About the author: Annie Shultz, a blogger, lives in Kansas with her 3 kids, 4 years old and under. She blogs at MamaDweeb.com about parenting, family products and blogging basics. She loves to chat on Twitter (@mamadweeb) and on her Facebook fan page (facebook.com/mamadweeb) about her daily, crazy life! This is her story on how she threw a Wizard of Oz Birthday Party.

WIZARD OF OZ BIRTHDAY PARTY:

Living in Kansas, a very popular birthday party theme is the Wizard of Oz. I prefer parties to be simple, and this can lead to some very fun and easy ideas!

MENU IDEAS:

To keep the theme obvious you can choose to label the food if you want.

1. Tin man’s heart sandwiches

2. Ruby red strawberries

3. Munchkin grapes
Or you can go with a “fiesta” menu:

1. Yellow brick burritos (super cheesy)

2. Brainless Tacos (DIY taco bar)

3. Emerald city Enchiladas (green sauce)

WIZARD OF OZ CAKE:

Beginner cake makers can pick up a Wilton doll cake kit and make Glenda for a dazzling centerpiece. Then just put themed toppers on cupcakes to feed the crowd.

Keep an eye on sales at craft stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby. You can usually pick up some “Dorothy” wicker baskets for a low cost. Then fill these with party favors of your choice!

1. Sunflower seeds packets (older children)

2. Skittles (taste the rainbow)

3. colorful toys

4. Wizard of oz coloring pages and crayons

BIRTHDAY GAMES: 

1. Follow the Yellow Brick Road -

Play just like musical chairs. Put sheets of yellow construction paper on the ground in a circle. Put a number on each sheet. Tell children to walk on the paper and when the music stops (play Wizard of Oz songs) draw a number. The child standing on the winning number gets a prize..

2. Pin the tail on the Lion
3. I’m Melting!

If it is warm outside, enjoy this water balloon game! Pair children up. Tell each pair to face each other and stand 1 foot apart. Then, they begin tossing the balloons to each other and take on step apart after each toss. The goal is to see how far apart they can get before they drop a balloon and splash their feet!

Above all, just have fun! A party should always be more fun than work! Enjoy!

Planning for a Doctor Suess birthday was one of the easiest birthdays I have planned yet. I loved it and my son did too. Need tips on How to Decorate for a Dr.Suess Birthday Party? Hopefully these Dr. Suess will help. We had a blast making this blast party.

1. The colors were kept simple. Red, (known to the Party Planning Professor as the most used color for decorations because it goes with everything adding money value) We also used white and black.

2. We decided that we would have a no helium birthday party. (another way to save money) We used double sided tape, blew up the balloons, curled the ribbon tight and kept them short. THE KIDS NOR THE ADULT had never known. We also took the double sided tape and hung balloons upside down with fishing line. I imagine if balloons were in Suesville they would be upside down and at first you thought they were just floating.

3. We used Red Christmas table clothes as banner swags from curtain to curtain. Think about Valentine’s Days and Christmas decorations.

4. We also found a bunch of over the hill party supplies to incorporate the black table cloth, balloons, and napkins that were placed every other.

5. We set books up around the cake and I was sure that we were pretty lucky with our birthday cake. A friend made it. It was fantastic, We made the cake the focal point on a cheap throw away table cloth as a center place.

We were delighted and most important the birthday boy was. . The house set a Dr. Suess mood.

Do you have decoration tips for a Doctor Suess birthday party? We would love to hear!

OK, So I cheated a little bit. I didn’t actually make the cupcakes. I bought them and them embellished them.  I bought these cupcakes for Father’s Day and was so upset that they had rings on them as decorations.  No decoration or baking utensils needed.  Just common kitchen stuff needed.

The rings had to go.  I have no idea why they would have put rings on Father’s Day cupcakes.  So, I removed the rings and smoothed out the icing.

I purchased Sugar Sheets at the local craft store.  You can also purchase them on amazon here.  I cut them in small strips and saved them for later.

