Mental Muscles

Archive for the ‘The Best Birthday Party’ Category

Life is a gamble. What better way to celebrate that gamble than by rolling the dice or playing cards all night? A great casino night is definitely a lot of fun to be had by all. You can choose. Of course you will not be able to use real money for this but can allow each guest their own set of chips or monopoly money to play with for the evening and have fun prizes for the winners and funny parting gifts for those who do not fare so well. The important thing is that you are celebrating the great gamble that life really is in the perfect style for doing so.

Whether you go for a grand James Bond Style Casino event complete with tuxedos and a full and flowing bar or go for a more tropical sort of casual casino theme it is important that the music and drinks flow freely and that everyone has the opportunity to have a great time. Great decorations for your casino night will differ according to the style of casino you are attempting to incorporate. Needless to say gaming tables, a roulette wheel, and lots of dice are sure to please your guests as great party décor. Otherwise go with the sub theme of your party.

Be sure to let your guests know if there is a dress code for the evening when sending out invitations. You may purchase your invitations online quite easily or print your own. Again you will want to go with the method that works best with the theme of the Casino birthday party you are throwing. If it’s an over the hill sort of birthday party you might want to make the invitations humorous with some sort of reference to the fact that lighting the candles on the cake may be a gamble in and of itself. Remember to let your invitations begin the party theme and work from there to build things up.

On the big night you can raid your local party supply store or an online party supply shop for all sorts of gambling related decorations. From fuzzy dice to oversized cardboard cards and hundreds of things in between you can go as elegant as you’d like with your casino night birthday party or go for some of the more ‘party’ themed casino settings that you will find as well. You are only limited by your imagination and personal tastes when it comes to properly decorating for your casino birthday party. With that in mind, make the decorations as fun or as elegant as you can stand.

As for the food, what sort of self respecting casino wouldn’t have a grand buffet prepared. Display your food buffet style and if possible have a catering staff circulating with drinks throughout the room. For your casino night birthday party finger foods are the best. Shrimp cocktail, crab puffs, petit fours, cocktail sausages, meatballs, sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, dips with appropriate bread and crackers, finger sandwiches, and any other great finger food you can think of. Another great addition to your buffet table would be a chocolate fountain with plenty of marshmallows, pretzels, and fruits to cover.

You will want to be sure to have appropriate casino sound effects. While it isn’t possible to have a wall full of slot machines, at least not in my neck of the woods, you can get the slot machine sound effect for a more realistic feeling in your casino or you could skip the slots and keep this a table games only section with great music overhead. The choice is yours and the sky is the limit.

Be sure to take plenty of photographs in order to create a scrapbook of the grand event. Not only will this help preserve your own memories of the evening but it also makes a great gift for the guests who have shared moments in your life and make the gamble worthwhile.

If you want a very happy child, considering throwing a birthday party worthy of the big top. A circus theme for a birthday party is sure to thrill and excite your little one and guests alike. Be sure to make the event one worthy of its title though and keep the action lively and moving throughout the event so that little minds with short attention spans do not have an opportunity to move on to more mischievous pursuits.

The first thing that is an absolute must for a circus theme is a big top. This may run a little high on the decoration dime but can be done quite nicely without booking a huge back yard with a tent. In fact, you can create a tent in your very own living room if you are so inclined to do so. Helium can be rented quite inexpensively and you can create the illusion of a tent top by filling the ceiling with brightly colored balloons and streamers to match. In addition to this you can have the entrance of the room made to look like tent flaps. Push all the furniture along the wall and allow the little ones to seat themselves on the floor along the “center ring” where all the action will be.

Now, you really should make an effort to have some sort of entertainment for the kiddos with an event of this nature. It can be a clown act, magic show, or simply someone making balloon animals for the birthday boy or girl and his or her guests. Face painting is another great activity to include on your list of events and shows and a lot of fun for the little ones. Be sure to include several great games (ring toss, pin the nose on the clown, and corn hole are great games worthy of a circus theme) and a craft activity or two in the running so that the little ones do not sit idly very long. It is always a good idea to keep them occupied and having fun.

