Going to the Game--Sports-Themed Parties for Kids

Good afternoon . . . .winter just won't go away! We got socked with at least another four to six inches of snow, and the temperatures keep falling.

It's hard to believe that spring is just fifteen days ahead and it's almost time for baseball season. Spring training has begun along the Florida coast and in the warm Arizona sun. In another couple of weeks, March Madness will begin in the NCAA. I thought this would be a good time to talk about sports-themed parties. We've attended a few bar mitzvahs with a sports theme, including the Yankees, the Mets, and Wide World of Sports. Once again, this is a theme where finding decorations is easy because there are so many options from chains like Party City to doing it yourself (DIY).

The ballpark ticket is one of the most popular types of invitations for a sports-themed party. I love this adorable invitation from Dazzle Expressions, where you can customize it with a photo and wording.

Soccer is very popular with girls, and there are many directions one can go with the color scheme. You can either choose feminine colors such as green, pink, or purple, or use the team colors. The website Big Dot of Happiness shows you how. I love the set-up of the snack table.

Does your child love tennis? Check out this idea from Catch My Party. As with a football-themed party, you can use felt to cover the tables and mark the felt with tennis courts. What made this party stand out was the dessert table. 

For a hockey/skating theme parties, these brownie hockey sticks are adorable. These are featured in t the blog The Piggy Toes.

At one baseball-themed bar mitzvah I attended. the centerpieces contained peanuts, Cracker Jacks, sunflower seeds, and bubble gum. From the website Jewitup, here is a great example of these foods displayed in a wire basket. Other concessions may include hot dogs and baseball-shaped cookies.

For the littlest basketball fans, the blog It's All About Ty and Ashlee features a wonderful DIY party using the colors of Iowa State. From the plates decorated with black electrical tape to the favors of blow-up basketballs sports-themed wristbands, and basketball fake tattoos, this party was simple yet festive. The party occurred around the time of March Madness.

 

Over the past ten years, several states have recognized cheerleading as a competitive sport. Athletes as young as five join cheer teams. For a cheerleading party, here is a great table decoration from Uncommon Designs featuring pom-poms and megaphones. 

A sports-themed party wouldn't be complete without some games. The blog Beau-Coup shows you how to play a game called "Hot Basketball," which is a variation of Hot Potato. This game is ideal for younger children.

Image courtesy of Best Children's Games

Depending on the party, you can also include a football toss, a batting cage, an obstacle course, or an indoor basketball game.

A couple of months ago, I promoted some of the football games from the shop to coincide with the Super Bowl. Today, I am promoting a sports-themed word search. Originally designed for my husband's birthday, this is a word search featuring the New York Yankees all-stars (as you can tell, he is a Yankee fan). I can customize this word search to feature your favorite baseball, football, basketball, or hockey team, along with the team colors. The puzzle makes a great goody-bag or table favor. Just hit the "Request a Custom Order" button at the shop or send me a convo for more information.

Now for today's lists:

Women's History Month Fun Fact of the Day: Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes. Many kids' items, such as disposable diapers, folding cribs, and infant carriers, were invented by moms who saw a need that had yet to be filled. See the complete list on Fact Monster.

Today's Birthdays: Jake Lloyd (26), Sterling Knight (26), Eva Mendes (50), Kevin Connolly (41), Craig and Charlie Reid (53), Penn Jillette (60), Marsha Warfield (61), Eddy Grant (67), eddie Hodges (68), Michael Warren (69), Fred William (77), Dean Stockwell (79), James B. Sikking (81), and James Noble (93).

Holidaze: Today is National Multiple Personality Day. You may know someone who has been diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder, which is characterized by at least two distinct identities that alternately control a persons behavior. This disorder is accompanied by memory loss that goes beyond ordinary forgetfulness. This is a day to spend extra time with those who have been affected.

March 5th is also known as National Absinthe Day. This is a potent alcoholic beverage derived from the flowers and leaves of the grand wormwood plant, and is traditionally colored green. Because it has such high level of alcohol, it is normally distilled with water prior to drinking,

Finally, it's National Cheese Doodle Day! Although I don't really like cheese, I really love cheese doodles. A cheese doodle is usually a cylinder-like cornmeal puff with a cheddar cheese flavor. Sources say they were invented in the 1940s by a man named Morrie Yohai, who had taken over his family business called Old London Foods.

March is also National Craft Month. In the weekend edition of the blog, I will discuss events that coincide with this occasion..

