9525

American Hockey -8yr- Personalized Jerseys

September 2004

Lisa in Midland, MI  USA

Honorable Mention

All American Hockey Party For my son's 8th birthday we had a hockey party for him.  Since it is so hard to find hockey party supplies and ideas, we had to be a little creative. We decided to incorporate an all american theme with hockey.

We started out with the INVITATIONS.  My husband took a picture of our son in his hockey gear for the front of the invitation that was made to look like a trading card.  On the back of the card instead of the stats, it gave the party information.  Along with the card, we sent each player (guest) a letter from the All American Hockey League saying that he had been drafted to the All American Hockey League and would need to join his teamates from all across the country on _______date.  It was signed by the president of the league (my husband). After the invitations went out, my son said that all of the boys could hardly wait to come to the party.

Decorations:  Since we have a big back yard and live on a court, it was the perfect location for our hockey party.  We made the dining room into a concession stand area with an actual concession stand made out of PVC pipe.  We decorated it with red, white,and blue balloons, streamers, and bows that I got on clearance that was left over from 4th of July. We also had an archway of red, white, and blue balloons leading into the concession stand area.  On our driveway leading up to the house, we had metallic flags leading the path to the entrance of the arena(house) and lockerroom (living room).

IDEAS- When all of the players arrived, we had a meeting in the lockerroom and told them what they would be doing for their 1st day of practice.  We started with tatoos that had an american theme (us flags, uncle sam, fireworks, etc.).  Once all of the players had proudly displayed their tatoos, it was time to move on to the craft area where they would test their creative skills. 

We had them put together a foam star with red, white, and blue beads hanging from it.  Again, it was a cheap project since it was a left over 4th of July item. After our craft, it was time to get out the uniforms.  I had purchased  6 red and 6 blue jerseys from our local dollar store.  I then took each child's last name and using my computer, I created tags that would be laminated and pinned to each player's jersey.

As I called out names, each child was very excited to see their names on the back of the jerseys and put them on.  Once we had outfitted the teams, it was time to play hockey. 

We had set up two hockey goals in our court and I borrowed the street hockey sticks which also happened to be red and blue from my son's elementary school.  My niece and my sister dressed as referees complete with whistles, while my 4 year old daughter and her friend wore red, white, and blue cheerleading outfits to cheer both teams on.  It was time for the game to begin.  We went over all of the rules for the game including good sportsmanship and the boys had a blast.

We let them play for about 45 minutes stopping off and on for drink breaks which were served in water bottles.  I painted hockey sticks and pucks on each bottle and put each child's name on a bottle so they wouldn't get mixed up.

FOOD- Although the boys didn't want to stop to eat, they set down their gear and headed for the concession stand which was being manned by friends of mine.  The boys had a choice of hotdogs or nachos which were served in containers like you would find at a concession stand. We also served fruit in a puck (cup), and for the drink, gatorade in a sport top bottle.  After everyone ate in the stands (outside on my deck), we had cake and cupcakes. 

The cake was bought at a local bakery and had a hockey rink on it complete with a wind-up zamboni that moved around the cake. (How cool!) The cupcakes were iced in red or blue with white stars on top to represent the All-American Team. When everyone was finished, my husband took individual pictures of each child in their hockey gear and also a group picture.  Needless to say the boys were anxious to get back to the game. 

GOODY BAGS- I had ordered duffle bags from Oriental Trading and had each child's name put on using my computer.  We filled each bag with their water bottles, King Dongs (hostess round chocolate cakes) that looked like hockey pucks, gummy mouth guards, a hockey trading card, and their name tags from the jerseys.

THANK-YOUS- Jacob sent each boy their own trading card made from their individual picture and a group picture too.  The parents had to drag their kids off the ice (street)to go home!  The parents said "How are you going to top this next year?"  "I have a year to decide".  The party ran for 21/2 hours and cost a total of $100.00.  Not bad for an All American Birthday Party today.

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