12994

Mall Party -10yr- Food Court & Shopping Hunt

February 2006

Deb in Wichita, Kansas, USA

Honorable Mention

My daughter recently celebrated her tenth birthday with a mall party theme.  We sent invitations that were small pink and black gift bags with pink and black ribbon attached.  Inside each gift bag was pink and black tissue paper and the invitation to her party.  We had her friends meet at the mall. 

We started out with pizza for everyone in the food court.  After everyone had their tummies full, we started the scavenger hunt.  I divided the girls up into two teams with one adult sponsor for each team.  Each girl received a small black or pink purse that had a lipstick case, lipstick, pencil and $5.00 in each bag.  They were told the rules for the game (no running, stay with adult, etc.) and were told that whatever money was leftover came back to us when they were finished.  (By giving the money back, no one fought about who was buying what.)  Then they had a list of things that they had to buy or find in the mall.   

Here is an example of one of the team's list:  Buy the cheapest thing you can find at Bath and Body Works.  Buy a birthday gift bag at the Dollar Store.  How much is a red pair of women's shoes at Sears? Buy something that is chocolate. Buy a $5.00 gift card to Claire's.  How much is a six inch tuna sub and a small drink at Subway?  Buy something made in Kansas. How much is a pink bra at Victoria's Secrets?  Buy something that has the word Friend(s) on it.  Get an autograph from one of the workers at Gap Kids.  Write down the phone number from one pay phone in the mall.  Get a perfume sample from Dillards.   Buy a birthday card for a girl at Hallmark. Have your adult leader take a picture of your group in front of the carousel.  

When the girls were done, they placed everything in the gift bag and returned to the table that my husband was sitting at it in the food court.  Once everyone was back, the girls signed the birthday card and gave their gift bags to the birthday girl.  She didn't know that they were actually shopping for her.   

The scavenger hunt was a lot of fun but I had planned on it taking about one hour.  It ended up taking thirty minutes.  So, thankfully, I had planned some group pictures opportunities as well.  The girls had to take a picture of the entire group with the following items:  a tree, a recycling can, something with Harry Potter, wearing funny hats, a swimsuit that they liked (they just held these up), with the funniest sign you can find, the tallest structure you see in the mall, and the largest stuffed animal you can find.   We ended up with some great pictures from all of these! 

When we were finished at the mall, we went back to our house for cookies and ice cream.  The cookies were pink frosting with black polka dots in the shapes of purses, high heels, and dresses.  My daughter requested no gifts and asked the girls to go shopping for clothes for the local Children's Home instead.  The girls were then given treat bags filled with shower gel, barrettes, a necklace, nail polish and etc.  The evening was a huge success and all the girls wanted to do the scavenger hunt again!   

For my daughter's family party, we did the mall theme as well.  My mom made a cake that was in the shape of a shopping bag.  It had a shopping bag handle with pink and black ribbons tied on it.  Then we put pink and black tissue paper coming out of the top of the bag and I had bought a cute keychain to hang over the edge of the bag.  The nieces and nephews were each given a gift bag to stamp different designs on. 

Then we had an area sit up where they could buy little items (stickers, party horns, Happy Meal toys, candy, etc.) with beans.  Each child was given 10 beans and each item was either 1 bean, 2 beans, 3 beans, 4 beans, or 5 beans.  They enjoyed being able to shop and put their items in their gift bags that they had made.  Then they were each given a treat bag with a Target gift card in it so that they could go shopping on their own.  All of this ended up being a HUGE hit!  For dinner, pizza, pretzels with cheese, and nachos were served.  Everyone enjoyed the mall food.  The birthday weekend was a blast and I thank all of the entries on birthdaypartyideas.com for the ideas!

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