their own mark up on the cakes. Also depending on your contacts, you can arrange scanned cup cakes cheaper than from the shops. I always believe in supporting the ladies working from home as they always offer a personalized service and help you plan and choose compared to a shop where you look through catalogues.

The snacks are also easy, sandwiches you can make yourself, just buy fresh brown and white bread, cheese, tomatoes, sliced ham etc. Then one or 2 cakes for the adults. If you would rather not prepare the food yourself I am a champion of Cassies platters as their prices are very reasonable and you get a lot of food for your money, most importantly, the food, especially the sandwiches are lovely.

This is one of the most successful parties we have had and it was done on a budget but look at what a hit it was!

Natasha - PORT ELIZABETH

Hot Wheels Racing Party - 4 years

Boys & Cars!

My son used to carry as many cars as possible in his two little hands. There was even a time that the cars would go to bed with him, and he didn’t seem to mind rolling over them in the middle of the night! When he reached the age of 4, the car madness was at its peak and so a Racing Party was the obvious choice! The computer is definitely a great help when planning a party, and I don’t know how I could do my children’s parties without it! I made the invitations on the computer, as well as “VIP pit-passes” for each child. I also scanned some pictures of cars from my son’s colouring books and then printed them out for the kids to colour in. We had the party at the local race track and of course the dads were very keen to come to this party! To decorate we used red, back and white balloons all over the clubhouse and we used “hot wheels” plates, cups and serviettes. In keeping with the theme, we used some of my son’s bigger cars as “centre-pieces” for the snacks.

We have tried over the years to have the parties close to lunch time, so that we can have “proper” food to eat. We decided to braai various kinds of sausage to suite almost all diets. The “boerewors rolls” were a hit and we have done this almost every year since then. The cake was a yellow racing car (my son’s favourite colour), and as much as I’d like to take credit for the cake I can’t, as I’ve always been too scared to make my childrens cakes – thank goodness for cake businesses! To keep the kids entertained when the cars weren’t racing, we had wheelbarrow races (the moms/dads pushed their kids) and this was a huge hit, the kids couldn’t get enough (poor parents!). We also had black bikes and other ride-on’s for the kids. When it was finally time to go home, each child got their party box (that my son had helped me to pack) filled with goodies and an in-expensive car. The cars I found at Game, and they were sold in packs of 12 for less than R5 per car! Needless to say everyone had a great day at the race-track!

Bernadine - CAPE TOWN