Parenting Toddlers
Complete (femininish) Party Themes
Flower Power
Everything comes up roses�and pansies and zinnias�at this party, which celebrates a year of growth right at the grassroots level. Filled with flowers and hands-on gardening, this theme will be an especially blooming success for kids with spring or summer birthdays.
THE HIT OF THE PARTY:
When reader Chris Edwards threw a "Flower Power" party for her six-year-old daughter, Natalie Cutcher, the best part was when each guest got to transplant a small impatiens into a little pot to take home. "They loved having their own special plant to take care of," Chris says.
DECOR:
If weather permits, set up a table in the backyard and add a floral tablecloth and a vase of wild flowers as a centerpiece.
FUN & GAMES:
�Put On Face Paint. As Guests Arrived, Chris Painted Flowers On Each Girl's Cheeks And A Bumblebee On Her Nose.
�Make Gardening Hats. Using Tubes Of Fabric Paint, Guests Can Decorate Inexpensive Plastic Gardening Visors With Flowers, Designs And Their Names.
�Have A Watering-Can Relay. Give Your Crew Two Watering Cans And Have Them Form A Line Between The Hose And A Kiddie Pool. See How Quickly They Can Fill Up The Pool, Water Brigade Style.
FAVORS:
Fill tiny flowerpots with seed packets, flower stickers and gummy worms.
EATS:
If you want to go all out with the garden theme, serve garden burgers, salad with edible flowers and sunflower seeds. Top it off with our cheery sunflower cake.
Sunflower Cake
1 baked 9-inch round cake
16 Twinkies
5 cups yellow icing
Mini Hershey Kisses
Place the Twinkies along the outer edge of the cake. Frost yellow. Dot the center with Kisses for sunflower "seeds."
Ladybug Party
Perfect for a toddler's first foray into the birthday zone, this smart little party idea will have you seeing spots�and a lot of smiles. For reader Dawne Carlson, who created the party for her two-year-old, Abigail, the biggest attraction was how simple it was to plan. "At that age," she says, "a little fun goes a long way."
THE HIT OF THE PARTY:
Dawne's guests ooh-ed and aah-ed over the homemade ladybug plates on the party table. Simply decorate a red plastic plate with licorice legs and antennae (or pipe cleaners, for a noncandy version). Four chocolate cookies make up the edible spots.
DECOR:
Anything red and black�streamers, balloons, a tablecloth�will set the stage.
FUN & GAMES:
Simple and flexible activities work best with this crowd.
~ At the door, greet each child with a set of his own antennae, made of a headband, pipe cleaners and Styrofoam balls.
~ Play "stick the spot on the ladybug." For this age group, you'll probably want to do away with the blindfold.
~ Dance the jitterbug. It doesn't matter if the guests don't know the steps; just put on some tunes and let them make it up as they go.
FAVORS:
Getting to wear the antennae home may be enough of a treat for this set, but you could also give each ladybug a bag with some black and red jelly beans, ladybug stickers or Eric Carle's THE GROUCHY LADYBUG.
EATS:
If you serve lunch, make it something familiar, then for dessert make a Ladybug Cake.
Ladybug Cake
Reader Carol Zemanek of Shoreline, Washington, gave her four-year-old a dose of good luck with this adorable ladybug cake baked in a stainless steel bowl. For a ladybug-theme party, drape the table with a red paper tablecloth and scatter it with mint or chocolate cookie spots.
WHAT YOU NEED
1 baked dome cake (made in a 1 1/2-quart bowl or 6-inch sphere)
1 baked cupcake
3 cups red frosting
12 Junior Mints
2 green gumdrops
Black shoestring licorice
WHAT YOU DO
Turn the cake and cupcake upside down and frost them with red icing. Place the mints on the body for spots. Add the green gumdrop eyes and the licorice antennae, and the ladybug will fly away home.
Dollhouse Tea
Once many little girls discover the magical sound of china striking china, setting up tiny cups and saucers becomes de rigueur.
That's why we pored over contributing editor Cynthia Caldwell's idea for her daughter, Isabelle: a fancy tea party, to which each guest brought a doll or stuffed animal.
THE HIT OF THE PARTY:
Half of the guests at this party won't eat this delightful dollhouse cake�because teddy bears are already stuffed. Human guests, however, won't be able to resist.
DECOR:
Break out the fancy tablecloth, doilies and silver sugar bowl. The more fussy the table is, the more the kids will like it.
FUN & GAMES:
~ Sign in. Put out a guest book and feathered pen and ask each guest to sign in with her name and her doll's name.
~ Dress up. Raid your closet for junk jewelry and old bridesmaid's gowns�then let partygoers dress to the nines.
~ Make dolls. Give each partygoer an old-fashioned clothespin and lay out fabric scraps, lace, yarn, sequins, ribbons and markers to make tiny fancy ladies.
FAVORS:
Buy a child's tea set and present one cup to each guest. Or, give out candy jewelry, play makeup and nail polish, and little sachets of tea.
EATS:
Well, this is a tea party, isn't it? Serve herbal tea, along with sugar cubes and milk. For lunch, try finger sandwiches and baby carrots.
Dollhouse Cake
1 baked 13-by-9-by-2-inch cake
5 cups white frosting
Cake Decorations:Caramel squares, Necco wafers, shoestring licorice, cream wafer cookies, jelly beans, marshmallow, gummy bear, mini jawbreakers, fruit cream cookie (top only), petit beurre cookie, thin pretzel sticks, mini sugar flowers, fruit leather
Cut and arrange the cake as shown, then frost. Add caramel square chimney stones, Necco wafer roof tiles, and a licorice roof ridge and room dividers. Make a wafer-cookie bed with jelly-bean feet and add a marshmallow pillow and gummy bear. Build a dresser with wafer-cookie drawers, mini-jawbreaker pulls, and jelly-bean feet. Hang a fruit cream cookie "painting" in the bedroom. Furnish the kitchen with wafer chairs and a petit-beurre table with pretzel sticks. Finish with a Necco-wafer vase of sugar flowers and a fruit-leather lamp.