Beginning next week, I am going to reduce my posts on this blog to three times a week instead of daily due to time constraints.

Our prayers go out to Harrison Ford, who was piloting a vintage plane and crashed into a golf course.

Have a PRINTASTIC night!

Kathy

Weekend Edition--Who Wants Candy? I Do!

TGIF on another very cold day in NYC. I hope the deep freeze will finally be over as February ends and March begins.

Today, we'll take a look at some ideas for candy-themed parties. This is another theme where there are so many possibilities, from Candy Land parties for the very young to sweet-shoppe-themed school dances. We'll start off with offerings from the website Shindigz, which offers many of the supplies one would need for your party, including decorations, favors, tableware, and of course, candy! 

Personalized party favors from Shindigs.com

As always, a great invitation is key. For the DIY-er, here is an adorable Candy Land invitation created from a recycled Altoids tin and Candy Land game pieces. Step-by-step instructions are visual only. Photo courtesy of Kathleen Marie.

Jean from Hostess with the Mostess styled an adorable Sesame Street-themed party for a young client, which featured a candy buffet in a rainbow of colors. All candy came in bulk from the Sweet Factory

The owner of Couture Celebrations, a party-planning company in Oklahoma, saw her daughter's favorite childhood board game come to life with this Candy Land-themed party. All the components of the game, such as Lollipop Woods and Gumdrop Mountain, are featured.

Juliana Sohn from the site Momfilter posted an article about a candy-themed birthday party. I'm enamored with the decor, which featured a "candy button game" where each guest poked a button and found a surprise, along with a Candy Land obstacle course! The invitations resembled sticks of gum.

For more sweet inspiration, look to Hollywood Candy Girls for their unique edible centerpieces, party favors, and goody bags. I'm loving the sweet stick candy kabob shown below. They ship nationwide, too.

How about a Katy Perry Candy Land-themed party? This is an idea that comes from Maria Frufru Festas in Brazil. The buffet table featured gumballs in plastic ice cream cones, brownie toppers featuring her songs, a cake topped with Katy, and of course, framed photos of Katy. This is perfect for the tween Katy Perry fan!

The candy theme is extremely popular for Bat Mitzvahs and Sweet 16s. Here are some very cool centerpieces based on one of my favorite places, Dylan's Candy Bar. Photo courtesy of Mazel Moments.

We are offering a few candy-themed games at the shop and plan to expand in the future. Two items we feature are a "Sundae Brunch Word Scrambler" and a word search featuring Hershey's candy brands. Both games are tailored to fit your party theme with the name of the celebrant, date, color, and font scheme.

Listmania for the Weekend:

Black History month is about to come to an end. I hope you had fun reading the interesting facts that I provided each day. Today's Freebie Friday is a trivia matching game featuring African American "Firsts." As usual, just right-click the file to download and print. Answers will be published on Monday.

Black History Month Fun Fact of the Day: Dihann Carroll was the first African-American woman to star in a television series without having to play a stereotypical role such as a maid or servant. The series was called "Julia," in which Ms. Carroll played a widowed single mother who was a nurse and raising her young son.

Today's birthdays: Kate Mara (32), Josh Groban (34), Bobby Valentino (35), Brandon Beemer (35), Shonna Tucker (37), Roderick Clark (42), Chilli (44), Donal Logue (49), Noah Emmerich (50), Grant Show (53), Adam Baldwin (53), Leon Mobley (54), Johnny Van Zant (55), Paul Humphreys (55), Timothy Spall (58), Adrian Smith (58), Neal Schon (61), Debra Monk (66), Howard Hesseman (75), Barbara Babcock (78), Mirella Fireni (80), and Joanne Woodward (85).

Tomorrow's birthdays: Bobb'e Thompson (19), Quinn Shephard (20), Madisen Beaty (20), Michelle Horn (28), Geoffrey Arend (37), Rory Cocharne (43), Tasha Smith (44), Pat Monahan (46), Robert Shawn Leanord (46), Maxine Bahns (46), Rae Dawn Chong (54), Cindy Wilson (58), John Turturro (58), Gilbert Gottfried (60), Ilene Graff (66), Bernadette Peters (67), Mercedes Ruehl (57), Mike Figgis (67), Stephanie Beacham (68), Kelly Bishop (71), Frank Bonner (73), Tommy Tune (76), Sam the Sham (78), Don Francks (83), and Gavin MacLeod (84).

