We love throwing a party for our friends. This entry was submitted to Hostess with the Mostest. Here is the entry...
The party was a kids' Christmas party for children newborn to age 8. It is an annual event that started merely so I didn't have to take my first born to the mall to see Santa. It has turned into a great event...this year with the numbers reaching almost to 100 guests.
On the invitation, parents are requested to stay at the party with their children. There is just too much going on not to have parents accompanying their child(ren).
This was our sixth party; every year I try to create something new. This year it was a candy cart.
The centerpiece (Santa's hat, boots, beard) for the cart was a plastic ice bucket filled with green, red, and clear stones. Then paper pieces cut with the Cricut Expression using the 3 Birds on Parade cartridge.
For the items on the cart, I want to stick with somewhat of an old-fashioned candy store. A lot of the candies were served in glass jars or penny containers (old-fashioned candy jars with metal lids) or acrylic containers. There were Snowman chocolates by Lindts. On the bottom shelf, there was movie style kettle corn, a bucket of ornaments (for decoration), and a box wrapped like a gift full of brown bags for the kids to fill. All of this reminds me of what it might be like to walk into a candy store; yet, the kids had free reign! No budgets to have to meet...they could have as much candy as they desired.
We also offered three crafts for the kids to do. There was a Santa Piecing Craft that was found at Hobby Lobby.
We also did a candy candy ornament found at hostessblog.com. And a snow globe craft found at Parents.com.
For the Merry Christmas banner, I made it using the Cricut Expression and the Mini Monograms cartridge.
With a morning party for this many people in ages ranging birth to grandparents, I've found food platters are the way to go. Our Christmas celebration wouldn't be complete without a birthday cake for Jesus (I can't find my photo at the moment). I had Publix make a simple sheet cake. Then I added the Little People figurines to create the nativity.
We have toys galore out of the kids and special guests. This year we had Sparky the ballon man from 3-RingCircus.com do balloon art for the kids.
We also have a special couple fly in from the North Pole. Yes, you guessed it – Mr. & Mrs. Claus.
A special treat for the kids is the snow dig. We fill 35 gallon containers with packing popcorn pieces; this acts as our snow. Then we hide prizes in the “snow”. The kids dig in the snow to find prizes. The prizes come from Oriental Trading. They enjoy this so much!
Every child receives a party favor as they leave the party. This year the favors were different depending on the child's age. Children kindergarten and younger received a personalized water bottle along with a water bottle holder by Stephen Joseph. Children first grade and up received a gumball machine that was personalized with their first initial using an apple green vinyl.
The party is always a lot of fun; we love hosting it! Until next year...
