Tag: best

Party ideas for 6yr olds

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Around the age of 6 is when kids start to reveal their true personalities. They absorb so much information, are super opinionated and they know what they want. It’s usually the year they transition into Reception and go from being a “baby” to a little person with attitude. When it’s time to celebrate their birthday, now is when you can include them in the party plans to make their sixth birthday party one they will talk about for years.

PJ parties
● Pajama parties for children at this age are full of energy and fun and you’re likely to be worn out after a night of rambunctious 6-year-olds. Invite a few friends from your child’s class over for a sleepover. Set up plenty of arts and crafts activities for the kids to move from station to station as they are likely to bore easily. Use one station for colouring and creating, another for watching a show or movie and another for something active like pavement chalk writing, blowing bubbles or making water balloons.

Talent Show
● Host a talent show for the kids to showcase their favourite talents. No matter if it’s singing, dancing or creating a masterpiece, allow each kid a chance in the spotlight. End your talent portion by bringing out the ice cream and cake and allow everyone to salute the birthday boy or girl before the party ends.

Pizza Party
● Celebrate the birthday at school by offering to bring in pizza for your child’s classroom. Replacing ham and cheese sandwiches with pizza will make you the superhero of the day, and your child will enjoy the excitement of having you appear for lunch. Bring balloons and a cake to accompany your special visit. Use this in-class party to kick start the birthday bash over the weekend.

Safe Face Painting

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Face painting at kids parties is becoming increasingly popular. Face painters of today are artists using cosmetic-grade paints and creating designs so amazing they go viral! When booking a face painter for your birthday party, corporate event, grand opening, or anything else, make sure you’re getting not only a great artist, but a safe and sanitary experience.

What’s your hygiene like?

Face painters must sanitize their brushes between dips and only use one sponge per child. (Face painters often use sponges for bigger areas.)

Are you insured?

All professional face painters are insured against accidents. This is especially important for corporate parties or company events.

How do I take face paint off afterwards?

It should be pretty easy, but some brands are easier than others. The face painter you book should be able to walk you through the removal or cleanup process.

Do you do background checks?

If you’re dealing with an agency who hires multiple artists, ask if they do background checks.

Are your paints vegan or cruelty-free?

Kids love animals, so why not ask? An increasing number of makeup brands contain no animal products and are not tested on animals.

Can you cater to my special needs?

From autism to non-English speakers, make sure the professional face painter you hire can accommodate to your needs.

What kind of paint do you use?

This is a “trick question.” A professional face painter will be using FDA-approved cosmetics that we call “paint.” It’s hypoallergenic and safe for kids, Make sure they don’t say craft paint, acrylic paint, or anything else not made specifically for skin.

Toddler parties on a budget

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Let us help you find budget-friendly alternatives to an over the top toddler birthday party..

1. Sensory Party
If your tiny guests are in the early stages of exploring, consider throwing a fun children’s party centered around helping them explore. Find large, shallow clear boxes at your local diy shop. Fill them with different textures and colours, such as shaving cream, sand, water, marbles. Anything you can think of. Place them in an area that will be easy to clean, hand out plastic art jackets and let them go to town.

2. Princess and Superhero Parties
There is no doubt that you have glass slippers or capes haunting your dreams right now. That is one of the many perks of toddler parenting. Even though you’re well aware that they may not remember their early years, you still want to make their birthday special. Cut your budget by making your own crafts!

3. Dance
Toddlers love to dance and parents love to watch. Hire a Children’s Musician for a birthday celebration that will keep a smile on everyone’s face! Since it’s a Dance Party and the centre of the party is music, you don’t really need a theme. Go to your local party shop, grab some brightly-coloured party supplies and arrange them on a white table cloth to bring it all together. Give your cake a musical theme and congratulations, This party is a success!

