Party Ideas

Party Ideas

Monthly Archive: November 2012


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Sausage Rolls are a staple at any kids party celebration. My Grandma made the best. She handed the recipe down to my Aunty Lois and my Uncle Doug tweaked the recipe and still to this day, keeps his tweaking a secret. But the good news is…..I have Grandma’s Sausage Roll Recipe! At the risk of a Booth Family uprising…I am going to share the best ever Sausage Roll Recipe with you. Enjoy.

Sausage Roll Recipe

  • 1.5kg sausage mince
  • 7-10 sheets puff pastry
  • 5-6 slices bread
  • mixed herbs
  • black pepper
  • tomato sauce
  • chicken stock powder (or 1 cube)

1.  Soak bread in water then squeeze out the water until doughy.

2.  Mix in herbs, pepper, tomato sauce, chicken stock.

3.  Fold in sausage mince.

4.  Cut each sheet of pastry into two or three strips.

5.  Brush pastry with milk or beaten egg.

6.  Spoon sausage mix on to each strip and fold pastry into long roll.

7.  Cut each roll into the desired size but don’t cut through to bottom.

8.  Cut diagonal slits on top of each sausage roll.

9.  Brush with milk or egg and place on baking tray.

10. Bake in hot oven for approx 15 mins or until brown then turn oven down to 160 deg. to cook for further 30 mins.

11.  Cool off a little then cut pastry right through each sausage roll.

Makes about 60-65.  Can be frozen.
Enjoy!

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Christmas party games are a must for any Christmas Holiday celebration. Here are a few of my favourite games and activities for any Christmas gathering.

Christmas Memory Tree
The cheeky elves have stolen items that were hanging on the magical Christmas tree. This is played like a memory tray game. Have children look at the tree and items hanging on it, place a cover over the tree and remove one item, children must correctly guess what the missing item is.

Magical Reindeer Food
Secret Ingredients:
Oats (reindeer love oats!)
Glitter moonlight dust (silver glitter)
Giggle dust (Red/Green or Gold dust)

The special poem you could print out onto small card and attach to either an organza bag or simply a zip-lock bag could read:

Expecting a visit from Santa?
Here is a recipe I have found
It is a special reindeer food
to  sprinkle on the ground
The oatmeal is for energy
The sparkles are for flight.
So sprinkle the reindeer food
on Christmas night!
All of Santa’s reindeer
will love this healthy snack
and next year Santa and his reindeer
surely will be back!!!

You could make the ingredients in the children’s hands explaining each of the ingredients and the magical properties of each. Each child gets a pinch, then stir once to the left, twice to the right (using your magical pinkie of course), then all skip outside to sprinkle in the garden and make a magical wish. Alternatively, why not create a Christmas treasure hunt with the clues. Each clue could contain one  magical ingredient at a time. Then mix, stir and sprinkle.

Pin the Nose on the Rudolph
An oldie but a goodie. Blindfold one child at a time and have them pin the red nose on Rudolph.

Reindeer Candy Canes
These are simple for any age to make. Set up a craft station which displays:

Candy Canes
Googly Eyes
Red pipe cleaners cut to a 2 inch length
red and green fabric balls
craft glue bottles

Reindeer Hokey Pokey
Little kids will love singing along with the actions. Get kids in a circle and sing loud and strong!

You put your antlers in,

You put your antlers out.
You put your antlers in,

And you shake them all about.
You do the reindeer pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about!

You put your right hoof (hand) in
You put your left hoof (hand) in
You put your hind legs in
You put your tail in

Reindeer Antler Game

Make 2-4 teams.  Hand each team one pair of pantyhose and 1 balloon to each player. Each team should have about 8 balloons.

On the word ”go”, the teams race to make reindeer antlers, by blowing up the balloons and stuffing them into the pantyhose. Then one team member wears the antlers and sings the first verse of Jingle Bells.
The first one to do so wins for the team.

Santa Relays
Here are a few relay ideas for teams. Mix the adults and children together to make the teams even.

