This year, we teamed up with Hershey to bring you a special series on Labor day posts.  Be sure to check them out.  We kept it simple and included our Labor day menu .  We also always know how to keep it fun with lots of party games including baseball for entertainment for a Labor Day Party and as always we had a creative way to invite our guests to our party too.  We had a blast including the time with Hershey and incorporating and already included ingredient into our summers into a center piece for our party.

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Who doesn’t love a reason to dress up and party? When the Costume Supercenter offered us a chance to pick out a costume and review it, we jumped at the chance. In a house full of boys they all want to be pirates. To surprise my boys I searched for a pirate costume. The Costume Supercenter has a wide variety of pirate costumes for children and adults. I chose the Captain Jack Sparrow Prestige Premium Adult costume. Once it arrived I couldn’t wait to put it on and plan a swashbuckling adventure for my little pirates.

The costume looks great. I’m glad we chose the prestige version because it came with everything to make me look like a true Jack Sparrow. There were belts, vests, a coat, boot covers, pants, a hat, and a bandana with Jack Sparrow hair. Once costumed up, my boys no longer recognized their mommy. I had been transformed into the real Jack Sparrow thanks to Captain Jack Sparrow Prestige Premium Adult costume.

The belts and it’s buckles are very a little flimsy when tightening them.  The costume arrived in a timely matter in a secure shipping package.   The hat came in the package flat. I had to bend it into shape. The costume held up to a pirate adventure out in the hot sun with 15 + kids. The kids were impressed and some even scared at my realism.   We all had a great time and I hope to get some more use out of the costume.  I am sure it would make a great costume for Halloween.

Our thanks to the Costume Supercenter for providing us with the Jack Sparrow   Costume. While Party Planning Professor was provided the costume at no charge, no compensation was made, my opinion is my own and comes from my experience with the costume.



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I have found the parties that are talked about for many years to come are the ones that boast the most time and involvement. If you go all out in RED, WHITE and BLUE as the guests start to arrive the decorations will set a great mood for the party. I swear by this statement, “If it looks like a party that had a lot of time and energy put into it, it really is one of the easiest ways to have a successful party happen”

Budget decorations: I always have red streamers on hand.  Did you know that Red is the most popular yet versitile color?  Think about all of the themes that can be combined with the color red. (Pirate Party, Princess Party(just add pink or Belle’s Rose, Christmas, Valentines Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day the list goes on and on.) Maybe simple paper streamers would work but investing in Red banners, or panels, or reusable streamers would be a GREAT choice for any party planner.

Think red, white and blue. You don’t have to pay for the FLAG table cloth that is $300 dollars. Think seperate red, white and blue. From table cloths, napkins, paper plates and even ice cubes, you want to have all the colors of the day come shining through. You can make your deserts and foods with these colors as well. It is possible to add color to the day but keep it simple and on a budget. The cheapest Plates are white. Just add blue and Red utensils and it will make a colorful table. I would suggest to spring for the Flag or themed napkins. What a great way to tie it all in.

Decorate your self and show that you really believe their is something to be happy about.  This is a great way to have some fun on this special day and to do something different to celebrate it.  Think of all the opportunities to be a patriotic character. Uncle Sam, Betsy Ross, One of our Founding Fathers, so many options and so many ways to “decorate”

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In our home, as we are a Christian family; we celebrate Easter with Jesus in mind. We spend a lot of Easter Sunday in church. And every Friday after Ash Wednesday, we go to support local churches and businesses that have fish fry’s. In the Pittsburgh area, a lot of the volunteer fire and EMS companies  do fish fry’s to raise money.

When I was a child growing up, Easter was very much like Christmas as far as presents are concerned. We always got a ton of presents. We were also a Christian family, as far as we believed in Christ, but we never went to church much.

Since marrying a very Christian man and starting to go to church regularly and finding more about the meaning We knew that when we had children we wanted to change this tradition, and make the holiday a lot more about Christ and less about The big bunny.

However, We also wanted to keep it fun for the children as well. So we do still go see the bunny at the mall, which is more just as a fun treat, and the kids ride the Easter Eggspress train. And we also go to egg hunts around town. Just to spend time together.
about 2 nights before Easter Sunday we dye eggs as a family and write on them Christ, crosses, Happy Spring, and everyone’s names, and other things like this.

We kinda keep the bunny part to celebrate the upcoming of Spring, which to us here in Pittsburgh is definitely something to celebrate and look forward to nicer, longer days and sunnier, warmer days for the kids to play outside more. And the dreaded winter is over. To us it is a sign of a new beginning and new life. The flowers will soon be out, and we have a “contest” every year to see which kid can see the first signs of spring (robin, flowers, leaves on trees, buds, blossoms) first, the winner doesn’t win anything except to be able to say, they saw it first, but it is something fun our family does.