4. Circus Party
Even without elephants or acrobats, you can still bring the circus to your garden! Think small-scale entertainment and keep decorations simple with a red, white, and yellow theme. Frost your cupcakes with red and white icing and arrange them into coordinating stripes, then top them off with tiny yellow flags made from toothpicks and card stock. Create your own Puppet Show stage using cardboard boxes and paint. There will be so much to do that toddlers can run free and have a good time! Hire a Face Painter or a friendly Clown.

No matter what your budget is, it is always possible to have an extra special fun party. With a little hard work and some creativity, use your budget savvy to make the best party of the year and still have enough leftover to treat yourself. You’ll need it! Make your kid’s birthday one you will all remember and include some birthday traditions.

Celebrate Christmas Abroad

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Some traditional ways kids enjoy Christmas in other countries…

1. A Japanese Christmas cake is made using sponge, strawberries and whipped cream – can we have this version too please?

2. As well as the standard decoration, Ukrainian Christmas trees also have a spider and web on their trees as it’s believed to bring good luck!

3. A witch called La Befana gives out Christmas presents in Italy!

4. In Japan, “Santa Kurohsu” has eyes in the back of his head, so that he can watch out for naughty kids. There we were thinking it was just us Mums with eyes in the back of our heads!

5. On December 5th, German children leave a shoe outside their bedroom door before they go to sleep. If they have been good, they will wake up to a tree branch with sweets on but if they have been naughty they will only find a branch!

6. Norwegians hide brooms before they go to sleep on Christmas Eve as they believe that witches and evil spirits will arrive.

7. In the capital of Venezuela, Caracas, people travel to Christmas church services on roller skates – how cool is that!

8. In Portugal, ahead of their Christmas feast, families sometimes set extra places at the dinner table for deceased relatives, as they believe it will bring good fortune.

9. Christmas cuisine in Greenland is raw whale skin with blubber on…pass me the sprouts!

10. And finally, a tradition here in Britain is to go for a Christmas swim…in freezing water! Brave Londoners jump into the Serpentine, and many of us head to beaches such as Bournemouth and Brighton on Christmas morning to raise money for charity.

See the sights on the water or on land

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Circular Cruise

Enjoy a fantastic one hour return cruise along the River Thames hop on at either Westminster Pier, Embankment Pier, Festival Pier, Bankside Pier or St Katharine’s Pier. Once the boat reaches St Katharine’s it will return directly to Westminster Pier without stopping. Every cruise has full live audio commentary throughout the journey. If you choose to stay on the boat, the cruise lasts for 1 h

Thames River Services

What better way to explore London than with a relaxing return Thames River cruise? Take the family on a fun cruise from Westminster Pier to Greenwich Pier and back. On the luxurious, 2 hour round cruise from Westminster Pier to Greenwich you will see fantastic landmarks such as: Cutty Sark, The O2 Arena, Tower Bridge, The Shard, HMS Belfast and many more

City Cruises

Enjoy a fabulous all-day hop on, hop off cruise along the River Thames London offering you unlimited access to the majestic River Thames for 24 hours, allowing you the freedom to hop off and enjoy some sites and then hop back on at a time convenient to you to continue your cruise. Cruises depart every 30 minutes and you can hop on, or off, at and of the 4 piers: Westminster, London Eye, Tower of London and Greenwich

West Norwood Cemetery Catacombs, London

To those who are super brave, explore this catacomb which is located below West Norwood Cemetery. This catacomb was opened in 1837 and has 95 vaults with a capacity of around 3,500 coffins. Advance booking needed

London Dungeon

Explore some gruesome horrible history in this fantastic attraction, where you will see, hear, smell and feel your way through historic London! You’ll enter the Gatehouse where you will meet The Executioner and discover the grisly fate of William Wallace. Walk through the old streets of London and run from the Great Fire! Great for older kids entertainment.

London attractions

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London has countless fab attractions which can be explored in many different ways. If you want to enjoy London’s stunning landmarks with the kids and with a difference, then check out our handy list below.

