Kid-Friendly Casino Night Birthday Party!

Kid-Friendly Casino Night Birthday Party!

Birthday party ideas for older kids can be difficult to come up with, so when my younger son requested a casino night for his 11th birthday party, we were really excited! We love playing cards and thought a game night was a great idea, but at the same time had some reservations about introducing kids to the concept of gambling or glamorizing it. My husband, a psychologist and addiction specialist, decided he wanted to write up custom "cautionary tales" for each kid to put in their favor bag where the character had to overcome a difficult struggle with gambling after being lured by the rush of an early win. The kids played with chips but there was no prizes or money to be won. (Do we know how to party or what?)

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A Favorite Family Tradition: 'Elf' Viewing Party!

A Favorite Family Tradition: 'Elf' Viewing Party!

Elf is one of my family's favorite movies. We could watch it all the time, but, for the last few years, we established a policy to do so only once a year, with cousins, right before Christmas. When we finally do get to watch it, it feels really special event! Last year, a few nights before Christmas, we had an Elf Night with our extended family. My younger son and I made these cardstock invites together during a sick day.

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How To Throw the Ultimate Pee-wee Herman Party!

How To Throw the Ultimate Pee-wee Herman Party!

In honor of the soon-to-be-released movie, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, I am sharing my son’s Pee-wee-themed 5th birthday party from a few years ago. We are all BIG Pee-wee fans and very excited for his new movie, which starts streaming on Netflix on Friday, March 18th at 12:01 A.M.!! Use any of these ideas to throw your own Pee-wee viewing party!

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Comic Book Birthday Party!

Comic Book Birthday Party!

My son requested a comic-themed party for his ninth birthday. He loves Calvin and HobbesBig Nate, and Garfield and came up with his own list of fun activities based on these characters! For his cake, above, we made toppers by printing out some comics we found online, trimming and then taping them to skewers and toothpicks.

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How to Throw a Super Fun Science Party!

How to Throw a Super Fun Science Party!

For his sixth birthday, my younger son had a science-themed party. We chose a few easy-to-put-together science projects to demonstrate in a silly science show as well as for hands-on activities. The kids had a blast! Some of the projects required only a few household objects, a few others utilized kits from the fantastic website Steve Spangler Science (not a sponsor of this post :). I didn’t get great pic’s...though it wasn’t very “styled” anyway...it was all I could do to get the science projects together! A lot of research went into planning the activities, sourcing the supplies, and the flow of the party so I hope you will find this guide helpful! 

Read on for detailed description of all the science activities!

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Muppet Party!

Muppet Party!

Last year, my younger son requested a Muppet-themed birthday party and, as a  lifelong Muppet fan, I was thrilled! Kermit is one of his favorite characters so the color green became an easy decoration theme. The first items that I bought werethese honeycomb balls, for color, from Target. As I stared at the packaging, I realized with a little snipping, I could make it into a Kermit head! (more photos and how-to below). His balloon body was inspired by some of the crafts in the BALLOON chapter in our next book!!!

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Planet Cookies!

Planet Cookies!

Our planet cookies were featured on the beautiful blog 100 Layer Cakelet, a great place to go to for kid's birthday and shower ideas and lots of other parent and expectant parent inspiration!

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