On Easter Sunday, however, like I said, we are almost at church all day. We dress better then any other time of year, and spend the day singing, and praying, and just worshiping Jesus.
After that is when we do come home, and the children have a small basket to open. Usually it contains some candy, maybe 1 or 2 small gifts, sometimes a video, and a religious item.
That is about it.

We then have our own Easter Egg hunt in our backyard and all the children, mine and my sisters, and who ever else may be coming over under the age of 13, get to participate. The older children are the ones who get to hide the eggs, which they like to do anyway. The grandparents take turns every year putting money (change) in each egg.

*Funny side note* The first year my in -laws did the egg hunt they didn’t know how much money to put into each egg, I don’t think they got the concept, they actually put like 50cents in each egg, well, there are well over 200 eggs that get filled !!! So, you can imagine how much they spent !!! My mother couldn’t believe it (she does a lot of eggs with just a few pennies, and only a couple with maybe one dollar coins, but she maybe spends $50 at the most). Needless to say, all the kids were “rich” that year.

The kids then go out, youngest to oldest and one at a time to get their eggs (babies that cannot walk yet, parents help them of course). Then after all the kids find all the eggs (usually they dont find them all, and around october we still find a couple, what a treat that is!!) they come in and get an adult buddy that helps them tally up the amount they have in their eggs and then they see who got the most money for their piggy banks. It is pretty fun.

After that excitement, my 2 boys, 12 and 9, and my husband play their instruments; violin, viola, and piano. They play some more Easter church music and springtime favorites, and we sing. This is a very enjoyable time.

By now we are all hungry so we eat a big family dinner, usually consisting of ham, scalloped potatoes, pickled eggs & beets, cucumbers in vinegar, rolls, (my sister always brings butter shaped like a rabbit….don’t ask), potato salad, cole-slaw, macaroni and cheese, and rice and peas (a Jamaican tradition), sometimes I will make collard greens, but only sometimes.
Desserts are peach cobbler, apple pie, cheesecake with cherries, and cookies.

Now, I am wondering:

1. How do you spend your Easter, and where in the world do you live ? (so I can see if it differs from place to place)

2. Do you make Easter more religious or more Easter Bunnish ?

3. Do your kids get presents like it is Christmas, or not ?

4. If your not Christian, do you even celebrate the holiday at all, or do you celebrate because of society and just make it about the bunny/spring ?

5. Do you have any different traditions then you were brought up with (have you incorporated any new ones of your own ?)

6. What traditions if any from when you were growing up have you kept ?

7. Do you spend a lot of money at Easter time ? If so, what on ? Food, Presents, games, decorations ?

8. Do you do any pre-Easter things ex: egg hunts, spring events ?

I am just interested in knowing how your Easter is from your little part of the world, Thank you for sharing

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Throw an Egg Extravaganza!!!  My friend threw one a while back and it was a blast, for me and my son.  I must say it was a lot of fun to watch kids be kids.  It was also a lot of fun to be little again.  Here are some suggestions that you can use that can help you throw a great extravagant Easter party.

Duck, Duck, Goose! Everyone knows this one. All the children sit in a giant circle. One child will walk behind the others tapping each “duck” on the head until they decide which one of their friends will be the “goose”. The “goose” has to get up and chase the first child. If the first child makes it back to the empty spot without being touched, then the second child becomes the new “duck”.

Pin the beak on the Easter chick? It’s not that hard to drawl a chick really.  Grab a poster board. Draw a large chick on it, here is an example of an easy chick(or just make a large copy of this Or Try this COLORING SHEET from coloringbookfun.com.  Give each child his or her own piece of orange construction papered beak. Let the children decorate and make their beak their own.  This takes time and makes it more fun to play the game. When they are done, fold a piece of tape and stick it to the back of each chick. Blindfold each child in turn and let them see who can put their beak closest to the center of the chick. (you might want to read my suggestions on having a successful pin the whatever on the whatever post)

Easter necklaces. Pre-cut strips of construction paper in pastel colors. Show the children how to make chain links. Fold the paper in a circle, dropping a spot of glue on one end and pressing the two ends together. For each new link, fold the paper in a circle around the previous link so they form a chain. When the chain is long enough to fit over your head when held end to end, add one more link to join the two ends of the chain.

Consider dividing you house or yard into age appropriate sections.  This will be good for those that are younger so their easter eggs aren’t taken.  This will be a very Egg-citing Party if you want it to be.

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photo credit: massdistraction

Okay, so in all truthfulness I am in fact Irish. But, I’m also a strong believer that you don’t have to be a certain nationality to celebrate their specific holidays.

I want my kids to be exposed to many cultures, so if that means celebrating the Chinese New Year,  Kwanzaa, or Yom Kippur, I’m all for it.

In my opinion St. Patrick’s Day falls right in the mix.