I then made flags out of ribbon and toothpicks.  I cut the ribbon to size folded them over the toothpick.  I used glue as a placeholder.

The glue didn’t stay as much as needed so I held them in place with a secure staple.

I then mixed icing, milk, and butter.  I then added coloring to 3 even patches.  I placed a dab in order on the sugar sheets that I had cut earlier.

The final result was this.  The day was a great success.  They were very festive and yummy.

I always like hand making things….and although this “kinda” cheats, it still puts that homemade touches on our cupcakes making our event extra special.  If not, I there is always NASCAR party options from Amazon.  With the awesome policy of select items over a certain price free shipping if you want to shop for decorations, gifts and other items you can’t go wrong.

As my son’s 7th birthday was fast approaching I asked him what theme he wanted it to be. He told me that he wanted to have a treasure hunt, and the pirate theme was born. My hubby and I are on a super tight budget, so I had to think of how to make this party a success, while saving money. I love to throw a themed party, and love the challenge of making it unique and special, while having a great time.

Here’s how to throw a kick butt pirate party on a budget.

Invitations

Who needs to mail invitations any more? I know they are cute to pick out, but they are entirely unnecessary. You are also being eco-conscious, which is always a bonus in my book. Evite.com or Pingg.com are my favorites to use. You can set reminders to go out for both those who have not RSVP’d and those who have, and need a reminder. Just remember to put a contact number in the details in case a parent has to call last minute.

Party themed tableware and decorations

For years I’ve been using this trick when throwing a themed party: Buy solid colored paper goods for half of the paper goods you need. Since the pirate theme tends to lean toward red and black, I opted to use the red. I bought red tablecloths, cake plates, lunch napkins, forks and cups. I bought the pirate themed lunch plates, dessert napkins and only 2 packages of cups to be used for coffee. I also bought 1 pirate table cloth for the food table. We bought red and black balloons for the house.

Food and Drinks

Food is a hard thing to judge as to what to get to make everyone happy. We decided to do sandwiches. Go to your local supermarket and check the deli section. They sell sandwich trays that you can customize any which way you’d like. They even have children’s trays like peanut butter & jelly. Consider purchasing your cake at the store as well. Our ½ sheet cake cost us $35. You can’t beat that. If your market doesn’t do themed cake have them do a cake as plain as possible and purchase the decorations yourself. Pirate themed candles go a long way.

Don’t buy bottled water. We have one of the 5 gallon Britta jugs. We no longer use it, but I filled it with ice and water from my refrigerator and put that outside with cups. If you don’t have a pitcher you can buy the 5 gallon water dispensers, instead of individual water bottles. In addition to water I took a plastic pitcher filled it ¼ water and ¾ apple juice, which is how I serve apple juice to my 7 and 5 year olds. If you buy soda, buy the 2 liter bottles, they are infinitely cheaper.

Crafts

At 7 years old the kids love crafts. Decorating a pirate hat and eye patch helped all of the kids feel instantly part of the party theme. You can buy kits to do this, and they are fairly inexpensive I found one for $7 for 12 hats, and $6 for 12 eye patches. They came with everything so all I had to do was lay it out on the table and let the kids at it. There was decorating all day long.

Entertainment

The treasure hunt…Before you begin give each child a party favor bag. I recommend getting a Sharpie and writing the child’s name on the bag so that you don’t have issues later. Come up with 5 spots for hiding the treasure. I recommend using both your indoors and outdoors if this is at all possible. Get about 400-600 plastic gold/silver coins to use as the “treasure”. Put the coins in each place in a plastic bowl. Each new clue should be given to them after they find the coin in the spot previously. In the end each child should come back with 5 coins to receive their prize. At J’s party we made the prize pirate themed tattoos. I was able to find both regular and girly ones for less than $5 (x2) for 36, it was the perfect prize.

The pinata…Using the same bag from the treasure hunt have the children collect the candy in that bag. For $15 I got a pirate ship pinata. Every kid likes to whack a pinata, and it is wonderful entertainment for the children and the adults. The bag of candy purchased at Costco was less than $10.

