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Fantasy Themed Slumber Party - Lots o Crafts

January 2006

Sophie in Atherton, California, United States

Special Mention

FANTASY SLUMBER PARTY FOR GIRLS-This is a sleepover party for any age. By "Fantasy Slumber Party", I mean a Fantasy themed slumber party, but it can also be the party of your dreams. This party is all about fantasy creatures, characters and places from well-known fantasies such as Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and others.

STEP ONE-INVITATIONS: There are several kinds of invitations you could do. A: Use a piece of "parchment" paper (available at Stationary and Craft stores) and use a fancy font or fancy handwriting to write your invitation. B: Make an invitation at iprint dot com. C: Cut out a shape such as a cloud, unciorn, or dragon, and write the invitation on that. It should read: You are invited to a royal celebration, honoring the ____ birthday of (insert name). Join us at (time) to (time) at (place). Bring a sleeping bag, pillow, Quidditch broom, and toothbrush. Sincerely, (name) Queen of (insert well-known fantasy kingdom). R.S.V.P. ____. Send these about 3 weeks before the party.

STEP TWO-DECORATIONS: Transform your home into a magical kingdom. Choose a few colors and stick to them. Either silver or gold is a must, and then maybe purple, pink, white, or any shade of blue looks best. Choose this for streamers and balloons. Use festive, pretty tablecloths and sprinkle gold and silver glitter (fairy dust) where it won't make a mess (on tables, bookcases, etc.). For a Narnian touch, make an entire room icy blue, and sprinkle white or silver glitter on light blue pieces of paper and cut out icicles. Make signs, such as "THIS WAY TO THE CASTLE" and "FIVE MILES TO THE MISTY MOUNTAINS". Here is a quick, easy, and fun way to make garlands for your party: Take a long skinny bit of wrapping paper and fold it up like an accordion. Cut out half or whole (it doesn't matter) of whatever shape you want. Make sure to connect it on both sides! Then unfold your garland and hang it up. Little touches, like witch's cauldrons, wizard hats, or hidden hobbit holes always matter.

STEP THREE-FOOD: You should do the food last. Use fancy silver platters for serving, and plates and cups that are nice, but not so fancy that you'll be worried about the kids breaking them.  For dinner, serve dishes like rice, shrimp, or chicken (light meat) in a sauce, or even cranberry sauce, dishes that feel elegant. For cake, lemon or fruit-filled with white or yellow frosting goes with the theme, but do whatever you want. Blondies with frosting are also sure to be a hit. For breakfast, donuts are a treat that will go with the white food theme. Other ideas are waffles, french toast, and pancakes.

STEP FOUR-PARTY!: Remember, people are often late to parties, so start with an activity or icebreaker that people won't feel bad about missing. An idea is "Draw a magical creature" (fold a paper into thirds and have one person draw each third, not seeing what other people drew. They have to draw a magical creature). When everyone has arrived, you can start the real fun. First, have everyone pick the name of their favorite fantasy character to go as. You don't have to do all of these activities.

Activity 1: Fantasy Game Show, sort of like Jeopardy. The host can be a relative or the birthday girl, everyone's favorite wizards, Albus Dumbledore or Gandalf. Make sure the birthday girl does not know the questions so she can compete. Sample questions: Harry Potter: What is Harry Potter's Middle Name? Narnia: Edmund is the (a youngest (b second to youngest (c oldest. Inkheart (Cornelia Funke): What color is Capricorn's church? Gail Carson Levine Books: In 2 Princesses of Bamarre, is Merril the older or younger sister?

Activity 2: Board game. Divide guests into 2 or 3 groups to create a board game out of their favorite fantasy book. After that, swap games and play them!You can even have a championship.