Of course we will be eating corned beef and cabbage for dinner but I also want to have fun throughout the entire day.

I have a friend who helps her kids build a leprechaun trap the evening before St. Patrick’s Day. The kids get really inventive and use things around the house to build their “trap”.

On St. Patrick’s Day morning the kids check their trap. And although they never seem to be able to catch him, the leprechaun leaves them a little something in appreciation of their effort.

My big thing is food. I always have corned beef and cabbage or an Irish stew for dinner. This year I wanted all meals to be in the spirit.

By the way, when cooking for St. Patrick’s Day, green food coloring will become your best friend!

For breakfast our menu includes Irish Soda Bread that I am going to bake just like french toast. It just sounds absolutely yummy to me!

For lunch I am going to do a green inspired Muffin Tin. If you haven’t heard of Muffin Tin meals they are a super cool way to give your kids lunch or dinner. I use a tin that has 6 wells and then fill them up with various foods. For St. Paddy’s Day I plan on putting in some kiwi, grapes, and green apples with some vanilla yogurt that I will add green coloring to that they can dip in. My kids love cucumbers and celery so that will fulfill their veggies requirement. To give them some protein I am going to make some ham and turkey wraps using spinach tortillas for that green color, (and another way to get their veggies in!)

After lunch we will be making mini pots of gold using black construction paper to make our “pots” and then filling them them with chocolate coins. I’ll let the kids partake in their coins after dinner.

What do you do for St. Patrick’s Day??

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I wanted to throw a kiss filled magical when the clock strikes twelve New Year’s Party. Of course fun and entertainment is always part of the game and depending on the group you can pick what is actually planned for the party. My party was an early party that was thrown that had kids present. We had a blast, both the kids and adults. Here is some of the activities that we opted to do seeing that this particular party was not filled with booze and all that sorts of shenanigans.   Our kids were there so we were on our best behavior.

It took some thinking to come up with some ideas on what kind of entertainment a home party could offer guests looking to celebrate a little kiss filled magic when the clock strikes twelve.  It didn’t take long for me to come up with a few. I would like to get the more serious one out of the way first. Nothing is more “hot” and romantic as a burning fire late on a winter’s night. If you aren’t in a cold place, an outside fire would get the trick done.

I heard of a tradition that in many South American countries, it has become a tradition to burn human shaped representations of the previous year, as a way to get rid of everything bad that the year brought, and leave way for the new.  Now I am not about to suggest to anyone that we burn a human shaped anything.  The tradition sounds absurd but the thought of  people taking written transgressions from the past 12 months and in turn, cast them into the fire to symbolize a new start. This got me thinking. Those that have been married to a person know that no one is perfect. Here is a chance to take a piece of paper and write down a list of things that they forgive each other for.

This may be something as simple as:

“I forgive you for NEVER helping with the laundry”

or it could be for something more serious but either way you can add this to a written imperfection list. He/She doesn’t have to see it if you do not care to share it. This is just to symbolize as we take our step into the New Year, I am forgiving you for being imperfect. I am letting go of mistakes, I am moving on to a new year. My husband and I have been through a
rough, rough year. Dude, I had a list to go up in flames. (in full disclure:Do this at your own risk).

Forgive yourself for the mistakes you have made and forgive others for being far from perfect. Let it all go…..up in smoke.  My guests seemed to like this.

WHOSE LIPS ARE WHO’S???

For a game we had much more fun. I asked each guest to bring a tube of lipstick of their choice. Wow, my guest were fun with this. All the ladies kissed a 3×5 card. On the back in pencil they attached their initials. It was amazing, 3 out of the 5 couples there succeeded in guessing their partner’s lips. It was fun to see each man examine their dates lips and then compare them to the 3×5 card.  There was even some bets being placed.  Even the kids threw in a couple guesses.

WHAT KISS AM I?

As the party reached closer to 12:00 I put a spin on the “who am I” game. If you have not played the “who am I game” it is when a player has a famous persona written on a 3×5 card and taped to their back. In return the player needs to guess who they are only asking yes or no questions. This is a fantastic ice breaker game. However, the Party Planning Professor version had a twist all on it’s own. Instead of being a famous person they needed to guess what famous celebrity lip locking kiss moment they were. Below were just a few. The game itself was a hoot.

(none of these pictures belong to me. They belong to the owners that have full rights to them)

As an added bonus I used 2 of my guests wedding pictures that were posted on facebook as part of the game.

The game itself was a blast

(This post was NOT sponsored)

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With all the food that the kids will be partaking in you are going to want a game where they can use some of their energy.

If you have the room for it, a relay type game is quite possibly the best because any age of children will be able to participate.

One of my favorites is the “Stocking Relay.” Split the kids up into 2 even groups. The adults can play as well! You will need a stocking, large wooden spoon, and wrapped candy for each team.