Party Favors

After making a pirate hat and eye patch, collecting coins, wearing tattoos, getting candy from the pinata, keep the favor simple or forgo one altogether. I got a pack of 48 pirate themed book marks for $5. When each child left I gave them a few and reminded them that over summer break they needed to continue their reading. The party bag I gave the children was big enough to hold everything from the party.

A Few Extras

I made the party 4 hours, and it was a bit long with the last hour dragging on. At 7 years old a 3 hour party is sufficient to do everything.

We made this our first drop off party. It was great for the kids, because they really felt grown up. If you can consider enlisting grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends to be the adults and the party. We were lucky enough to have an abundance of adult help. It makes the running around easier if everyone is pitching in.

Make the clues and place the treasures in their spots the night before. The treasure hunt preparations can be time consuming, so you don’t want that going on in the morning.

If I had more time I would have loved to have the kids play pin the patch on the pirate. I also saw a make your own treasure map place maps.

In the end my son told me for 3 days that he had a great time, so I consider that a success.

Candice lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband, 3 kids and dog. You can read all about great budget-friendly fashion, beauty, accessories and home decor items on her blog Fashionably Organized. As someone who loves to talk, sometimes too much, you can find her on Twitter @FashOrganized, or on other sites she contributes her writing to. Candice’s big dream is to someday succeed in embodying the humor of Carol Burnett and the poise of Grace Kelly all at the same time (while wearing a fabulous wardrobe).

Who is up for saving money? While many families may talking about ordering from catalog, sometimes the best costumes I had growing up as a kid were the ones my mom made, or even better the costumes my mom and I made together. Designing a costume, being original, being creative is some of the most fun aspects of Halloween. Used odd and end clothing and accessories can always be your friend. Are you up for a thrift shop? Do you have a goodwill near you? Making costumes can be a small portion of money compared to what you would pay at a Halloween or retail store. It’s a fact, it is rough. I recently heard about a National Switch Halloween Costume days. You can always check your neighborhood mommy and me groups, or play groups to see what they had. Swap off old costumes is becoming the in thing if that is what you are looking for but with some creativity and legwork, you can make any of the following costumes.

How to make a Pirate Costume?

With Pirates of the Caribbean and all of the Pirate themed movies out there. Making a Pirate Costume is not that hard. You need baggy black or brown pants cut below the knee. Pirates wore baggy white shirt that are cuffed up. A solid baggy vest, unbuttoned, would be worn over the shirt. Add a bright scarf tied around your waist. Army boots, large gold hoop earrings, sword, eye patch, hat or bandana tops this outfit off. If you live in a colder region you might want to look for a long black coat.

Cute women costumes can be made as well. I am a fan of black spandex pants tucked in boots. Wearing Overly large shirts that have a striped patten and have a zig zag rag appearance that are cut at the bottom. Wide and bulky belts are in, and almost any party store would be sure to have a santa belt laying around for a few dollars if you need one just for the night. (do not spend over $3) 3 cornered hats can be ruffed up as well as taking rags and wearing them around your head. If you want to go for a flirty costume, a short skirt is capable of being fun and an addition to the costume. Dollar stores usually provide birthday favors that are pirate themed. Look for swords and pirate guns. Your sward can always slip in your belt parallel to you knee as a great accessory. Do forget gaudy jewelry and to have fun.

As soon as this year’s festivities are done, start thinking about next year! Once Halloween is over, it ís time to hit the discount stores. Sales Sales Sales. You can always find cheap costumes the next day! Often, outfits and accessories can be picked up for half the price or less. I remember once buying a fireman costume for $3.00 Thinking ahead on what your needs will be the following year will save you a ton of money, especially you have got a slew of kiddos to put in costumes. So, let’ think creative and save. The bank account will thank you.

A First Birthday Party for Baby

I remember planning my son’s first birthday party!  My mom had no clue what was about to ensue as the day quickly approached.

