Birthday Parties | She Plans Parties

Tropical Beach Summer Party Ideas and Supplies

June 6, 2011 By Linette Leave a Comment

If you can’t get to a tropical island this summer, why not bring the tropical island to you? Put together a tropical island beach party right in your back yard. It’s a great summer party theme for a birthday party, anniversary, graduation or shower. I’ve put together a few tropical beach party ideas to get you started.

Set the mood with the invitations. Here are a couple fun tropical summer beach party invitations from InvitationConsultants.com.

Tropical Tiki Personalized Invitations / Announcements

Tropical Scene Personalized Invitations / Announcements

Some cool tropical party supplies from Celebrate Express will help you decorate and serve in a snap.

See them in complete detail here:
Tropical Vacation Deluxe Party Pack

Here are a couple tropical party centerpieces and decoration ideas from Martha Stewart.

Create a beach sea shell cake to fit the theme. Graham crackers make great sand, and chocolate can be molded into sea shells.

Image via Flickr cc Nicknbecka

Set up a tropical Tiki bar complete with tropical party decorations.

Here’s another tropical party decoration idea I saw. Love that it’s just made out of fruit.

Puts me in the mood for a tropical drink on the beach!

Filed Under: Birthday Parties, Showers

Party Ideas For A 10 Year Old Boy

May 20, 2011 By Linette Leave a Comment

I was recently working on planning a birthday party for a ten year old boy, in other words, my son. Well, a soon to be ten year old boy.We considered several themes and ideas for his birthday party.

I tried to talk him into a creepy crawly bug party, with dirt cake, and gummy worms. He’s a huge Pokemon fan, so I thought maybe he might be into a Pokemon party, but he said no to both. I think he’s almost outgrowing the theme party ideas.

He did consider a LEGO party, or a skateboarding party, but vetoed them in the end and settled in on a guitar hero party or rock star party.

Some other great ideas for a boys 10 year old birthday party include:

A bowling party
Skating party
Backyard water party~ The boys will have a blast throwing water balloons at each other, running through sprinklers, and shooting water guns.
A movie party~ whatever their favorite movie is right now. My son loves anything action adventure.
Sports party~ If the birthday boy is into any kind of sports, or a sports team, center the theme of his party around that sport.
Video game party~ There are some great video game party themes out there, including
Mario Kart Wii and Ratchet and Clank
An Angry Birds party, or another favorite app could make a fun birthday party theme.

Image via istockphoto.com

Cars 2 Party Supplies and Ideas

May 16, 2011 By Linette Leave a Comment

Are you ready for Cars 2 to hit theaters June 24? I am! Cars 2 party supplies are out! So I thought I’d put together some Cars 2 party ideas to help celebrate! Kids love Lightning McQueen so I’m sure the long awaited sequel will be the children’s movie of the summer!

Celebrate Express has already released some really cool party supplies.

You can check out the Cars 2 party supplies in full detail by clicking here: Cars 2 Party Supplies

Looking for something customized check out these Cars 2 personalized party invitations, labels, and wrappers from eBay:

You can check out everything they have to offer by clicking here: Cars 2 Party Invitations and Favors

These cute Cars 2 Cupcake rings are sure to be a hit with the kids. The best part is, they’re simple to make and decorate! Much easier than a cake, and lower cost!

The Cars 2 Party Favor Box includes a sticker sheet, a notepad, 4 primary crayons, a disc launcher, a gold trophy and a wheel yo-yo.

A Lightning McQueen Standup makes a wonderful photo spot for individual or a group photo, it’s also a great party decoration. Oh, and the kids will love it!

Looking for more Cars 2 party ideas? Here you go!

Set up your own “World Tour” by leaving clues around the house or yard for the kids next stop in the party. You can do cake in the dining room, play a game in the back yard, watch the original Cars movie in the living room, open presents in the garage, play Cars freeze tag in the front yard, or local park. Just give the kids clues to lead them to their next party destination.
Build a small ramp and let the kids bring and race their own “Matchbox(tm)” size cars. You can make ramps from wood or cardboard and let the kids take turn racing against each other to see who’s car is the fastest.
Let the kids paint their own race car like this one~Melissa & Doug Decorate-Your-Own Wooden Race Car
Checkered flags make great party decorations.
Craft idea~ Let the kids make and decorate their own license plates.

If you have any Cars 2 party ideas please feel free to share them below!

Filed Under: Kid's Parties Tagged With: birthday parties, cars 2, children's parties, party supplies

Summer Birthday Party Ideas for Adults

May 14, 2011 By Linette Leave a Comment

Adults like to have fun birthday parties too! Just because you’re not a little kid any more doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the fun. Summer birthdays are the funnest! There so many things you can do during the summer to have a birthday party everyone will love. Here are a few of my favorites.