  • Santa Flag Race: Paint tins (4 per team) red and have plastic toy candy cane decorations to use as the flags. Play in the same way as a school carnival flag race is run.
  • Ride the reindeer: You will need one toy reindeer horse on a stick (find them at Kmart, Target, novelty stores), jar of Vaseline, red fluffy balls and one reindeer antler headband for each team. Have teams line up and one at a time they must place a red nose (red fluffy ball dipped in Vaseline) on their nose, don the reindeer antlers and then ride the reindeer around a marker located 20 metres away and back. They then tag the next team member. The team who completes the course first wins.
  • Santa Sack Race this simply is a sack race using red sacks
  • Santa Pop Place a chair for each team approx 20 metres in front of the start line. Each team member must one at a time, put on a Santa beard, Santa hat and blow up a balloon. They run with the balloon to the chair and must pop the balloon by sitting on it. They run back and tag the next team member. First team who completes the relay first wins.
  • Christmas Dress up relay Make two piles of Christmas clothing (hats, boots, red shirt, beard etc… and divide the group into teams. First players race to the dress up clothes from their team’s pile. When finished, the player must take off the clothes run back and tag next player. The team that dresses and undressed first wins

Santa Says
This is a great game to use at the beginning of the party to ensure all kids are listening and following instructions. Play the game like Simon says. Santa will give orders but only those instructions which are proceeded with “Santa Says”, should be followed by the players. Any player who follows instructions without “Santa Says” are out.

Pass the Present  Play like pass the parcel. Simple and kids love it.

Wrap the Present Challenge
Each team is given their own present wrapping supplies of equal numbers of wrapping paper, sticky tape, ribbon, five different sized boxes, scissors, pen and 5 cards.
On the word ‘go” teams must race against the clock to see which team completes the wrapping presents challenge the fastest. The first team to wrap all of their boxes completely with wrapping paper and ribbon are the winners.

Christmas Draw on your head:

Everyone places a large book on their head with a piece of blank paper on it. They each have a pen. The host then gives a series of instructions. Without looking, the players draw onto their page, which is over their head. Here are the instructions:

1. Draw a line for a floor
2. Draw a Christmas Tree.
3. Draw a star on top of your tree.
4. Draw a fireplace with a mantel next to the tree.
5. Draw a stocking hanging from the mantel of your fireplace.”
6. Draw a present below the tree.

Have everyone remove their pictures from their heads. It can be pretty funny to see what you have drawn.

The host now offers points for random hits.
1. 2 points if the tree touches the floor.
2. 2 points if your stocking is touching your mantel
3. 1 point if your star touches your tree.
4. 1 point if your star is above your tree
5. 1 point for every Christmas ornament ball that is ON your tree, etc.
6. 1 point if your fireplace doesn’t touch the tree (it’s a fire hazard!)
7. 1 point if you actually drew something decorative on your stocking.
8. 2 point if your present if under your tree.

The winner is then the person with the most points.

Christmas Face Painting  Kids love to get their face painted.
Water Games  For a warm Christmas party, why not try cooling down with these water games

Christmas Candy Kebabs  I blogged earlier this week about the amazing Sweets Indeed Candy Kebabs. Why not trying to make these at your party as a craft/take home activity. A helpful hint is to place a hard candy on the bottom of the kebab stick so your lollies do not slide down and also to spray with cooking oil the stick so lollies slide on easily.

What’s in the Christmas Stocking
Divide players into teams of 3-5 people per team. Give each team a Christmas stocking full of items that has been tied shut with a ribbon.  Set a timer and give each team 3 minutes to feel the stocking and write down all the objects that they can identify by feeling them through the stocking. The team with the most correct items wins.

Your guests will love this idea! Tie onto a small Christmas tree various Lottery Scratch n’ Win tickets for guests to choose and scratch. This is a family tradition for us. One year, one lucky relative won $200.

Have Fun and Happy Holidays!!

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Looking for a sweet and easy party? Then a Candy Party is the go. James had a “Candy party games” party for his 8th birthday and the kids loved playing games using candy. Follow this Candy Party Plan for inspiration.

To keep the kids focused, we split them into two teams and teams were rewarded candy for winning the candy games. The candy was stored in a huge container by the team “Treasurer”. At the conclusion of the party, the candy was counted to determine the winning team. The team candy was then divided equally between team members and placed in their take home loot bags.

Candy Jar Guessing Game
When guests arrived they had to guess how many gumballs were in the jar. We announced the winner at the conclusion of the party. The winner of course was thrilled when he could take this home. Who wouldn’t be?

Marshmallow Construction 
Guests are split evenly into 4 teams. They are provided with 2 bags of marshmallows and 3 packets of toothpicks. The teams must construct a “Marshmallow Construction” within a 5 min time period. The entries are then judged.

