Our twin daugheters 8th birthdays are just around the corner and we are having trouble coming up with some inexpensive birthday party ideas. The party will probably be held at home, or if held 3 weeks early at our community pool before it closes. We want it to be fun but we are thinking of limiting the number each girl can invited because no matter where we have it gift bags etc can start to get expensive when you start making more. So calling all the awesome mom's out there. What are some fun creative party ideas, etc and what number is a good number to let the girls invite? They are girly girls, but they also play competitive soccer so sports theme isn't out of the question. Thanks in advance!!
forget the goody bags.....it's a thing of the past! Parents are geared more toward projects & activities.
If you do a pool party, then order cheap beach balls thru Oriental Trading Co. & let the girls decorate them w/ permanent markers. Quick, fun, & cheap!
I say forego to party favor bags because you do spend a lot of time and money on things that end up in the trash at all of our homes after anyway. For my daughter's birthday this year we had an arts and crafts table and each kid got to make a picture/drawing/water color etc. and take it home. Then they got to pick one helium balloon (the color of their choice) from an arrangement to take home (the balloons were only 0.67 a piece). It was more than enough and the kids had a blast on the back patio making things and sharing them with one another.
For 8 year old girls I would do something with jewelry making, or t-shirt designing with puffy paints.
We recently had my eight year old daughter's party at our community pool. We allowed her to invite a smaller number of friends this time to limit the cost. I have to say it was the best party we've done so far. The girls were so excited to play in the pool I barely got them to sit down and eat a cupcake (that we made together)!! The party lasted two hours and for the first time we did not hand out goody bags or treats. And guess what - no one even asked or questioned! It was truly just a fun party where the girls played and the parents who stayed had a chance to visit. Good luck and hope you find something fun!
we are going through the same thing with our kids right now, although ours are younger then yours.
we are 2 ideas that we are debating between. either A) filling up the sand box with sand and also break your own geodes (you can get them on ebay. they look like rocks, but when you break them open they have crystals or fossils inside. you can even get large lots of them) Let each kid go ahead and sift through the sand to find their own until everyone gets one. then take turns breaking them open and that can be their "party favor" to take home.
the other option is to enclose in the invite for everyone to bring a white clothing item to tie-dye! you supply the dye! (you can get them in little squirt bottles to contain the mess. If you have a craft section at walmart, you can get it there. when i do it with my kids i get those little aluminum tins for grilling and lay the clothes in there and let them squirt outside on the driveway. i could care less if my driveway or grass gets dyed! lol) once everyone gets there, you can all tie-dye together, then go play games, eat cake, open presents, etc, and before everyone leaves you can cut the rubber bands and see how they turn out and that can be their party favor to take home!
I agree to just NOT do the gift bags. Let them make a craft perhaps, and that's what they can take home if you want them to go home with something.
A pool party - you wouldn't need much more entertainment. Perhaps their 'take home' could be some adorable colorful flip flops. Old Navy 2 for $5. Get bandanas or silk flowers and let the girls decorate their flip flops (hot glue for the flowers, tear the bandanas into strips and tie a lot of small knots on the foot strap - google it you'll see what I mean).
Or have 'night at the movies' theme. Sleepover, movie, the invitations could look like a movie ticket. In this case, have each girl invite maybe two or three friends? Make popcorn, each girl can have her own topping choice (butter, cheese sprinkles, caramel, etc. There are TONS of weird recipes out there). During the evening, you could paint each girl's toenails whatever color they like.
Have fun. Be creative. Ask your girls what they'd prefer to do!
My girls usually set the theme for their parties. I love that I have a themere to base the party around. The most fun party we had for my older girl was when she turned 7. I went to the dollar store and bought foam purses, glitter glue, stickers, etc. They decorated the purses first thing then played games and had cake while the purses dried. I also bought inexpensive things (bracelets, lip gloss, etc) to put in the purses which we did just before they left. There is a discription of the entire party here http://justmythoughts-momof3.blogspot.com/2009/03/late-ov...
We ususally invite one person per age of the child up until the age of 10.
Pool party would be awesome!
I think since they are 8, what if they each invite 4 friends? So 10 kids total.
Personally, I hate the dreaded "treat bag" thing.
What I've done is to buy the super huge candy bars and make personalized "Thanks for coming" wrappers to apply over the real wrapper. It's a hit.
If you don't do the pool thing what about a movie/pizza party (sleepover?).
Pizza, popcorn, soda and funny girly movies along with self done mani/pedi's?
I agree to let them pick what theme they want and work around it. Doing an end of summer thing is a cute idea for sure. Even if you don't do the pool you could do a cook out and make smores over the grill (or even a candle outdoors...I've done that before!), do relay races in the back yard, whatever. The flip flop decorating is a cute idea and they can still wear them for another month at least. Oriental Trading Co and US Toy (10rd and State Line) have a ton of cheap inflatables and summer related stuff which I'msure is on clearance right now. You don't necessarily have to do a goody bag, but give them something they can take home. You could even do food things...like make popcorn balls or "homemade" chocolates. You can go to a cake decorating store (or Michael's) and buy cheap molds in any shape, they have sports, flowers, etc., and melt chocolate, pour them into molds and freeze them for a few minutes and the chocolates pop right out and look adorable! It's SUPER easy and fun, plus you know chocolate will get eaten and not thrown away!
This year for my son's birthday, I learned how to create an expensive party.
Due to the economy, we could not afford all the decorations at the party store. He wanted a pirate party. I found great ideas on the internet. We made our own party hats, I took black construction paper and dowels and had the kids use chalk and foam pirate stickers to make their own pirate flags. I also came up with a game from one that they played at school. During the winter time, the teacher would crumble up white tissue paper and let the kids throw the balls at each other like a snow fight. So, I bought black tissue paper and called it a cannonball fight. There are great ideas for parties on the web. I would decide what kind of theme and then go on the internet for ideas. Since the girls are old enough, you could get them to help with decorations, invitations and maybe cooking the food.
Hope this helps and hope the girls have a wonderful birthday party!
Here is an interesting idea a stumbled across:
http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/question/q/1760?utm_campaig...
Oriental Trading Co. (otc.com) has great ideas for every theme you could think of.
My 8yo loves arts & crafts, so we bought a bunch of small wooden boxes at Michael's ($2 ea), some craft paints (50 cents each color) and gem stickers. The girls had a blast decorating and admiring each other's creations, and they got something to take home. So it was an activity for the party, and a take-home piece for the guests. We also did a scavenger hunt- the girls had to follow the clues to find the prize box which had a bunch of costume jewelry that my mom picked up at a garage sale (though you can find bags of jewelry in the party supply aisle of Walmart).
In terms of how many to invite, we invited 8 or 9 girls and 5 or 6 came. It's really about how many your house (and your sanity) can handle. No matter what you do, the girls will have fun, so don't stress out about spending. Set a budget, stick to it, and everyone will still have a good time. Have fun!
you can get craft kits at michaels or something...i bought a set of make your own fairy things, there were like 6 or 8 in the box and then the girls make thwir own rings. One year we did a make our own lip gloss and bubble bath. or you could buy some of the cheapo ($0.88) eye shadows, lipsticks, and fingernail polishes and do a glamour party. but what ever you do, have an even number of girls at the party. if you dont, when the girls pair off, there will be one left out (possibly even one of the birthday girls). good luck.
