13968

Doctor Who Party 12yr

July 2006

Joy in Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA

Honorable Mention

DOCTOR WHO BIRTHDAY PARTY  ~~  Doctor Whois a TV program about a time/space traveler that has been running in Britain since 1962.  The show has recently come to the SciFi channel and is gathering a whole new following in the U.S., including my daughters who are rabid fans.  So a "Doctor Who"-themed party for their 12th BD was a given. We had to really use our ingenuity because there are no ready-made Doctor Who party supplies to be had (yet!), so we were mostly on our own.  A little background on the show will make more sense of the party games and decor that follows:  The Doctor (whose name is not Who no one knows his real name) is a Time Lord from planet Gallifry who travels through time and space in a time machine known as the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space).  The chameleon drive in the TARDIS got stuck in the image of an English police call box from the 1950's, and the Doctor has given up trying to fix it.  One of his favorite gadgets is a sonic screwdriver which can perform an array of tasks that are handy in a pinch.  The Doctor has a couple of mortal enemies among the many alien races:  The Daleks and the Cybermen.  PROPS:  Using a recycled refrigerator box, we made a police call box by painting it blue and then detailing it with faux panels and windows and cut doors in the front and back of the box.  This was placed right outside our front door so that the guests had to come through the TARDIS to enter the house (the TARDIS in the show is bigger on the inside than on the outside another one of those dimensional anomalies).  We also made a Dalek using a trash can as the base.  Instructions for both can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/active/makes/.  DECOR:  The whole house was dark except for the dining room, which became the control room of the TARDIS.  Pictures of various Who aliens were printed from http://www.shillpages.com/dw/dwia.htm and taped to the walls.  The table was set with a black tablecloth, over which was placed a length of silver lame fabric.  Plates and napkins were TARDIS blue.  I made a control room energy source out of a large, clear overturned bowl.  Inside the bowl were little LED lights and crumbled silver tissue paper.  I ordered small clock faces from Oriental Trading (OT), and these were strewn all over the table like confetti.  There were silver balloons all over the room, on the table, chairs, and floor.  Framed pictures on the wall were wrapped with silver wrapping paper, and the hutch was also completely covered with the same paper.  Overall, it gave a shimmery, otherworldly, and futuristic look to the room.  SNACKS/CAKE:  Pretzels rods dipped in white chocolate became sonic screwdrivers and Dalek eyestalks.  We also had old-fashioned candy dots on paper strips, moon pies, and popsicles (the latter in honor of the cold-loving Cybermen).  We ordered an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins, and it was decorated on the top to look like outer space.  In addition to this, I had ordered three Dalek key chains from Who North America (http://www.whona.com/) and they were placed on top of the cake (minus their chains), along with a cardstock model of the TARDIS which I printed off http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/active/makes/.  Another little LED light was placed on top of the TARDIS to represent the twirling light that's on the real TARDIS.  CRAFTS:  The guests decorated paper watches from OT with glitter glue, markers, pom poms, sequins, and other items dredged from our miscellaneous-craft supply box.  GAMES:  Each guest was given five little plastic aliens and one silver goodie bag (from Dollar Tree) as they arrived. The Name Game was explained that during the party no one was to be called by their real name.  Instead, everyone had to call each other by the name of a character from the Doctor Who TV show:  The Doctor, Rose, Jackie, Dalek, Captain Jack, etc.  If a guest caught another guest calling someone by their real name, the accuser would get an alien from the real-name caller.  At the end of the party, whoever had the most aliens would get a special prize.  I printed out personalized Dalek bingo cards from http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/, and we played until we had three winners.  Octopus Tag became Dalek tag with the Doctors all holding hands in a long line, while one Dalek tried to tag them.  If tagged, the Doctors became Daleks and tried to tag the rest of the kids in the line.  This went on until only one Doctor was left, who was the winner.  Finally, we ended up with Dalek, Dalek, Doctor, which was identical to Duck, Duck, Goose. PRIZES:  From OT, there were rope bracelet watches, screwdriver pens, and alien flashlights.  The winner of the special Name Game which went on throughout the party got two Baskin Robbins gift certs.  PINATA:  We made our own pinata out of a smallish rectangular cardboard box, painted like a mini TARDIS.  It was filled with candies such as Mars bars, Starburst, and Orbit gum (outer space theme).  We also put in old-fashioned candy like Sugar Daddies, Bazooka bubblegum, and Mary Janes (time travel theme).  There were also glitter pencils and alien bookmarks in the pinata  (OT, again).  PARTY SCHEDULE:  Since the party was about time travel, we decided to warp to the end of the party first, and opened presents and had cake right at the beginning.  The kids were delighted with this, as that's almost always the highlight of any party.  This also eliminated any problem with kids who had to leave early they wouldn't feel they had really missed anything.  Not to mention that I was happy that kids weren't whining for two hours about when we were going to have cake and presents.  We did the pinata after only a couple of games, too, instead of at the very end which is when it is traditionally done. 

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