Have children line up at one end of the room. At the other end, hang a Christmas stocking for each team. Place a bowl of candy and a spoon in front of each team. Each child takes a turn taking a candy from the bowl with the spoon. They then carry the candy on the spoon to the stocking and drop the candy in the stocking. Race back to the next person in line, give them the spoon. First team to fill the stocking wins!

My kids love this game. They have actually been caught playing their own variations of it during regular play times!

A good party always closes with the kids being able to take something home. So once they have worked off some energy racing, gather them at a table to make a Snowman on a Stick! This is another great idea from Kraft Foods.

What you need (for each snowman):

• 3 JET PUFFED marshmallows
• 1 lollipop stick 8in. (found at most craft stores)
• 1 peanut butter cup
• 1 FAMOUS chocolate wafer
• 1/2 tsp. creamy peanut butter (can use sunflower seed butter)
• 2 pretzel sticks
• 1 chewy fruit roll-up
• 5 candy coated chocolate pieces (m&m’s)

Make it

THREAD marshmallows on lollipop stick to resemble a snowman.

ATTACH peanut-butter cup to wafer with half of the peanut butter. Place on top of snowman for the “hat,” securing with remaining peanut butter. Insert pretzel sticks into middle marshmallow for the “arms.”

CUT fruit roll into desired length for the “scarf;” wrap around snowman. Decorate with candies as desired.

Wrap each Snowman in a small cellophane bag for safe travel.

There you have it. A simple yet fun holiday party for your kids and their friends! Be prepared to ask to repeat the party next year.

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“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” -Andy Williams

We’ve survived Thanksgiving and now it’s time to start planning the festivities for a kid-friendly Christmas bash!

When hosting a kids party remember who you are catering to. The kids themselves! Make it special for them. Get you own kids involved by helping you make the invitations. Bring out the craft supplies and have the kids cut out stockings, stars, and trees from red or green construction paper. On one side include all the party information as well as a little poem such as:

We’re making a list and checking it twice,
without you at the party it wouldn’t be nice!

On the other side let the kids go crazy decorating it. Let them use holiday stickers, crayons, markers, glitter, whatever! Each guest will receive a unique invitation to a party they will be looking forward to.

If you have decided to hold the party at your home then decorations will be a snap since you will have already decorated for the season. Just keep into consideration the age of your guests. You don’t want anything that poses a hazard to the smaller crowd or may be too much of a temptation to touch or play with for the older.

I just love this Party Pack from Shindigz. It epitomizes the tone you want to set for your party and the red and silver look absolutely stunning together.
I highly recommend picking a color scheme and sticking with it. For instance, the party pack above has red and silver. The remainder of the decor should follow along the same lines. You can even incorporate some reindeer into the mix which could easily transcend into the any crafts or games you decided to have.

You could also decorate in mainly blue, white and silver and add snowmen or penguins!

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I am the original Party Planning Professor.  I guess it is safe to say that I love to entertain, be a hostess, and throw a party.  It is a passion of mine and I love to share my tips with you.  After all that is why the Party Planning Professor did start in the first place.

Below are some items that I have, some items that I would dream of having to spice up any party that I am hosting.  Perhaps these items below are great tools to help keep a party fun and easy.  I am honored to share with you a wish list of the best gifts and finds to give to someone that loves to entertain and throw a party.

I saw this product and instantly fell in love with it.  I found it in a magazine on the way home from a convention in Chicago.  I loved the idea and concept.  I had never been to a wine tasting party but knew my friends and I would love to have one of our own. I knew the wine Tasting party kit had to be the first on our list.  Feel free to add a glass of wine from wine.com.

Need a reason to party? I truly believe any reason is a good reason for cake. When it comes to the Murder Mystery Party – Pasta, Passion & Pistols and the many other party themed games that University Games makes I am all on board. What a fun way to spend an evening with a creative group of friends.

Bormioli Rocco Pary Boston Cocktail Shaker With Glass, Gift Boxed is a great find for those that like to serve special themed cocktails at their events.  I for one think this is one of the best shakers out there.  It includes a sealed. What a fun way to celebrate then making drinks right on the spot with a shaker meant for making some classy drinks to be served.

Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone’s Favorite Treat book did not let me down. I didn’t expect her to but really how many ideas can the Martha Stewart staff can come up with but this was for sure still a great surprise, The cupcake ideas are fun yet obtainable. Functioning at it’s best Martha’s book is a compilation of 175 ideas, recipes, and presentation of cupcakes galore. The book offers cupcakes that range from plain and simple to decadent and elegant. Anyone up for a cupcake?

The best part about a cake stand is contrary to what one would think, it has many different uses.  I am excited to see that Martha Stewart’s Cake Stand is three tiered and you can use them as different focal points through out your table or clumped all together as seen in this picture.

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