The London Eye
The London Eye offers its visitors a stunning view of the wonderful city day or night and at 135 metres up, you won’t miss a thing! On your 30 minute ride you will see landmarks such as Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral and even Buckingham Palace. Great for all the family to enjoy.

O2

Take in stunning views of London from 52m above the ground when you enjoy this exhilarating guided expedition over the roof of The O2! This is a thrilling 90 minute experience over the 380m long O2 walkway, which, at its steepest point, has a 28° incline on the way up and 30° on the way back down! Perfect fun for all the family.

Arcelor Mittal Orbit
Climb the UK’s tallest sculpture and ride the world’s tallest, longest and fastest tunnel slide. Enjoy a superb view of many of London’s famous landmarks from the viewing platforms then take the slide down! As you twist and turn as you will take in London’s skyline at speed through the ‘clear sections’. This is without a doubt, one of the most fun ways to see the city from above!

This is a fantastic experience all the family will enjoy seeing London from the air in a cable car as it crosses the River Thames right by the side of the O2. By day or night enjoy spectacular views in an air conditioned cabin and listen to informative and interesting audio information. Cabins arrive every 30 seconds and each journey last around 10 minutes.

Egyptian Party

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If your child is into ancient History, then maybe an Egyptian party would be just the thing;
You could ask the kids to come dressed as an Egyptian (not only would it be great fun but also very educational)

There could be lots of crafty making (seeing as the Egyptians love to build things) why not have a Pyramid building competition which cardboard recycling could be put to very good use. All you need is glue, glitter pens and the children’s imagination to build an amazing Pyramid!!

GAMES;

Mummy wrap game;
Divide the kids into 3 teams and had them wrap one person as a mummy. Best wrap in 5 minutes’ win. You will need lots of toilet tissue, try and buy the more expensive stuff as the cheap tissue will rip easily.

Next game is a scavenger hunt. Divided into teams and give them hieroglyphic clues which they have
to translate. There are a lot of websites that give ways to translate hieroglyphics, but not all of them use the same letter-to-hieroglyphic translations. Tell the children that archaeologists weren’t always given complete information!

The first clue will lead them to an archaeological dig site (the sandbox). They have to dig up a ring, necklace, gold coins, and their next clue. Use a cardboard pyramid to give instructions.

The second clue will take them to buckets that they had no idea what was inside. There were all sorts of horrible feeling things inside for example, Jelly, baked beans and custard and they had to dig deep to get their clues!!

The third clue will take them to the River Nile. Planks can be laid out in the garden and pretend water was underneath them. The idea is that they balance and don’t fall. At the end of the Nile is a crocodile’s nest. Kids have to get to the crocodile’s nest for their next clue.

Final stop is Tutankhamun’s tomb, for their prize there will be sweets and prizes all stuffed into a treasure chest. Great fun!!!

FOOD;
Sandwiches and crisps, ice cream scooped into bowls, so you just to bring it out from the freezer. Oh and of course a Pyramid Cake!!!

Remember to ‘walk like an Egyptian’!!

A Circus Party

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Roll up, Roll up, you are invited to a Circus party!!!

INVITATIONS;
Use white card and envelopes. Use red cardboard paper to make a big top for the front of card. Square base and canopied top. Square base to be glued on sides and bottom, top to be left open to create a pocket for admit ticket.

DECORATIONS;
Keep decorations simple. Use red/white crepe paper to make a canopy (big top) . Hang paper clown faces from the ceiling. Bright tableware can be placed around the cakes. A lion cake and a clown cake for example.

GAMES;
Put felt tips, glitter, glue etc. around and lots of coloured card paper so kids can make their own circus/clown pictures.

A must would be to have a ‘face painter’ which can paint each kid’s face, take a picture and print each one off before the party ends and stick it in onto their party bags.

