It’s summertime and we figure that a lot of you will be heading to the beach at some point! But what about those of us who won’t be able to make it down to the shore? Our suggestion for this Theme Thursday is to create your own seaside getaway by throwing an ocean-themed birthday party!

Amazingmoms.com has some great suggestions to make it feel like you’re celebrating under the sea. Take a look:

Decorations:

• Your guests will feel like scuba divers when they arrive at the under-the-sea adventure you’ve created. Hang several strips of party streamers vertically from the ceiling. Cut streamers in varying lengths and shades of blue. We use “sticky-tak” to avoid making holes in your ceiling.
• Add paper fish intermittently with the streamers.
• Cover the party table with a light blue or white sheet.
• Make a festive party centerpiece by attaching a bouquet of balloons to an ocean-themed toy, such as a heavy plastic whale. Add other plastic toys as well. Use butcher paper or poster board to decorate the front door with an underwater scene.
• For added effect, switch out some of your standard light bulbs to colored blue and/or green bulbs.

Party Games:

• Shark or Whale Tag: The birthday child begins as a “shark” in the middle of a large playing area. All other players are “fish,” who must try to run past the shark to the other side of the playing area. If a fish is tagged, he or she holds hands with shark to build a bigger shark and help tag more fish. The last fish left wins!
• Minnow, Minnow, Shark: Children will play this game just as they would “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Replace the fox player with a shark.
• Fishing for Treasure: Explain to the children that an old sunken ship is rumored to hold valuable treasure. Their job is to find clues that lead to the treasure, which is a box filled with their party bags. Before the party write and hide your clues. Attach the clues to items you would find on a ship… silverware, candlesticks, teacup, personal items, etc.

Go wild on this Theme Thursday and throw your child a jungle-themed birthday party! Transform your home into the tropics with these great party ideas that we found here on Epinions.com. Have a look:

Decorations:

• Use leafy green-colored helium balloons and scatter in small groupings of three and five (always decorate in odd numbered groupings, as it is more pleasing to the eye) around the room. This will help create a lush, green jungle effect. You can weigh these down with a rock wrapped in green tissue paper so that they can be placed on the floor or ground.
• Use green streamers on the ceiling to create the feeling of a canopy of leaves.
• Draw large leaves on green construction paper, poster board, or fun foam craft sheets. Cut them out and then tape to the streamers and onto the walls to further enhance this effect.
• Use real or silk green houseplants (borrow some if you don’t have enough) and make these part of your jungle decorations. Big leafy ones or rubber type trees would work best. Place in strategic groupings to recreate the feel and look of a “jungle.”
• Purchase raffia from a craft supply store. This is usually sold in long strands. Place the entire bunch down the center of the table like a table runner. This will create the effect of native jungle grass.

Jungle Party Games:

• Jungle Animal Freeze: There are no winners or losers in this game… just hilarious good times! Play music (something jungle- or animal-inspired like “I’m Being Eaten by a Boa Constrictor” or “Talk Like the Animals” would add a nice touch) and then instruct the children to jump up and down or dance to the music. Stop the music and then shout out a name of a jungle animal. The kids then have to stop and strike a pose like that animal!
• Animal Charades: Here’s another game with no winners or losers. Before the party, cut out pictures of animals from magazines or from a computer publishing program. Glue or tape them to small index cards. Place the cards in a bag or upside-down in a pile. When the game begins, each child takes a turn to pick a card (advise them not to show anyone else what’s on the card). They must then act out the animal that’s on the card without using words; animal noises and sounds are permitted. When the children guess the animal correctly, everyone jumps up and acts out their own version of that animal. Continue playing until each child has had a turn. This game is guaranteed to bring on peals of laughter and to burn up some excess energy!
• Pin-the-Spot/Stripe/Tail-on-the-Jungle Animal: Blow up a large image of a jungle animal (have your child choose their favorite) and then cut off a part of its body (this could be the tail, nose, a stripe or spot that has been blanked out to appear “missing”). Recopy the animal with the missing part onto a large poster-sized sheet of paper or card stock). Then make multiple copies of the missing part for the children to use as their game pieces (your local copy center can do this for you). Play the game just like Pin-the-tail-on-the-Donkey.
• Safari Animal Round-Up: Before the party begins, gather together as many stuffed animals as you can (borrow some from friends and family if you don’t have enough). Hide them throughout the party area. Make this more or less difficult according to the age of the children who will be in attendance. Send the safari hunters out to round up the wild animals. Whoever finds and captures the most animals wins!

