15280

Kite Party -3yr- At The Park Pavillion

March 2007

Leigh in Plano, Texas  USA

Honorable Mention

For my daughter's third birthday, I planned a Kite Party.

Her birthday is in April, so the weather is usually warm and sunny - a great excuse to take the party outdoors!    I rented a pavilion at a local park for only $10.  We had access to a covered area with tables and benches and a playground area right next to it.   

I found cute pink kite invitations online at polygraphics.com and they said Come fly a kite to celebrate Rylie's third birthday!".  They set the tone for the party - very cute and whimsical.  Using the invitation as my inspiration I used light pink dark pink and purple as the party colors.   

I found kite kits online at Oriental Trading Company.  I bought 24 for about $30.  I "splurged" (just a couple of dollars more) a bit on the kits made from plastic (instead of paper) considering the age of most of the kids (2-5 year olds).  The kite kits allowed the kids to use markers and crayons to decorate their kites and personalize them.  I decided to put together and assemble the kites before the party so that it wouldn't take up any time during the party. 

The day of the party I decorated the pavilion with balloons and streamers.  I tied ribbon bows every few inches to hanging streamers to resemble kite tails.  These were hung from the ceiling of the pavilion.  Balloons were grouped at the pavilion's 4 corners.  It really looked cute.  

I also made a kite-shaped cake that looked similar to the one on the invitation. Using a rectangular sheet cake I marked the middle of one of the short sides with a toothpick. I then traced with a knife and cut from the opposite corners to the toothpick. This made one large triangle with 2 smaller triangles.  I then put the 2 smaller triangle pieces together and put them at the short side of the large triangle to make a kite shape.  I had to do a little trimming but it came together fairly easily.  I then used frosting to hold the pieces in place and decorate the cake.  The kite's tail was made from licorice and had bows tied every inch or so cut from Fruit Rollups that I smoothed out with a rolling pin.   

As the kids arrived they played at the playground and got out some energy.  Once everyone had arrived I called the kids over to the pavilion tables that were ready with buckets of markers crayons glue and assorted foam cutouts - I kept these to an outdoor theme - flowers bugs etc.  I handed everyone a blank kite and told them to decorate the kite how ever they wanted.  Since all of the parents stayed for the party there were plenty of hands to help the kids out.  The kites all turned out really cute and the kids were so pleased with their hard work! 

As the kids finished their kites they were able to take them and practice flying them (again we had plenty of adults around to help!).  By the way I had several extra kites and some of the adults had just as much fun making them!  All of that took about an hour. 

We then did cake and ice cream.  (Dry ice in a cooler kept the individual ice cream cups plenty cold).  After that we opened presents and the kids were free to play at the playground with the remaining party time.  It was a fairly stress-free and easy party to put together I was able to sit back and relax and have just as much fun as the kids!! 

Since it wasn't at home I didn't have to worry about messes and a big clean up afterwards.  Just about everything went into the trash cans at the park.  However since it wasn't a party at a usual party location (pizza place gymnastics center etc.) I was able to really get creative and personalize the party and carry out our kite theme. "

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