Sunday's birthdays (Happy March!):  Justin Bieber (21), Sammie (28), Ke$ha (28), Lupita Nyong'o (32), Donovan Patton (37), Jenson Ackles (37), Mark-Paul Gosselaar (41), Jack Davenport (42), Javier Bardem (46), George Eads (48), Chris Eigman (50), Bryan Batt (52), Jon Carroll (58), Tim Daly (59), Catherine Bach (61), Ron Howard (61!), Alan Thicke (68), Roger Daltrey (71), Mike D'Abo (71), Robert Conrad (80), Harry Belafonte (88!), and Robert Clary (89).

Today's Holidaze: Kick off the weekend with National Kahlua Day! This is a coffee-flavored rum liquor first produced by Pedro Domecq in 1936 and is found in drinks such as White Russians, B-52s, and Mudslides.

Today is also National Strawberry Day. Although this is the one fruit I don't really like, strawberries are enjoyed by millions in ice cream, cakes, smoothies, milk shakes, and fruit salads. They are low calorie and give you the benefit of potassium, Vitamin C, fiber, and folic acid.

Today we're also celebrating National Polar Bear Day. These beautiful creatures reach a height of 9 feet tall and weigh about 1,400 pounds. They live in extremely cold climates and are very strong swimmers. Due to global warming and other factors, the number of polar bears is on the decline worldwide.

Tomorrow's Holidaze: Lots of holidaze tomorrow! First up, it's National Public Sleeping Day. It's a day to take a long nap at the beach, park, bus, or any public place that you frequent. It's not a good idea to be caught sleeping at work, however!

Foodies everywhere are celebrating National Chocolate Souffle Day. The word "souffle" is a French past participle of the word "souffler," which means to "puff up." A souffle is made up of two basic components: a French creme patisserie base and egg whites beaten to a meringue.

Put a little beauty in your life on National Floral Design Day! Flowers are a way to show appreciation on all occasions from birthdays to tokens of friendship. This holiday was created to honor Carl Rittner, who founded a floral design school in Boston.

Tomorrow is also National Tooth Fairy Day. For many years, children who lose their teeth are promised a visit from the Tooth Fairy, who will give them money under a pillow. Hmmmm. I never got any money anytime I lost a  tooth. :-(

Finally, tomorrow we observe National Rare Disease day. This day was created in 2008 by and organization called Eurodis and raises awareness about rare diseases and the impact they have on patients' lives.

Sunday's Holidaze: We kick off the month of March with National Peanut Butter Lover's Day! This is one of my favorite foods and I love it in chocolate, with PB&J sandwiches, cookies, cakes, pies, and ice cream! Peanut butter started out as a food for the wealthy in the early 1900s and was served only in the finest restaurants. However, the holistic doctor John Harvey Kellogg and snack maker George Bayle saw the benefits of peanut butter and were the purveyors of the spread as we know it today. Peanut butter is an excellent source of protein and provides several essential vitamins and minerals. Americans spend approximately $800 million each year on peanut butter.

Another foodie holiday celebrated this Sunday is National Fruit Compote Day. This dessert originated in 17th Century France and consists of whole fruits in sugar syrup. Seasonings such as cinnamon, lemon rinds, cloves, almonds, and coconut can be added to the mixture.

On Sunday, we also observe National Horse Protection Day. This day was created by animal lifestyle advocate Colleen Page to raise awareness about the abuse, starvation, neglect, and slaughter unwanted horses.

Finally, March 1st is also National Pig Day. Many events for this day are celebrated at petting zoos, schools, nursing homes, and sporting events. This holiday was created in 1972 by two sisters, Ellen Stanley and Mary Lynne Rave in appreciation of the pig as an intelligent and domesticated animal.

Open access to the Internet lives! Yesterday, the FCC voted in favor of broadband Internet as a public utility. This historic ruling has made it possible for micro-businesses like ours to continue thriving without restrictions. Although the ruling received cheers from consumers and technology companies, lawsuits are guaranteed to follow. Stay tuned.

On a sad note, Hollywood has lost another TV icon. Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on the classic sci-fi series "Star Trek," passed away from complications with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at age 83. He also published books featuring his poetry and photography, and he was a singer as well. Although I was never a fan of "Star Trek" or its spin-offs, I deeply respected Mr. Nimoy as an actor and a person. May he rest in peace.