We guarantee these ideas will make for a roaring good time!

Did you know that on July 24th, the first “flying saucers” were spotted? In 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold was flying across Washington when he reported seeing strange “saucers skipping across the water”—hence the term, “flying saucers.”

In honor of Captain Arnold’s discovery, our suggestion for this Theme Thursday is to throw your child a Space Alien party! We found some ideas on Amazingmoms.com that we thought were “out of this world!”

Decorations:

• Black fabric hung from the walls and on the furniture will complete your outer space look.
• Hang glow-in-the-dark stars, planets and white twinkling lights from the ceiling with fishing line. Make the planets with paper, craft foam or, for 3-D planets, cover Styrofoam balls with fabric. Use stick pins to secure the fabric and fishing line.
• Hang re-writable CD’s from the ceiling to create a fun effect. It’s even better when you attach glow-in-the-dark stars to the CD’s
• Fill the ceiling with black helium balloons.

Party Games:

• Rocket Launch: Provide each guest with a kid-safe foam rocket slingshot. Using a permanent marker, write names on the rocket. The children will take turns launching their rockets. The farthest distance wins or everyone can receive a small prize. Plan to play this game more than once — the kids love it!
• Blast-Off ! (Similar to musical chairs): Use fabric or butcher paper to make a large but simple rocket or a giant planet. Place the rocket/planet on the floor. Play music while the kids dance, move and play around the room. When the music stops they all have to find a place on the rocket. Variation: Instead of making just one planet, make few smaller ones — this makes the game more fun!
• Asteroid Belt (Indoor Game): Before the party, inflate several balloons. When it’s time to play have the children form a circle. Toss the balloons or “asteroids” in the air and the children have to keep the asteroids from hitting the Earth. More than likely, the children will not stay in the circle…that’s just fine.
• Saturn’s Rings Toss: You’ll need a hula-hoop, beanbags, water balloons or balls. Mark an “X” with tape on the ground or floor. Have two helpers hold the hula-hoop a reasonable distance from the “X”. The players take turns trying to toss the beanbag planets through the ring.
• Galaxy Treasure Hunt: Use several balls with different shapes and colors to represent the planets and one large yellow ball for the sun. Write witty rhyme clues and attach them to each planet for example:
  

  “This planet had rings, but not made of gold.
  Explore near the driveway like an astronaut bold!” – Saturn

  Hide the planets and sun in different rooms or other challenging spots. The hunt should end with the Sun, where they’ll find their goody bags.

• Outer Space Crafts: Provide paper plates, egg cartons, TP tubes, pipe cleaners, construction paper, paint, markers, glue sticks, scissors and other miscellaneous craft materials. Place all of the items on a protected space and allow the children to build their own rockets, UFO’s or alien creatures.

Hosting a party like this is not “rocket science”—just remember to have fun and be creative!

Our suggestion for this theme Thursday is to throw a barnyard-style birthday party! We were looking around online for how to celebrate in authentic farming style when we came across some fantastic ideas on Birthdayinabox.com

Some of these ideas will surely have your guests thinking that they’ve stumbled into Old Macdonald’s farm!

Check out these fun decorating tips:

-    Cover your tables with red-checkered tablecloths, and use small terra cotta plant pots lined with a bandana to hold the cutlery.
-    If your child has a toy red barn, use it as the table centerpiece
-    If they’re available, decorate with cornstalks or bales of hay. Use bales of hay for extra seating as well
-    Tie red bandanas around each guest’s neck as they arrive.
-    Draw large pigs, sheep, and cows onto poster board, and attach to wooden stakes. Press the stakes into the ground, or attach them to the walls around the party space.
-    Set out a little red wagon (or several if you can borrow some from friends) and fill it with hay. Ask a parent or two to pull the children around on “hay rides.”
-    Create a “Pig Pen” using pink balloons. Draw faces for the pigs using a black marker, and attach pink curly ribbon for the tails. Place the balloon pigs inside a playpen and let your guests play freely with them during the party.

In honor of Shrek Forever After still holding the number one spot at the Box Office, I thought I’d give you the inside scoop on throwing a fantastic Shrek party! Why not let the kids celebrate ogre-style on their next birthday?

I found some great party ideas at Amazingmoms.com. Here’s a few that I found particularly fun:

Have fun at your Shrek party and don’t forget to get your ogre on!