Baby bottle burp game

This is a great game to watch and there will be lots of laughs with this game. Two team members from each team are provided with a tea towel (baby bib) and a baby bottle filled with soda. As shown above, one team member must “feed” the baby the bottle. The bottle must be consumed fully (I suggest no more than half filled), then the baby must be burped. The first team to burp wins.

Jelly bubble burst game

You will require 2 medium sized bowls filled with jelly, 2 pieces of Hubba Bubba gum and paper towels. A team member from each team is chosen to face the Jelly challenge. As shown above, players must use only their mouths to retrieve the bubblegum from the jelly bowl which is placed strategically at the bottom! Once they have retrieved the bubblegum, players must successfully blow a bubble for the crowd. First to successfully complete this, wins!


Whipped Cream Pie Challenge 
You will require lots of paper plates, approx 2 cans of whipped cream and a large bag of Smarties. Place a whipped cream pie in front of two players. Hidden within the cream pies are three Smarties. The challenge is for the players to find using only their mouth, the three Smarties and eat them. The first player to consume the Smarties wins. As shown above, players must prove they have eaten the Smarties. Kids love this challenge, so I had all guests complete this challenge.

Players stand in two teams, standing in a line one behind each other. Provide each player a toothpick and the person at the front of each line, a lifesaver. Players must put the toothpick in their mouth and pass the lifesaver from one person to the next. Players must not use their hands! The first team to pass it down to the end of the line wins. We used sherbet sticks and starburst gummi rings for this challenge. If the lifesaver falls on the floor, then the team must start the process from the beginning of the line again.

Sour war head challenge

We managed to find Sour War Head Juice (Brain Juice) from our local lolly shop, so we decided to see if their taste buds were up for the challenge. Four players from each team were lined up and hosts squeezed every last drop of the sour juice in their mouths, a different flavour each time. The last player standing wins!

Chocolate Game
Firstly players must make a circle. In the middle of the circle is placed a plate, knife and fork, chocolate and dress ups. One player starts with the dice, and after having a turn passes the dice on. Each player takes a turn at throwing a dice. If a player rolls a six, they run into the centre of the circle place the dress up clothes on. This player can then proceed to cut with their are rolling the dice. Once someone else has rolled a six, the player in the middle must take off their dress-up clothes and hand over the knife and fork. They are only allowed to eat one piece of chocolate at a time – they must finish that piece before they have another. Have the players remove the chocolate from the fork and place into their mouth with their hands so germs are not passed on!

Whipped Cream Pies Pass the Parcel Style
Have children stand in one line. Two plates of whipped cream are passed from each player along the line whilst players are dancing to the music. When the music stops, the player must rub the plate of whipped cream “round the world style” (start at the front and rub the plate around the head back to front), on their face. They are then out. Plates are replenished and repeated until the last player is standing. Obviously the last player get the “World treatment”.

Candied Poached Eggs on a spoon relay
Split each team into two groups and have the groups line single file and face each other a fair distance away. Explain the relay race format (egg and spoon race). If the egg is dropped, the player must return to the start line.

Shoelace Licorice Race 
Two players from each team are given a piece of shoelace licorice. On a signal, one person puts the loose end of the licorice in their mouth and eats their way to the end of the licorice whilst the other person is holding the other end. The first two to reach it go on to the finals of the shoelace race!

Jelly Bean Race
2-4 buckets or plastic tubs with ice and water. 2 bags of Jelly beans (Bags per team bucket). Players have 15 seconds to fish the jelly beans out of the ice water with their toes. Have dry towels close by to dry each player’s feet.

Smartie Sucker Relay
Have the two teams line up in straight lines and each player is given a straw. This is a relay race with one player at a time running up to a container with smarties in it. Players then place the straw on a smartie and suck. The smartie sticks to the straw and players then drop it into their hand, eat it and run back and tag the next person.

Candy Bingo 
Surprisingly, the boys loved this! I laminated 20 A4 pages of Candy Bingo sheets. We played this twice with the winners receiving reward points and a candy bar.

Looking for Candy Party Cake inspiration? Check this Bubblegum Cake out.

Testimonial
I'm writing to let you know how impressed we were with Austin today. Such a class act! He was really enthusiastic and did a wonderful job of keeping the boys entertained with all sorts of soccer games. Thanks to Austin and your team at Encore Kids Parties for making my son's 6th birthday party so successful and memorable. T. Nov 2023