The big top provides some excellent dining delights that carry over quite well into the birthday party theme. Hot dogs are an excellent lunch for a room filled with excited little ones. Candied apples, popcorn, and peanuts are also a great and fun addition to birthday party food that work well with the circus theme. Be sure to enlist serious muscle for the clean up when all is said and done.

Goody bags can be a lot of fun for this particular event by using popcorn bags for the bag and filling them with circus animals, bubbles, glow bracelets, circus themed stickers, and other nifty little items. Oriental trading and local party stores might prove to be an excellent resource for goody bag gifts. Don’t forget to include a photo frame with a photo of each child with his or her face painted or balloon animal as a keepsake.

The main thing to remember when planning a party worthy of the big top moniker is that the most important thing is that everyone has a good time. Don’t sweat the small details so much that you aren’t able to enjoy the event. Other great ideas to make this an even bigger event include things such as renting a moon walk for kids to jump and play in, renting a cotton candy maker, and having a real popcorn popper rather than relying on microwave popcorn. There’s something about the smell that just makes it feel like a circus.

Another thing you need to do when planning a big top or circus themed birthday party is plan for contingencies, such as rain if the party was to be held outside. The show must go on whether it is storming or whether the sun is shining brightly so be sure to have a back up plans in case things go awry.

Ancient Egypt is a fascinating place all these years later. From mummies and pyramids to pharos and scarabs there is plenty of fuel for the fascination pyre. Keep in mind however, that the goal here is for the kids to have a great time, not to be frightened so keep the scary stuff to a minimum if possible (even if your child is brave to a fault that doesn’t mean that some of the guests won’t be frightened and you want the experience to be pleasant for everyone).

Decorations for this are not as difficult as you may think. In fact, some of these decorations will double quite nicely for Halloween or may already be in your Halloween stash. First of all, if you have a canopy or tent lying around this will make an excellent substitution for a pyramid. You can fill your canopy or tent with relics that are authentic looking for what would be inside an Egyptian pyramid. Use skulls (leftover from Halloween decorations) on the floor, gold coins (or doubloons, which can be purchased rather inexpensively at many party supply stores), sequins that look like jewels, and fake jewelry that might have been worn during the period. Of course the piece de resistance will be the mummy wrapped in the corner (if this isn’t part of your Halloween stash it should be after this).

Now, what self respecting mummies home doesn’t have a great curse to go along with it? Before allowing the guests into the “pyramid” you need to make sure they are aware of the curse that goes along with it. It’s a fun little addition to the theme and a lot of fun to watch their eyes as you tell the tale of the mummy inside and why the tomb is cursed.

If you are still looking for excellent activities you can bury treasure in your sandbox (if you have one) and let them all take turns digging up treasures and/or artifacts that they can take home with them. Make sure everyone has at least one turn and gets one thing to take home from the digging.

You can either barbecue dinner or order pizza or something simple for dinner. I recommend letting the guests eat inside the pyramid for fun (if it isn’t too terribly hot) and allow for a showing of The Mummy afterwards (provided the audience is old enough and interested). You could also allow them to play in the tomb for a while or make it an overnight event and allow them to camp in the tomb if it’s a tent.

Great goody bag gifts include flashlights, glow sticks, spiders, chocolate coins, stickers, and other candy jewelry. One great game for an Egyptian themed birthday party would be wrap the mummy. Divide the kids into groups of three and have them take turns racing to wrap the mummy (a member of the team) in toilet paper. Do this so that everyone has the opportunity to be wrapped – just be sure to use the cheap brands of toilet paper for this particular project and plan on having plenty in case they get a little overzealous.

Most importantly you want to plan an event that is fun to participate in and that will have all your guests eager to come back for the big birthday bash next year. Just remember you’ll be expected to top the current theme and might gain a reputation for throwing the cool parties.