Celebrating 40–’70′s Style

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The summer of 2010 was a milestone for my husband and me; we both turned 40 years old.  Rather than wear ourselves out blowing up black balloons we decided to hold a fun-filled, nostalgic celebration with friends and family.  We asked everyone to dress in a costume reminiscent of the 1970’s, 80’s or 90’s, and we were thrilled when most of our guests complied with hilarious get-ups and hairdo’s. Our menu was inspired by our own childhood favorites from the {Read More}

Ice Cream Bombe

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I love making ice cream cakes in the summer.  My family loves eating them so much that they now ask for them all year long, as it has become their preferred birthday cake.  And it couldn’t be easier to put one together!  Don’t be alarmed by the fact that there are several steps; each step takes just a minute or two and the results are well worth it! Ingredients and supplies: 3 flavors of ice cream Prepared cake (optional) Saran {Read More}

Links for 01.21.10

Birthday Freebies and Deals…now who in their right mind would pass up free ice cream? Project Girl pretty menu planning forms to print–for free! SpellingCity is a free site that allows kids to enter their spelling list and it will test, teach, or play games using the list. Great for daily practice leading up to a test!

Make Your Own Gift Card Holders

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Is the teen on your list requesting more than one gift card? Create a gift card holder. Creative Memories offers a product called the Photo Sharing Card that is perfect with a few embellishments. Or create your own custom design with card stock, some plastic photo sleeves, colored paper, and stickers.

Crazy Dinner-by-the-Numbers Party

Photo by Loi Palmer

Loi Palmer Here’s a fun way to host a dinner party for teens or adults. First choose your menu and number each item to be served. Keep this list in the kitchen to use later–do not show guests this list or tell them what is on the menu. You will be serving three courses with four items each time. At the dinner table have a dinner order form (see below for printable forms) and pen waiting for each guest. Ask {Read More}

Hosting a Geocaching Birthday Party

Molly Evert Counter Cultural Mom We recently held a geocaching birthday party for two of our boys.  Geocaching (pronounced “Geo-cash-ing”) is a form of treasure hunting which relies on a hand-held GPS unit for finding treasure locations. For the party, I hid party favors in plastic boxes with lids. We hid 7 caches for this party around our neighborhood, but a park would work just as well.  I made sure to mark each “cache” with a clearly marked sign, reading {Read More}

Happy Birthday, Jesus Party

Carolyn Mayo Since the boys were little, we have had a Happy Birthday, Jesus party with neighborhood children. The party and games change as the kids get older. This party can also be taken to schools–even public school–because it is our family tradition. It is a great way to share your faith in a light-hearted and fun way. Just like any birthday party, the main attractions are games and food. For the food, I make baby Jesus cupcakes. To create, {Read More}

Celebrating Jesus’ Birthday

Kari Decker For our Happy Birthday, Jesus party each of my kids invited three friends. The invitation explained everything we would be doing. I said in the invitation this would be a party for Jesus and mentioned what we can do for Jesus: We can give Him our time. We all helped a handicapped woman decorate her home for Christmas. She is very laid-back and did not care that the kids’ decorations were not perfect. We can give Him our {Read More}

Mall Scavenger Hunt

Loi Palmer A fun party for teens is a mall scavenger hunt. To avoid any problems, contact mall security one week in advance to clear your activity. Some malls will not allow pictures to be taken inside the mall unless it has been put on the security schedule. Plan for the scavenger hunt to take about an hour. When we did this party, we mixed the groups of boys and girls with approximately six in each group. Each group was {Read More}