2771

Retro Backstreet Boys -  Smilley Face Bingo

November 2001

Rebecca in Crossett, AR   USA

Special Mention

Retro/Backstreet Boys Slumber Party Invitations were handed out in the form of a candy bar with a wrapper on it that had my daughter's picture along with the Backstreet Boys, retro designs and all of the party information; the wrapper was made on the computer, printed out, cut out, and taped over the candy bar.

For decorations I had three different pieces of retro fabric I had bought at Wal-Mart with smiley faces, VWs, peace signs, etc. and I used one piece as a wall hanging and another for the table cloth and the last as a table runner.   We hung retro type posters and happy faces (they were really plastic coasters but looked cute).   There was a beaded curtain going from the kitchen into the den (where the girls slept) and streamers over the door into the dining room.   We hung tie dye balloons and happy face balloons in the dining room and den and strung some clear Christmas lights and multicolored crepe paper in the den and hung a Girl Power poster. Since the girls did not arrive until 7PM they had all eaten supper and we could get straight to having fun.

First I gave each girl 10 Smiley Face stickers (the tiny ones) and her mission was to get rid of all of them by sticking them on someone else without getting caught.   If she was caught, then she was supposed to take back her sticker.   Well, we had several sets of sisters at the party and they would not take the sticker back when caught so it ended up in a free-for-all and everyone had gotten rid of their stickers in less than 5 minutes.   But they had a ball doing it, so that's okay.

Next we tie dyed (well, we used spray bottles filled with fabric paint and water; much cheaper than dye and very easy to do) socks.   I had all bright neon colors in pink, green, yellow, orange, blue, and purple.   It worked great and most of the girls did a rainbow/striped type design.   They did find that if they used too many colors too close together they ended up with a muddy mess. Then I gave them triangles of fabric (I bought it for $1 a yard at Wal-Mart; it was already marked in squares because it was supposed to be napkins so I didn't have to hem, just cut diagonally) to spray dye for head kerchiefs. We did all of this on the carport and then hung them to dry.

After that we came inside and made body glitter gel.   I never could find anything to put the glitter gel in so I bought fingerprint sets at the dollar store (you got 4 minitubs for $1) and put the paints in the bottles the fabric paint came out of for the dye and used the paint tubs for the glitter.   We made the glitter gel by mixing 1/4 cup clear aloe vera gel with 1 teaspoon glycerin, then adding 1/4 teaspoon fine glitter and 1 drop food coloring. 

After the girls made whatever color they wanted, I had several different colors of glitter and also some little confetti like gems.   They had never done this before and really liked it. We had worked up an appetite so next we ate.   (The birthday girl planned the menu).   We had ham salad sandwiches, KC Masterpiece chips, tortilla chips with salsa con queso dip, a tie dye Backstreet Boy cake (I printed a picture from the internet and laminated it, then put it on the cake along with some retro stickers and mini VWs; we made the cake tie dye by dropping food coloring on white icing and swirling it around), and chocolate pizza along with several choices of soft drinks.

After opening presents, we played several rounds of Smiley Face Bingo and took a quiz on the BSB and then the girls made each other over with make up kits I had bought just for the occasion (each girl had her own).   They even trapped my poor hubby and made him over---quite possibly the highlight of the party and DEFINITELY the talk of the congregation that Sunday.   

I had also bought a lot of tattoos and fingernail stickers, but they didn't use a whole lot of those, mostly just the ones that go on your eyelids.   I thought they'd be more interested in them, but the make up seemed to catch their eye the most. By this time it was 11PM and they were ready to turn out the lights and tell ghost stories so my husband and I bid them good night.   Found out later all but 2 of them were asleep by midnight (and they went to bed at 2:30)!   We were amazed because I expected them to be up all night.   The only rule we gave was that we didn't care when they went to bed but whatever they did they had to be quiet from 2AM till 7AM (Maybe it was reverse psychology?).

The next morning the girls had their choice of several cereals and Pop Tarts along with juice or milk.   Several of them left by 10AM but others stayed and played (board) games and helped clean up.   The last guest was gone by 1PM.

For the goodie bags we used yellow lunch sacks and on one side drew eyes and a mouth (happy face) and stamped on the other with retro stamps.   For party favors I went to the Disney web site and printed out pencil toppers, bookmarks, and locker posters for the Backstreet Boys, then laminated them and cut them out.  

I also ordered a set of Girl Power bookcovers, stickers, diary, bookmark, and address book for each girl (these are free from their website: http://www.girlpower.gov/ and went wonderfully with the theme; especially since some of the fabric I'd bought said 'Girl Power'), some retro stickers, a pencil with peace signs on it, "Happy Pills" (happy face fruit pieces from Wal-Mart with a cardstock topper made on the computer), a "Thanks for coming" candy bar with wrapper also made on the computer, and a couple of other mini candy bars.   Of course they also had their body glitter, head kerchiefs, and socks that they made also.

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