In honor of the soccer fever that is sweeping the country thanks to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, our suggestion for this Theme Thursday is to throw a soccer birthday party!
Kids-Birthday-Party-Guide.com has some festive suggestions to put on a fun party for your little David Beckham or Mia Hamm. These ideas are sure to keep your guests entertained (and active!). Have a look:
Decorations:
Games:
Are you looking for a cheap and easy way to make some fun party supplies for your upcoming shindig? Well, look no further! I went to About.com and found these simple instructions for making great party poppers!
You can use them as decoration for your next birthday party or fill them up with small treats and give them away as party favors!
Materials Needed:
Instructions:
Start out by cutting 1 to 3 pieces of tissue paper into 12″ x 12″ squares. I would suggest using at least two pieces of tissue paper to make your party popper a little stronger. You can use tissue paper in different colors for each layer or use all the same color if you like.
Lay the squares of tissue paper on your work surface on top of each other and then lay the toilet tissue roll centered along one edge of the tissue paper. Tape the edge of the tissue paper onto the side of the toilet paper roll. Roll the toilet paper roll up in the tissue paper tightly and secure the other end with tape. Your toilet paper roll should now be completely covered and you should have about 3″ of tissue paper hanging off each end of the toilet tissue roll.
Cut 2 pieces of curling ribbon, each one about 20-inches long. Pinch the tissue paper together on one end of the toilet paper roll and tie it with the ribbon as close to the toilet paper roll as you can. Now you can fill the inside of the toilet paper roll with candy and/or small gifts. Once it is full, pinch and tie the open end of the tissue paper like you did the first end. For a nice finishing touch, use the edge of a scissor blade to curl the ribbon. For a fancier party popper, use two or more pieces of ribbbon to give it a fuller look. You can also decorate the party popper using crayons, markers, or stickers!
I mean, every girl dreams of visiting Paris right? Why not give her a taste of France without the expensive airfare?
In honor of the beautiful Audrey Hepburn (the stunning actress celebrated her birthday on May 4th), I’m giving you some tips on how to throw an elegant, Parisian birthday party!
Host a dinner party for your daughter and her friends! While I’ll let you decide on the menu, here are some great ways to make any house feel like Paris 
Check out celebrations.com for more!
For your party’s decorations, envision the theme “Paris in the Springtime”:
Color Scheme
Capture the essence of “Paris in the Spring” by using a cheerful pastel color scheme with light pink, lavender, and spring green. Keep with these three colors when buying balloons, paper plates, napkins, flowers and other decorations.
Springtime Flowers
Visit your local floral district or wholesale market and purchase tulips, peonies, or football mums in large bunches. Split them up into smaller containers you already have at home, such as ceramic and silver pitchers, teapots, vases, and pots. Place the floral arrangements all over the house, with a special emphasis on the area that the majority of the party will take place.
Note: This décor idea looks best when the containers are all silver, but silver and white will also look good.
Paris Pictures
Order a few large posters with Paris-themed images and hang them around your home. Or, temporarily replace a large picture in your house with a framed poster of the Eiffel tower just for her birthday party. A large framed Eiffel tower would look beautiful placed over the mantle of a fireplace, flanked by two small bouquets of flowers on either side.
Extras
Target has a super cute Eiffel Tower pillow that would be perfect tossed onto your couches or chairs for decoration.
Games and Activities
Movies to watch at your Parisian Birthday Party
Keep the girls entertained with fun movies that revolve around the city of love. Here’s two to try:
*Passport to Paris — This movie is perfectly age-appropriate. It follows the Olson twins in their younger years as they take a fun trip to Paris and end up on an adventure.
*When It Sizzles — Older girls will love this Audrey Hepburn classic that mixes fantasy with the real world, all set in Paris.
Happy April Fool’s Day everyone!
April Fool’s is a great day dedicated to fun and laughter (just as long as you remember to keep all your tricks in good fun!), but it’s also an awesome birthday party theme!
If you have a little one celebrating a birthday in April, you have to check out what Geni from Burbank, CA did for her little girl! Thank goodness she was kind enough to share her success story with birthdaypartyideas.com!
My daughter’s 8th birthday is in early April so last year we decided to have an April Fool’s Day party at our house. To make the invitation, we made one on the computer with a birthday motif and wrote all of the information backwards. When the kids drove up to the house, they were greeted by caution tape across our front lawn and across the entrance to the side gates so they would have to walk directly up to the front door. On the door we taped a Wet Paint” sign to it. Over the doorbell but we did hear that some guests stood their for a few minutes trying to decide what to do…I even had someone call me from their cell phone. My husband or I would answer the door in our bathrobes looking “shocked” to see the new arrivals at the door. The party snack food was made up of small apples which had single holes cut out with a gummy worm crawling out of it. It actually looked real! We also made “sushi” out of rice krispy treats and fruit roll-ups. There are recipes on the internet for these.
Do you have a hard time pulling your little guys away from The Empire Strikes Back orThe Clone Wars?