Plan a pool party~ You don’t have to be a kid to have fun in the swimming pool with your friends. Get a game of water volleyball, or water basketball going and everyone will have a blast.
Plan a beach party or luau~ Plan your party at the local beach, complete with sand volleyball, and a cookout. Give it a luau theme and hand out leis to guests as they arrive.
Plan a golf party~ If the birthday man or woman enjoys golf or put put add it to your party theme. You can even take the party on location and play a game of putt putt, or head to the golf course for entertainment.
Plan an ice cream party~ Complete with a make your own sundae bar. Yum!
A backyard bbq or cookout with a few friends can make for a casual summer birthday idea.
Head out to the local park for your birthday where friends can play games like volleyball, horseshoes, or Frisbee. Just bring the grill along, or have everyone bring their favorite dish.

I hope one of these ideas inspires you when you’re planning your summer adult birthday party! Have fun!

Image via sxc.hu

Filed Under: Birthday Parties Tagged With: adult birthday parties, party ideas, party themes, summer party, summer party ideas, summer party planning

Ice Cream Party Ideas

March 22, 2011 By Linette Leave a Comment

An ice cream sundae bar is an easy summer party treat, and it also makes a great summer party theme! You can even make your own homemade ice cream!

Here are some of the toppings you can add to your sundae bar:

Nuts (check with your guests to make sure no one is allergic to nuts)
hot fudge
peanut butter topping
caramel
strawberries or other berries, fresh or mixed together to make a sauce or topping
fresh sliced peaches
bananas
chopped cookies
chopped candies
cherries
chocolate chips
whipped topping
crushed mini chocolate bars
sprinkles

You can offer several flavors of ice cream, and let your guests serve themselves.

Here are some fun Ice Cream Sprinkles Party Supplies. These would be a blast for an ice cream party, or any summer gathering. Love the smiling ice cream cones!

Here are a few more ice cream party ideas:

Make a cake that looks like ice cream or ice cream that looks like a cake.
Play pin the cherry on the banana split. Make the cherry and the banana split from felt, mounted on a piece of cardboard. Don’t forget the blindfold!
Offer ice cream cones, and sundae cups
Dip some of the cones in chocolate!

An ice cream party theme would be great for summer birthday parties, backyard barbecues, cookouts, family reunions, poolside parties, graduations, or just because! If you’re planning or have planned an ice cream party, please feel free to share your own ideas!

Filed Under: Kid's Parties Tagged With: backyard party, ice cream party, summer party

Snack Mix For Your Fall Harvest Party

October 21, 2010 By Linette Leave a Comment

It’s super fun to incorporate some of your favorite fall flavors into a quick and easy snack mix for your fall or Halloween party. Just throw this easy snack mix together into a large bowl, and set it out for your guests to enjoy. Here’s the recipe I like to use for a simple harvest or Halloween party snack mix.

Fall Harvest Snack Mix

Mix together:

5 cups of Chocolate Chex(tm) Cereal
1 bag Brachs(tm) Autumn Mix
2 cups of lightly salted peanuts

You can also spread this mixture out on a cookie sheet, or waxed paper, and drizzle it with melted chocolate, or white chocolate. Let it cool, then break it apart.

Yum, I love sweet and salty snack mixes.

Check out more kid’s: Halloween Party Ideas

Filed Under: Decorating, Halloween, Kid's Parties, Party Recipes Tagged With: fall harvest party, fall recipes, halloween party ideas, Halloween recipes

When Do You Open The Gifts?

May 12, 2010 By Linette Leave a Comment

When do you open the birthday presents? The trend today is to not open birthday gifts until later, after the party is over, or to wait until the end of the party.

Opening gifts used to be part of the entertainment at a birthday party or wedding or shower, but more and more people are opting to wait until after the party to open the gifts.

There are several reasons why there’s a trend to not open gifts until later, here are just a few:

1. Saves Aunt Bessie, and Aunt Jean embarrassment if they both purchased the exact same gift.

2. Leaves more time for other party activities, like food, games, and just socializing and hanging out.

3. Gifts can’t be compared to each other, smaller gifts may be just as special as grander gifts.

4. It’s a hectic time for the birthday child, or guest of honor. They don’t have as much time to enjoy each gift as they open it, without pressure to get the gift opening done so party goers can move on to something else.

If you don’t plan to open your gifts at the party, state that on the invitation so party guests won’t be disappointed, or ask them to omit gifts completely.

Don’t forget to send out those thank you cards!