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High School Musical Party -7yr- Pep Rally Cheer

July 2007

Laurel in Gloucester Township, NJ, USA

Special Mention

With all the rage over High School Musical, my daughter couldn't wait to celebrate her 7th birthday with all the spirit and pizazz of a good old pep rally.  This theme works great for entertaining both boys and girls of all ages (moms & dads included). 

Gabrielle's invitations were puchased from Celebration Express's High School Musical theme(we usually make our own but these were just too cute!).  The party was an outside event. The theme colors were the Wildcats red & white.  We also purchased the birthday banner from Celebration Express (you could easily make your own as well).  We got lucky with the weather, it was hot but with low humidity & it was a little windy so we only hung out the banner and some balloons.  We also had beach basketballs all over the backyard (party favors for the little kids). 

The party took place mainly in our backyard but we also used our neighbors driveway for the basketball court. The guest list included about 24 children ranging from 2 - 11.  We planned activities for all ages. We had so many planned activites that we fed the children not long after they arrived.  The party was from 6-8 pm.  We had pizza, personal bags of chips and cheez its and fresh poppped popcorn from a popcorn machine that was lent to us by a dear friend.  The kids felt just like they were in a school cafeteria or at a concession stand. 

As the children arrived (High School Musical CD playing in the background to set the mood),they put on High School Musical tattoos, signed a red shirt (AC Moore) with a number 7 & our last name on the back like a jersey that Gabrielle can use as a night shirt (what a great memory!) and the children also traced their hands on a banner that said Wildcats everywhere wave your hands up in the air Happy 7th Birthday Gabrielle!"  We will hang the banner in our children's playroom as a keepsake.  It's a fun reminder that our fsmily and her friends can look at when they play.  Once the kids ate we broke off into groups. 

The girls stayed in our yard with my niece and myself. We taught the girls an easy cheer while the boys went to our neighbors and did basketball drills led by a teen and one of the dads from the neighborhood.  The girls learned a quick cheer which ended with Happy Birthday Gabrielle.  Some of the guests were cheerleaders so they showed off their jumps cartwheels and the birthday girl did a stunt with my nieces and myself to celebrate her special day.  Of course the girls all got a pompom and a megaphone with their names on them (purchased at Party City when on sale). After practicing for a little while we took the girls and adults down to our neighbors and cheered for the boys while they showed off their shots.  Some of the girls also joined in and took some shots.  It was so much fun...everyone was cheering. 

I snuck back home and set up the obstacle like game that my daughter and I made up.  We divided the kids into teams by colors and made banners for each team with the team members names and things like Go Purple!  Girls rule! Go Wildcats! etc.  We made some of the older kids and the birthday girl the team captains so they could help organize the teams.  We tied balloons at different spaces along the fence so each team knew where to line up.  As the kids came back from the basketball court they were told to sit in a certain spot in the yard and at this time we gave out brown paper lunch bags with a mini notebook pencil and toy cell phone ($ store finds).  My niece pretended to welcomed everyone to summer school and told them to open their bags and get to work and as soon as she heard a cell phone (of course the kids couldn't help but play with them) just like in the movie the guests all got detention. 

We moved the group over and had them do silly stuff like hop on one foot do jumping jacks and say the ABC's backwards.  From here the kid got called on to their teams for the big game!  Each team went round robin to different stations...the library (walk and balance books on their head) the gym ( shoot basketball backwards into small kids net) cafeteria (eat jello with out using their hands) the stage (karaoke with high musical songs star sungalsses and flashy boas for the girls)(the kids used individually wrapped licorce for microphones since we only had one working microphone) and the last station was the science lab in which the 'students' did an experiment with water vinegar and baking soda (the combo causes a fizzing reaction). 

After each team finished the stations they went back to their balloons I asked a parent to join each group and help them make up a quick chant or cheer.  The moms jumped right in!!!  When time was up each team did their cheer and then ran through their banners just like at a pep rally!!  This was so cool!!!  Lots of the cheers chanted Happy Birthday Gabrielle!!!  Working with the momentum and excitement we got in a big circle and did some old time cheers and then called out the kids names…for example Gabrielle rocks the house when Gabrielle rocks the house she rocks it all the way down and she'd jump in the middle.  Some of the kids were shy but others couldn'wait to show off their fancy moves in the middle.  We couldn't leave out the moms or dads so they also joined in…what a blast!!!!

We sang "We're All in This Together" and that was pretty much a wrap! We went right over to the picnic tables and sang Happy Birthday.  We had the table set with Troy Gabriella and Sharpay barbie dolls that Gabrielle received that day for her birthday along with the cupcakes decorated in red & white with High School Musical plastic cupcake rings (found online).  We had a star pinata that we decided to save for our neighborhood High School Musical 2 Red Carpet Party on August 17th. 

The guests also left with High School Musical drink cups filled with goodies and plastic High School Musical tambourines (not really worth the price but cute)!  You could absolutley make them yourself.  And with that we sent the guest home cheering and singing!!  My daughter & I had so much fun planning her party!  She loves to plan the events and organize everything!  Everyone had such a blast…we're still cheering about it.  What an extra special day for my daughter since the party actually ended up on her birthday. The party had been postponed from the week prior because the birthday girl was sick and a terrible storm caused tree damage on the party site.  Everything worked out…and we're all singing we're all in this together!!!! Her thank you's will include stickers with her picture holding a seven made on zazzle.com saying thanks for making my 7th birthday such a big hit!  The party did have a decent price tag but I always compare it to what I would spend on having the party at a place.  There are many ways to do the same party without spending a lot (cut back on favors).  We could have made many of the things but I opted to purchase them

this time around.  My daughter had such a sparkle in her eyes!!  Now we can't wait for the Red Carpet Party!!"

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