Why not embrace their love of Jedis and lightsabers and throw them a Star Wars birthday party? I went to amazingmoms.com to learn a few tips of the trade!
PLANNING YOUR STAR WARS PARTY
You don’t need the powers of “the force” to host a memorable party, but time planning and the ideas in this guide will help. If possible, 4-6 weeks is the perfect no-stress time line. Begin with Star Wars party supplies. Then, use this birthday guide to prepare your Star Wars party games and activities.
Star Wars Partyware from Birthday In a Box
Build a Star Wars party box with everything you need for a fabulous party or purchase a la carte items.
STAR WARS PARTY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
Star Wars Badges:
Get your guests in the spirit of the latest Star Wars saga with this fun craft project. Before the party, cut out badges from construction paper. Provide the kids with Star Wars stickers, extra paper, glue, scissors, glitter, markers, crayons, magazine pictures, etc., and encourage creative expression. During the party, hand out extra badges as favors while playing games. When giving out the badges, honor the kids with special awards, i.e., Best Yoda Impression, Best Team Player, Most Infectious Giggle, or Biggest Smile.
Asteroid Hunt:
Purchase small treats or gifts and wrap them in aluminum foil. Hide them in a sandbox, around the house or in the yard. At the party, let the children dig in the sand, or search throughout your “planet” to find their “moon rocks.” The kids will love the excitement of opening their rocks and finding treasures!
Light Saber Training Course:
Before the party make some light sabers with foam pipe insulation or skinny swimming “noodles”. Wrap 4-6 inches from the end with colored electrical tape to make a handle. One red, one black, blue etc. To play, divide the kids into teams to go through a challenge course. Each team will get one “Light Saber”. Create tasks for each potential Jedi to accomplish (not too hard) with the light saber in hand. For example: Hit ping pong balls with the light saber, crawl under a chair tunnel, go down a slide, roll under a tarp, pop bubbles with the light saber — you get the idea.
Alien Face Painting:
Purchase a set of face paints and give each guest a unique alien “look.” Let each child make up an alien name for himself or create a few of your own and let the kids draw names randomly. Use movie names or your own, such as “Zork,” “Murblap,” or “Gondar.”
STAR WARS PARTY FAVORS
Make your own party favors by filling plastic party cups decorated with Star Wars Stickers. Write each guests name with glitter glue and fill with glow in the dark items, flashlights, glow-balls, small Star Wars toys and treats. Save time with complete Star Wars party favor kits, an easy and special way to say “thank you for coming to my party!”
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Recent Celebration Stories
Check out this great post from Karyn Brianne, Blogger Advisory Council Member, at the Fab Giver:
Health has always been an issue close to my heart. Growing up, I had my heart set on becoming a doctor because I’ve always believed that if you don’t have your health, everything else suffers. In college, however, I decided that being healthy starts before the treatment process. Every day that we wake up, there are things that we can do to take steps to being as healthy as we can be. So, I decided to study marketing and use those communication skills to promote healthy behaviors and empower others to take an active role in their health. And, as a member of the American Cancer Society’s Blogger Advisory Council, I’m committed to using my online presence to do just that.
This week marks National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, and recognizing this issue is very important to me. As an African-American, I was blown away to learn that we have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial and ethnic group in the US for most cancers. National Minority Cancer Awareness Week is about recognizing the health disparities that exist within our communities and encouraging action to help shrink the gap. About fifty percent of cancer deaths can be prevented through regularly scheduled screenings, healthy eating, regular physical activity and quitting tobacco use. However, minorities continue to have lower screening rates than whites; report less physical activity than recommended, and consume less fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
These simple lifestyle changes can go a long way towards ensuring that we are around to see more birthdays for ourselves and those that we love. I’m dedicating this post to my maternal grandmother, maternal great-aunt, maternal great uncle, maternal great-cousin, paternal great-grandfather, and paternal (step) grandfather. They passed away due to cancer and build a strong case for why I have to take the necessary steps to be as healthy as I possibly can. I’ll admit that I don’t know all the facts and haven’t been as healthy as I should be, but I’m committed to making that change. This week, I’m setting up appointments ranging from a general checkup to screenings necessary for my health and I encourage you to do the same.
The ACS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-227-2345 to help answer any questions about cancer and provide information on what resources exist for free or low cost cancer screenings. Get the facts, understand your medical history, and commit to your health! Some might say that it’s easier said than done, but when has that ever stopped us?
To learn more about the American Cancer Society, please visit cancer.org.
You never forget birthdays that are special to you… for me it was my 7th birthday and my mom orchestrated a surprise party in our garage. She did it with such secrecy and pizazz and that I will never forget… It was a typical Saturday at our house. I had a soccer game in the morning and my mom had made cupcakes for the team instead of the usual orange slices. I had told my mom I wanted a party but it was a week or so away so I wasn’t really thinking about anything happening until then… After the game was over, we headed home and as my mom opened the garage door, there were my friends and family waiting to say, “SURPRISE!” Indeed I was suprised. My mom had pulled off an unbelievable birthday celebration for me and managed to keep both of my older brothers from spilling the beans!