Activity 3: Quidditch! This is the well-known Harry Potter sport. You asked everyone to bring a broom, so now is the time to use those brooms. Randomly divide the kids into two teams: Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. That way kids won't get upset if they are not it Gryffindor or if they're in Slytherin. Choose positions. You can adjust the # of positions to the kids you have. If a girl drops her broom, she has to sit out for 1 minute. Quaffle: a basketball. Bludgers: balloons (no helium) painted black. Beaters use sticks or baseball bats to move around the balloons. If you are touched by a bludger, you're out for 1/2 a minute. Set a time limit for the game, because it's too hard ot have a seeker and snitch. Have hula hoops be goals. Use traditional Quidditch rules.

Activity 4: This is hide and seek, tag, and a scavenger hunt all in one! Have a hidden treasure, for example, a sorcerer's stone (red painted rock). Appoint a "hider". Everyone else will be a "seeker". First tell your guests the boundaries, then have the seekers count to a certain number (depending on the size of your home) and have the hider hide the treasure as well as themselves. Everyone gets a certain number of "jewels" (fake jewelry). The hider can run to different spots, but she must leave a jewel in all of her past hiding spots. Whenever a seeker finds a jewel, she must become a hider, too. The object of the game is to find and tag both the original hider and the treasure. The hider can run away and begin a big chase. Other hiders are trying to find the treasure and hider, too, but if a seeker tags them they are out. The first person to find the hider and treasure wins. If only one person is a seeker at the end of the game, players that are out become new seekers. If this is too complicated for the age group you are doing, you can simplify the rules.

Activity 5: Crafts. It's not a party without fun crafts! Rotate in small groups from station to station. 1st Craft: Pretty Pens. Supplies needed: colored paper, wire, ballpoint pens, colorful pipe cleaners, cloth flowers, and multicolored sponges. Have girls cut a piece of paper into a long strip to wrap around a pen. Do not close top. Wrap pipe cleaners around the pen, and glue cloth flowers or any other paper shape. On top, have girls pick out a simple fantasy shape (princess hat, unicorn head, dragon head) and cut it out of the sponge. Put holes in the sponge for wire to go throuth and wrap around pen to secure.

2nd Craft: Create a fairy. Supplies needed: pipe cleaners, those wood spheres with holes in both sides (like giant wooden beads, available at craft stores), pretty fabric, yarn or string in red, yellow, black, and brown, and sharpie pens. Fold a pipe cleaner in half and push through wood sphere. Only a tiny bit should be at the top, enough of a loop to push some of the colored string in for hair. Draw a sharpie face on the sphere. With the rest of the pipe cleaner, cut to appropriate length, branching out to make legs at the bottom. Get a cut pipecleaner for arms. Then, using the colorful fabric, cut out a flower shape with armholes. Wrap around fairy and secure. Don't forget the fabric wings, too! Glue these on. Voila! You have a fairy!

Final Craft: Create a Goblet. Supplies needed: Glitter glue pens, glue-on fake jewels, plastic goblets (available at birthday express). Glue the craft supplies on the goblets and write your name in the glitter glue pen. Let dry, and have girls drink out of goblets later. PRIZES: Narnia, Harry Potter, LOTR books, merchandise for LOTR and HP such as figurines, mugs, t-shirts, fantasy stuffed animals (there is a groovy girls dolls mermaid), princess and wizard hats, plastic swords, anything fantasy. Grand prize: A DVD of the latest fantasy movie.

AFTER ACTIVITIES: Eat dinner. Then, before the movie, prepare a popcorn buffet. Give each girl several small cups for popcorn, and set out different toppings, such as chocolate chips, ranch dressing powder (actually really good), red hots, M & Ms, cheese powder, and other things. For a movie, depending on age group and preferences, watch Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia (if it's out on DVD yet), Camelot, or any other fantasy movie, though there aren't many of them. Paint nails during this, and have the nail polish be colors like "Mystic Purple" or "Princess Pink". After the movie, go to bed, chat, or play quiet games or read. For a fun twist, buy a bunch of fun toothpastes to try. Each girl keeps the toothpaste she used to prevent spreading germs. In the morning, have a medieval feast for breakfast, and play regular party games like Twister and freeze dance until the parents arrive. Hope this helps!

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