PARTY FAVORITES
The following photos are some of my family favorites from previous birthday parties. Any of these ideas can be recreated to fit your own fanart party theme.
Pokemon
My son really wanted the licensed Pokemon plate, cups, napkins and table cloth this year so I just had to focus on some treat bags and other small fanart decor items...yay!!
Water bottles were wrapped with Pokemon labels that I found on line.
Yellow treat bags were decorated with an image of Pikachu. I used foam tape to make them 3-D.
I made bookmarks by printing them onto card stock and laminating them. Then used markers to make pearl beads look like pokemon balls. Added some string and voila!
I made felt pouches by using felt, hot glue and t-shirt transfer paper that I printed on the computer and ironed on. Inside, I glue some velcro so the pouch can close securely.
I made pencil toppers by painting small styrofoam balls.
Since I had some larger styrofoam balls, I painted those as well to add into the treat bags or place on the table for decor.
On his actual birthday, Tristan likes to share a treat with his classmates at school.
This year, it was Pokemon sugar cookies!
Use your favorite sugar cookies recipie, circle cookie cutters and decorate with red, white and black icing. (Tip: When drawing with the icing, I did the white and red halves first, then a black line across with a circle in the middle. Then a white dot in the center of the black)
Ahoy Mateys! Pirate Party Pieces
Fishy crackers are the perfect snack at a pirate party. I wanted to give each guest their own serving at the table but I didn't want to use regular boring bowls or plates. So, I came up with this clever idea...Pirate Ship Jar Toppers. Now, kids can go fishing and nibble on the crackers or have them walk the plank! The boat sits on top of a baby food jar. It can easily be removed to be washed. After the party, it can also be used to store mini toys, like Lego pieces.The materials I used were, cardboard, card stock, wooden sticks, twine, pirate themed stickers, hot glue, baby food jar, and decoupage coating. You can decorate your ship any way you want (ex. Write your child's name and age on the flag, include paper characters inside your ship etc.) The fan art possibilities are endless!
Hot Lava Game
Put a twist on 'Hot Potato' by using a lava rock and playing the
'Hot Lava" song from Disney's Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
To make a lava rock, take a square block of styrofoam and shape
using a knife. Try and take off all of the straight edges to make it
look more organic. Then, paint it black and you're done!
Toy Story Ideas
Hawaiian / Summer Party Ideas
Mini 'Pizza Planet' Boxes filled with mini pizzas made out of white and coloured chocolates.
Place your favorite pizza toppings using chocolate or candy sprinkles.
A 'Slinky Dog' utensil Holder: Using card stock and a pipe cleaner.
Draw your favorite characters on white cookie icing using edible markers.
Shape kielbasa or ham into bite sized 'Hamm' characters. Use edible markers or peppercorn for eye details.
Shape cheese into planets or 'Lotso Huggin' Bears.'
Deviled 'Alien' Eggs. Add green food colouring to egg mix and details using egg white eyes and parsley hair.
Close up.
Create a Mr. Potato Head Cheese Ball. I used candy lips and eyes but you can cut different veggies to create your own face.
Place candy army soldiers in a jar or bucket with a 'Bucket of Soldiers' label. This looked so cute!
Since my son's birthday is in January, I purchased a gingerbread train kit and created the train from Toy Story 3. I added a photo of the birthday boy in a buzz outfit in the front and cut out images of all of the characters in the back. I also used some toy story themed candy to decorate the train. My son loved this!
I found the perfect Bullseye download game on the Disney Family.com website but I added my own view finder blind fold.
Cut out oval shapes using brown cardstock and as many different clip art body parts, clothing and accessories so the kids can create their own Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head. I also had googly eyes available. You can pre cut double sided or foam tape into small sizes so they can be attached easier and avoid scissor mishaps. When their Potato Head was complete, I added a magnet to the back so they could stick it up on their fridge when they got home.
Make your own Mr. Potato Head toss game but drawing his back image onto a poster board. The kids toss the actual Mr. Potato Head parts into the rear opening, just as they would with the real toy. So cute!
So simple! All you need is fruit, skewers and yogurt. The 'coal' inside the grill are black grapes. If your party is going to be outdoors, you may want to freeze some grapes and place them around your fruit to keep them cool.
Create colourful placemats with card stock and images of your favorite beach items. The left flip flop is actually a pocket that serves as a napkin holder. The bucket of sand contains a shell that is decorated with the guests name.
Instead of bowls, use colourful plastic buckets to hold snacks. Instead of using their fingers, they can use a toy shovel to scoop up their snacks!
Place the Coconuts on the Tree Game: Make your own Hawaiian scene poster by painting it, using coloured paper (as I did here) or using clip art. Cover a pair of sunglasses with an arrangement of cut out paper images (Flowers and flip flops were used here) and you have your own unique blind fold!
Each party guest was given a pair of flip flops to decorate, using stick on jems and assorted summer themed embellishments. Remember: if you don't know their shoe size, It's always better to buy larger!
Use a poster, paint or draw an image of the party theme you're having and create your own party game. Can you guess this theme?
Cars / Monster Truck Party Ideas
Made by using a simple car cookie cutter shape.
If you can find Monster Truck cookie cutters, I suggest you buy them! I didn't have any so I used a plastic knife to shape each cookie. It was a lot of effort but the result was great. Pick your favorite Monster Trucks and have a fun creating them out of icing.
Create a checkered flag out of cheese for a healthy snack.
Make small boxes filled with mini chocolates for your party guests. I added the birthday boy's face in the driver's seat of his favorite monster truck.
An inside view of the treat box.
Mini Hershey chocolates were used here. I measured it's dimensions and created wrappers showcasing images of different monster trucks against a checkered back ground. Then I wrapped each bar and taped it into place.
Every party needs a drink station so wrap water bottles with custom 'Fuel' labels to give to your active little drivers.
Littlest Pet Shop Party Ideas
Attach paper bunny ears to head bands so your guests can 'hop' to each treasure hunt location. I found these plastic carrot containers at Easter time which were perfect to hide clues in. You can also use plastic eggs decorated with stickers.
Use Cardstock to create some bunny ears and tape them on plastic headbands.
Place the Party Hat on the Turtle Game: I drew and coloured one of the pets on Bristol board with balloons in the background. Use card stock ( or print out decorated hats using a computer program.) For the blindfold, I enlarged an image of a monkey head, printed it on card stock and glued it onto black paper. Attach some elastic cord and you're done.
Doesn't she look cute?! You can use any of the animals you'd like or make several of them.
Our party craft was to create your own Kitty Mask. I made a line drawing of the image that I liked, making sure it was the right size by testing it on the birthday girl, and made several copies on card stock. I cut out the holes where their eyes would be and where the elastic cord would attach on either side of the mask, but left the rest of the decorating and cutting up to them. I also enlarged some clip art of assorted hats and accessories they might want to add.
Even though they used the same kitty image, their end results were very different, showcasing their individuality. It was a huge success!