The reason this story is so memorable is because this was the last time I remember my mother healthy… shortly after this, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and although she was a fighter, she gave up her battle on June 14, just 2 1/2 years after her diagnosis. She was 41. She died 1 week before her 42nd birthday…
So you see, birthdays are not just special, they create lasting memories when there are no more birthdays to celebrate with loved ones gone before us…
Treasure each birthday and treasure each day… remember someone, somewhere is making a memorable birthday today.
This weekend, my 12-year old daughter and her friends are hosting a surprise birthday sleepover for one of their friends whose mother lost her very short battle with lung cancer this past July. Each year, her Mom would have a huge sleepover birthday party for her which all the girls looked forward to. This will be the first birthday she will have without her Mom and it will probably be difficult for her and her Dad and brothers.
I am so touched by the extraordinary compassion and sensitivity displayed by my daughter and her friends. While they are just 12 years old, they instinctively knew what to do for their friend. So, Saturday evening, think about the 10 twelve year olds who understand the meaning of more birthdays!
Birthdays…for some it’s a special day to acknowledge another year of life and for others it’s just another day. For me, something always comes up on a birthday whether it be my own or that of someone I know…
In the summer of 2002 birthdays took on a whole new meaning. For 7 months I was sick on and off. I had suffered from fevers of 102, 103, and sometimes 104 degrees. I had drenching night sweats to the point that I would wet my clothes and the sheets of my bed. My lymph nodes were enlarged and in less than a couple of months I had shed a little over 20 pounds. These symptoms would come and go during the 7 months and when summer came I knew this all couldn’t be, “just another cold.”
In July, my mom who is a nurse had me stop by her clinic to see the doctor that she had worked for. There I told him my symptoms and he had examined me. When he was done he told me that I had Lymphoma. At 23 years old I had no clue what that meant. He had left the room to tell my mom the news. When she returned to the room it was clear she had been crying. I thought to myself, “Oh God, I am dying…” I asked my mom, “What is Lymphoma?”
On July 24, 2002 which is my dad’s birthday I was officially diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 3. From there I underwent chemotherapy for 6 months and my cancer went into remission. Four short months later while randomly scratching my neck I found a lump. The cancer had returned. For my 2nd battle with cancer my oncologist suggested that we do an Autologus Stem Cell Transplant. It’s a transplant procedure where they harvest your own stem cells and re-infuse them back into your body. It’s like taking apart an old car, getting rid of the bad parts and rebuilding it with new parts. So, since the cancer didn’t hit my bone marrow, I was able to be the donor and recipient of my own stem cells.
On June 21, 2003, my 23rd birthday I sat in a chair for several hours with an IV drip of various chemo drugs instead of behind a table with a birthday cake. For several weeks after that there was more preparation for the transplant. In August I was admitted to the hospital for more chemo and to complete the transplant process. I was scheduled to be there for 30 days straight.
On August 18th, my oncologist’s birthday; he re-infused me with my stem cells and I also had 5 blood transfusions that week. Weeks later, I was released from the hospital on August 31st, the day before my son’s 3rd birthday. Jacob was born on September 1st which was also my OBGYN’s birthday. I made her miss dinner with her family that day due to Jacob’s arrival which was actually 3 days late. I have been in remission since October of 2003!
As you can see birthdays are not just another day for me…even if it’s not my own. Prior to my transplant my friends and co-workers celebrated my several times in the month of June to make up for having chemo on my special day. Every day of life is precious! Celebrate the birthdays in your life because you never know what someone else is going through that day. This year is my 30th birthday and 6 year cancer free anniversary. It’s also the 25th anniversary of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. So, how am I celebrating all these special events? I am attending 25+ Relay For Life events this summer from March through August. I’m a 2 time cancer survivor so what better way to live out the rest of my life than to… CELEBRATE, REMEMBER, FIGHT BACK!
For my 18th birthday, I was a senior in high school. I was at school for 15 hours that day because on top of school, it was Tech Week for our Winter Play. When school let out for the day, my friend and I hung out with our friends down in the Robotics Lab before grabbing a bite to eat for dinner and heading for rehearsal. Rehearsal went very well, and when it was over, the Stage Manager told my friend and I to organize the prop closet. Later, she came back and told us to sweep the stage. When I came onto the stage, the entire cast and crew was standing there, and started to sing Happy Birthday to me, and my other friend brought out the cake he made for me. I was completely surprised, and that made me so happy!
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This weekend, my 12-year old daughter and her friends are hosting a surprise birthday sleepover for one of their friends whose mother lost her very short battle with lung cancer this past July. Each year, her Mom would have a huge sleepover birthday party for her which all the girls looked forward to. This will be the first birthday she will have without her Mom and it will probably be difficult for her and her Dad and brothers.