Coming in March: Celebrating Women's History Month, Purim (the "Jewish Halloween"), Pi Day, St. Patty's Day, baby shower ideas, and of course, shop updates! We will also be spending our time creating new games for the shop. If you have an idea for a party game, please comment here.

Have a PRINTASTIC weekend!

Kathy

Page-Turning Book Parties for Kids

A couple of months ago, my husband and I attended the Bat Mitzvah of my friend's daughter. The Bat Mitzvah girl is a voracious reader, and her theme was books. I applauded her choice of theme because the issue of literacy is very important to me. Without literacy skills, the ability to write, to solve math problems, and accessing technology becomes impossible. Growing up, I spent more time with my nose in a book than playing outside with the other kids. Although this didn't make me the most popular person on the block, I learned so much about different cultures and moments of history.

Why not host a party based on your child's favorite book? Or you can turn your home into a "library." Today's blog post will explore some ideas for this theme, from invitations to decor to food.

Let's start with invitations. Although card catalogs are just about extinct at your local library, vintage library cards make great invitations. Here's a great example from the blog Johnson & Johnson.

You can also create invitations based on your child's favorite book character.  

My son was a huge fan of the Magic Treehouse series when he was in elementary school. He enjoyed Jack and Annie's travels through time and learning about historical events. Party planner Heidi Rew of Parties for Pennies created a Magic Treehouse-themed party for a 6-year-old boy. The party was held outdoors, so the decor was very rustic. 

One of my favorite book series growing up was Little House on the Prairie. For her daughter's birthday, the owner of Oh Amanda set up part of her home to look like Oleson's Mercantile and featured penny candy of the era.

Margarita Ellis of Party Inspirations created a party based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, her then-9-year-old son's favorite book series. I thought the decor and cupcakes were so adorable. 

Jeanette from J at Your Service styled a "Glitzy Bookworm" party for her 8-year-old daughter. For the centerpiece, she used a bookcase and filled it with her daughter's books. Among the foods she had were "Nerds on a Stick," gummy worms, Smarties, cookie tubes, and crispy rice worms. She had the party guests decorate their own book bags.

 

The owner of the blog Merriment Photography threw a book-themed party for her young daughter when she turned one. All of the food at that party was based on their favorite children's picture books. 

Other ideas can include Swedish Fish for the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, green eggs for Green Eggs and Ham, or gummy worms for Diary of a Worm.

For a bar/bat mitzvah, how about a book-themed party using school supplies? After the party, the supplies can be donated to charity. Mitzvah Market shows you how.

We have some book-themed games at the shop. Although I created these for Halloween, they can be tailored to feature any book or author. The first is a word search based on the Harry Potter series. I created the sample below as a party invitation using the Gryffindor colors of red and yellow. 

Our second offering is mainly for those ages 12 and up. This is is a freeform crossword puzzle featuring one's favorite author. In the sample below, I created a crossword based on the works of Stephen King. Once again, we can customize the crossword to feature your favorite book or writer. 

The book-themed party is also popular for baby showers as it gives a chance for expectant parents to build their libraries. We will explore that idea in a future post. 

It's now time for today's lists: 

Black History Fun Fact of the Day: Before Wally Amos created his "Famous Amos" chocolate chip cookie, he was a talent scout at the William Morris Agency. His clients included The Supremes and Simon & Garfunkel. He would send his cookies to potential clients to get business.

Today's Birthdays: James and Oliver Phelps (29), Justin Berfield (29), Rashida Jones (39), Chelsea Hanler (40), Daniel Powter (44), Sean Astin (44), Lesley Boone (47), Carrot Top (48), Téa Leone (49), Alexis Denisof (49), Veronica Webb (50), Mike Peters (56), Karen Grassle (73), Diane Baker (77), Bob Schieffer (78), and Ralph Stanley (88).

Holidaze: We have two foodies days today! The first is National Chocolate Covered Nut Day! Chocolate and nuts have been staples of our diets since ancient times. They each contain sources of vitamins and antitoxins that are necessary for a healthy lifestyle. The original chocolate-covered peanut candy is Goobers, which were first sold in 1925. There are so many chocolate-covered nuts on the market--my favorites are cashews and almonds. 

The second foodie day is National Clam Chowder Day. Clam chowder is a soup that contains clams and broth. You can add diced potatoes, onions, and celery. There are many different varieties of clam chowder, such as Manhattan, New England, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Long Island. 

That's all until tomorrow.

Have a PRINTASTIC day!

Kathy