Another children’s party game could be throwing darts at different coloured balloons. Whatever colour they pop, they get to pick from that “colour” toy pile. Each toy in different coloured bags so the kids know which one they will win from.

Then an elephant game where the kids have to hook a ring around their trunks. Each child puts on an elephant mask and tries to pick up hoops with the end of their nose. Of course no party is complete without the clown piñata.

PARTY BAGS;
No children’s birthday party is complete without party bags so fill them up with sweets, colouring pens, and candy floss bags.

Monsters Inc Party ideas

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Does your child love Monsters Inc? Why not have a fun party based on Mike Wysocki!!

INVITATIONS:
Invitations can be bought as there are lots of shops from the Monsters Inc film, but invitations can be downloaded from the internet of ‘Mike Wysocki’ and stick them onto card. The invitations could say ‘You’re invited to a party for Sam’s 5th birthday’ it also has to have important information like: Date, Time, Place and RSVP info.

DECORATIONS:
You could put a sign outside your front door with a Monster’s Inc poster saying ‘Welcome to the Monster Party’ Inside you can have your table decorated with Monster Inc tablecloth, plates and cups. To add a bit of personalisation you could have a seating plan with guests names and everyone has the surname Wysocki, or their favourite character from the film. And don’t forget the green balloons!!

PARTY BAGS:
Since Mike is the comedian of Monsters Inc. buy joke books to fill the bags. Also bubbles for younger brothers and sisters at the party. To the books & the bubbles, tie suckers and a tag that says thank you for coming to my MONSTER of a party with a Mike clipart. Use round suckers and glue a lime green circle & big wiggly eye to them to look like Mike.

FOOD:
Simple and easy party food for kids, like pizzas, popcorn, jelly and sandwiches, put a little green food dye on to make them more monstrous!! For dessert, served choc chip ice cream with a Mike cake. Use plain lime green plates, napkins, cups, etc. Great fun for all the kids.

Birthday History

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It is quite interesting to study the history of Birthday celebrations. Earliest history of birthday can be traced before the rise of Christianity where celebrations began to ward off evil spirits!! If this surprises you, read on for more interesting facts and gradual progress of birthday celebrations in history.

Early man did not know how to calculate dates so they were not able to pay attention to the anniversary of important events like birthdays. Gradually, human beings began to understand lunar cycles and they developed calendars accordingly. This made it easy for them to calculate the date of birth and celebrate the occasion.

Historians are certain that birthday celebrations are being held for quite sometimes but there are few records for the same. Documented descriptions of Birthday celebrations are available only for kings, high-ranking nobility and those who held high positions in the society. In the beginning common men and especially children were unable to celebrate the birthdays. Scholars believe that this difference existed because only the nobility was wealthy enough to throw birthday parties and was considered important enough to be written about.

Popular Birthday Celebrations in History
Best known birthday in the history is that of Jesus Christ. For nearly 2000 years since the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, Christians have been honoring the day as Christmas.
About 4,000 years ago King Pharaoh used to celebrate his birthday by giving a feast to his court followers.

King Herod is said to have celebrated his birthday by treating lords, high captains and special friends with a special supper party in Galilee.
Some of the popular Birthday traditions and symbols that we see today originated hundreds of years ago. Some believe the tradition of Birthday cake was started by early Greeks who used to take round or moon shaped cake to temple of Artemis – the Goddess of Moon. Others believe the custom of Birthday cake initiated in Germany where people used to make bread in the shape of baby Jesus swaddling cloth.

The popular custom of lighting candles on cake is said to have originated because Greeks used to light candles on the cake taken to Artemis to make it glow like a moon. Some though believe that custom originated because of a religious belief that gods lived in the sky and lighted candles helped to send a signal or prayers to the god. Germans are said to have placed a big candle in the centre of the cake to symbolize ‘the light of life’. Even today people make silent wishes as they blow out candles. It is believed that blowing out all candles in one breath brings good luck.