6799

Gymnastics Party -6yr- Hula Hoop Favors

July 2003

Terri in Metairie, LA  USA

Special Mention

Victorias Gymnastics Birthday Party   For our daughters 6th birthday party we decided to have a gymnastics party and go with the gymnastics theme.  We had her party at a very nice gymnasium where she has taken gymnastics classes. 

The party took place in late May and was a great success. We had approximately 45 children attend the party 100 guest total.  This party was so much fun as the coaches played structured games with the children as well as they had  free time to just run around and have fun.  All the children had a wonderful time and we had a variety of age groups attend (under 1 yr. to age 7).  Our son, who is 2, did not stop running around and enjoyed keeping up and playing the games with the other children. They also had a very long trampoline that the children could run or jump across so all the kids loved that. 

We had 3 assigned coaches to our party.  Our daughter got to do something special as the birthday child, she was strapped and lifted very high up and brought back down as is flying. She had a lot of fun doing this and enjoyed the attention of being the birthday girl.   The location was great as it is a 12,000 sq. foot building and we had the gymnasium to ourselves (no other parties going on).  They had a nice open room with tables and bar that we could put the food on as well.  The people in charge of our party were just wonderful.  They helped us with the set-up and also cutting the cake or whatever we needed. They were also very attentive to the children and were stationed at different areas in the gym to work with the children.  

Party details:   INVITATION- I found an adorable colorful invitation by Phizzies that had boys and girls playing on the invitation so it was perfect for our gymnastics party since we were inviting both boys and girls. Since the kids were going to play structured games, I thought it was an ideal invite as it showed kids playing and having fun.  I used as wording on the invitation  Hop, jump or skip on over to Victorias 6th birthday party, etc..  I also enclosed small cards with the invites that gave the guest directions on how to get to the party and also advised the kids that they needed to be barefoot on the mats.  

DÉCOR:   The colors that I went with were kiwi green, orange and lavender.  I picked the colors up from the balloons in the invitation.  I have to tell you that it is not easy finding things for a gymnastics party.  What I saw out there was very Olympic oriented or had just a girl gymnast.  Since I was inviting boys and girls, I had to be careful that it did not appear to be a girl party.  I did not want to go with the traditional red, white and blue Olympic theme rather more of a theme where the kids would play and have fun.    I found some great clear stickers from www.simplystickers.com that were geared to the gymnastics theme.  I decided to use these stickers to complete my gymnastics theme décor.  I use all clear plastic containers for parties. I took the clear stickers and placed them on the exterior of the containers.  The stickers looked great and tied in with the theme.  I went with solid color plates, napkins and tablecloths.  As mentioned above, I used the kiwi green tablecloth and orange and lavender plates, napkins and balloons. It looked very colorful and festive.  

MENU:  Since I only had 15 minutes for our setup time, I decided not to bring things in crock pots or that would require a lot of setup.  I went ahead and ordered a tray of Southwest egg rolls from Chilis.  Since the egg roll pieces are large, I had them cut the egg rolls into 3 portions since using as an appetizer item.   I also ordered a tray of humus with pita squares from another trendy restaurant in our area.  These items were a big hit.  Many times you go to a restaurant and enjoy the appetizer.  You can usually get these favorite items to be put on a tray.  We also served my mom's wonderful chicken potato salad, pizza, fruit tray, custom designed almond cookies that were all decorated with the theme of the party and colors (#6, V for Victoria, hula hoop, stars), 7 layer dip w/ tostitos,rainbow color fish chips,  trail mix w/ mms and ghiradella chocolates. 

For the parents we had Starbucks iced coffee, sparkling white and red grape juice, Perrier water and soft drinks. I always like to have special things to eat and drink for the parents as they are the ones bringing the kids to the party. I think it is nice to do something special for them as well so they will also have a good time!   For the kids, they had the Capri suns, apple juice, water bottles and soft drinks.  The drinks were placed in clear plastic buckets with ice so easy for children and adults to see and grab. I printed up tags of the items being served so the guest would know what each item was and where it was from since we ordered a few appetizers from favorite restaurants. On each tag I stamped a figure of a girl jumping to tie in with the party theme.     The birthday cake was ordered from a French bakery located in the French Quarter in New Orleans, LA that makes wonderful cakes.  The cake was strawberry shortcake which was absolutely fabulous!  I found a Precious Moment porcelain figurine of a gymnastic girl and used this as my cake topper which was placed on top of a pedastal that the baker made.   

PARTY FAVORS Since we were having a gymnastics party, I wanted to give out a favor that went with the theme.  Since they use Hula-hoops in the sport of gymnastics, I decided to give this out as the party favor at the end of the party. My daughter also used hula hoops in gym class so thought the favor was age appropriate. The hula-hoops were available in different sizes so I purchased 3 sizes for the children since I had little ones from less than a year up to 9 years old.  For the boys, I decided to give them the option of a hula-hoop or a Frisbee.  I had the coaches play a game with the children during the party where they had to use hula hoops so it would tie in with the party favors.

They played a game like musical chairs where the children stand inside of the hula-hoop that has been laid on the floor.  The kids then walk into each hoop and when the music stops they have to be within a hoop or they are out. For each game played, I had prizes for the children that won the game. I had the ribbon streamers on a stick that is used also in gymnastics.  On each party favor, I printed cards out on the computer thanking the guest for celebrating with us.  I then put an ink stamp next to it of a stick girl jumping and tied it on with the theme color ribbon.  

I planned the party for several months, which always helps so you can find what you need.  I found the party favors in February/Spring time so had enough time to look around for it.  We were very pleased with the gymnastics theme party and received lots of compliments on it. Our daughter had a wonderful time as well and it was a party to remember.   Hope that some of these ideas will help!

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