I took much delight in planning my son’s 1st Birthday Party.  I searched the Internet high and low for ideas and as the day got closer and closer I picked products that would add simple charm to that day on the amazing fitting theme.  I loved planning parties and this was the one to celebrate, “MY” baby’s first birthday!  I loved it! 

When It comes to shopping on the web for your Babies First Birthday at Birthday Party Stores online, in my opinion will always have the most selection.  I was delighted to get an email from http://www.1stbirthdayparty.com/ and learning what they have to offer.  From invitations to highchair decoration kits this one may have about it all! 

I love looking back at the planning of the 1st birthday party of my son and see how inspiring and creative it all was.  I also remember how great a plan – it was a milestone for not just baby but mom too.  The first year requires a lot of adjusting and after things have settled down everyone has reason to celebrate.

This post was inspired and sponsored.  All ideas, and stories ,about my son, are my own…. obviously.  :). Planning a huge 1st birthday party can be fun and even a party on a budget and partying for less can be elegant.  Lucky for us their are discount party stores like Baby’s 1st Birthday that can fit almost any birthday party budget!

My 7 year and I did some shopping for our 4 year old’s Dr. Suess Birthday Party.  We had a lot of fun and this is just one of the many suggestions I can make for getting siblings involved in the party planning.  My point in creating Party Planning Professor was not to prove that “I” am the party planning professor but that ANYONE can be.

Instead of Goodie Bags we ditched the bags and went with, what else?, books.  Not your normal book but a hidden paper book.  We also made these a 2 fer.  We had the kids paint and decorate the books with poster paints and stickers as an entertainment task for the kids to do.

We then filled it the “fake” books with candy, best seller books, and reading glasses.

We had a lot of fun creating, giving, and receiving our goodie bags away.  We had a great time and we hope our guests enjoy it as well.

Here some great idea for Cat in the Hat birthday party invites. We had a blast and hope that you can enjoy your party as much as we enjoyed ours.

Here is the beginning we are off to a great start
We hear the Cat and the Hat is really smart

So we called thing one and thing two for a special reason
______’s birthday is here its a celebratory season

We will blow up the balloons, hang the streamers and get the cake
You just need to be ready for the fun that you will make

Well we know there will be one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish
We hope can come, if you can’t we will sure to miss

“The Time”, you say “is when”?
really the time is 1 hour past ten

We may stand on our head cause the cat does that kind of thing
But I bet you will just be having fun and happy birthday you all will sing

Don’t dare be sad but glad and never ever bad?
We want you to come to _____’s Party, go ask your Dad.

This party will not be like any other,
Don’t ask us why, just go ask your Mother.

Happy Birthday to the boy who will turn 4
on Feb __ wont be bore!

To sum it up for those of you that the Cat has confused
Details are summed up below, we still hope that this invitation has amused

Time: 11:00am-2:00pm
Where:
Who: You!

We aren’t a family that is not about gifts but we did want to take a few hours away from the Christmas day to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

Here are some ideas on what you can do to celebrate a party in honor of Jesus.

10 ways to decorate for Jesus’ Birthday

1. Wait until the kids are asleep and prepare for the party. This adds to the element of fun just as if it was a normal party.

2. Use a color scheme. I usually use Green and Red streamers. You can pick any color but make sure to use the same color on the invitations.

3. Use party streamers which is a fast put up/take down way to decorate. Use streamers in doorways. Use party streamers wrapped around the tree.

4. Layer two different shades of streamers and twist using as swags for windows and doorways!

5. Use balloons

6. Latex is fine : just add high float (a gel that seals the balloons) to keep them floating for a longer amount of time.

7. Cover tables in color and dress with glitter or cut outs of cakes or other birthday shapes.

8. Centerpiece ideas for Jesus’ birthday could include balloons or even consider the birthday cake.

9. Consider going REALLY fun and scattering glitter around. (We do this-but use at your own risk-glitter lingers for a couple vacuums but so does the memories)

10. Create artificial snow or a throw blanket for nativity set.  Use a nativity set as the center piece.