My Party File - blog

Archive for the ‘party favours’ Category

I love it when I get a bargain!  Whilst shopping for Charlize’s “Spotty” party, I came across some spotty polar fleece blankets that had been marked down to $5.  I decided to cut one of them up to make some scarves for party favours.  I managed to get 10 scarves from one blanket - so each scarf only cost 50 cents!  How fantastic is that?!   And I didn’t have to sew a thing.  These polar fleece scarves are easy… just measure and cut.  Download our instructions to make these polar fleece scarves.

Yesterday at Tuesday featured these adorable personalised beach buckets, complete with tutorial.  What a wonderful party favour or “goodie bag” for a beach party.  To make them you will need to use masking tape to mark off a rectangle on the bucket.  Apply chalkboard paint in the rectangle area  - you may need to do about 4 layers (letting each layer dry before applying another one) to get a consistent chalkboard colour.  Add a design and name onto the chalkboard area using Deco Color markers.  Then carefully remove the masking tape to reveal your masterpiece!

Inspiration for a party theme can come from anywhere… My youngest daughter has a favourite nightie that is covered in big colourful spots.  She loves this nightie so much she has decided she would like a “spotty” party for her fourth birthday!  So the planning for a spotty (aka polka dot) party has begun.  Here is one of the first ideas we tried out - a polka dot drink.  This was made by cutting marshmallows in half, and sticking the cut side to the inside of the glass.  Then we added milk.

You can use a variety of coloured marshmallows to suit your party theme, and use strawberry, chocolate or any flavoured milk.  Just ensure you press the marshmallows firmly onto the glass.

I recommend using normal or larger sized marshmallows.  I tried the little mini mallows, but most of them came unstuck from the side of the glass when I poured the milk in.

Can you believe these are sugar cubes??  They would be such a ’sweet’ touch at a kids’  Tea Party - or even an adults’ High Tea!  I found them at Such Pretty Things.

To make these shaped sugar cubes, you will need:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• food colouring of your choice (liquid or powdered)
• 4 teaspoons water or 4 teaspoons reconstituted powdered egg whites
• mould or small biscuit cutter

Thoroughly mix the sugar with the food colouring.

Add the water or powdered egg whites into your sugar.  Water works just fine, but your sugar hearts will be much stronger if you use the egg whites.

Firmly push the sugar mixture into a mould of your choice, making it as compact as possible.  If you are going to use biscuit cutters, you will need to pour your sugar mixture out onto a smooth, non-stick surface (parchment paper on the counter top works well) and press it down firmly with your hands, a rolling pin, or the bottom of a plate, until the sugar is as compact as possible. The thickness will depend on the depth of your biscuit cutters, but about 1.5cm works quite well.  Press the cutters straight down into the sugar and carefully release the shapes onto a parchment lined Biscuit sheet. If the sugar isn’t holding it’s shape well, try adding a bit more water or egg white - but be careful not to overdo it or you’ll just get mushy sugar!

Harden the sugar by air drying for a day or two (or you can speed up the process by placing them in a 200 degree oven for about ten minutes).  Once they cool, they will become really hard - just like sugar cubes.

Alternative:  You can add whole vanilla beans or used vanilla bean pods to your sugar a day or two before you make your “cubes” - this will give them a hint of vanilla flavour and an incredible fragrance.

My lovely rellie, Gill, just held a Rubber Ducky party for her son Oliver - and I wish I could have been there to see the “Pluck a Duck”  game she organised.  She filled a large container with water that she had tinted with blue food colouring.  She bought a rubber duck for each guest and then wrote numbers on the bottom of each duck with a permanent marker, and then sat them in the water.  She also bought a variety of prizes and popped each one into a paper bag, and wrote a number on each bag that corresponded to each duck.  Each guest had to pluck a duck from the water, and were then awarded a paper bag with the number that matched (and got to keep their duck).  Whilst the little kids could use their hands to grab a duck, the bigger kids had to use their teeth!!!  You could also add another level of difficulty by blindfolding the kids.

This game would be a good lead into the “Rub-a-Ducky” game.  Get the kids to place their duckies somewhere, and whilst they are distracted (with a different game, or food), smother the duckies in honey, vegemite, icing or whatever you have in the pantry, and then exclaim “Oh No!  What have these little duckies been up to?  We need to clean them before you take them home!”  Give the kids some soapy, bubbly water and a face washer - you’ll be surprised how much fun the kids have cleaning their ducks!

Its amazing what a cellophane bag and curling ribbon can transform.  I bought chocolate coins and gummi fish to put into these ‘pirate treasure’ bags.  I tied them up with curling ribbon and added the starfish tags to keep with the theme.

This is a simple idea for a craft at a sleepover party, and it can double as a party favour.  The raw wooden words are available at craft stores (I got these from Spotlight), and come in a variety of words, including “dream”, “princess” and “diva”. Simply paint in a desired colour with acrylic craft paint. When dry, paint a coat of clear glitter paint on top.

My girls actually painted these themselves to give as birthday presents. We attached a tag that said “Handpainted by (name)”.

Anything can become a part of your theme with a little creativity and a hot glue gun.  I purchased these starfish decorations sure I could add them in some way to my daughter’s mermaid party - and I did.  Using a hot glue gun I stuck them on to cheap hair ties.  Perfect for any little mermaid!

I made these plaster shells for the guests to paint at Bella’s mermaid party.  It was a great activity to start the kids off with as they waited for other guests to arrive.  We glued magnets on the back after so that they could take them home and put them on the fridge.

Plaster mix and moulds can be found at most craft stores - this was, in fact, a chocolate mould!  You could also make these as party favours for the guests to take home and paint.

We’ve had a few requests for our starfish labels, so here is a template for you.  We recommend printing on pink card for the best effect. You can use them for:

• goodie bag labels
• party favour labels
  • mermaid sweets
  • mermaid bath fizz
  • mermaid bath colour
• invitation labels
  • message in a bottle