Happy Birthday, Girls!

I have not been very good about keeping up with birthdays this year, so to kick off the beginning of the school year, I decided to have a big birthday party to celebrate all of the girls. The story from the August 2010 Friend “Birthday Standards” served as the theme for this fun activity.

First, I mailed Invitations to each of the girls will the following text:

You’re Invited to an Activity Days Birthday Party!

Join us at the church on from

We will be celebrating someone very special!

Please RSVP

I greeted each of the girls at the door and we gathered in the foyer. When all of the girls arrived, I read the story Birthday Standards.

I gave each of the girls a birthday crown (Purchased at hobby Lobby $2.49 for 6) to wear to the party. I told them that the crown should remind them that they are daughters of our heavenly father and should never be afraid to stand up for what is right, no matter the occasion. Then, I brought them into our activity room where I had the party all set up.

Piñata Craft
Like I mentioned before, I used the story from the friend as my theme. I wanted to make sure we had a piñata, so I came up with this fun and mess-free version that would allow the girls to take home their own personal piñata.

Supplies:

• 8 oz Styrofoam cups (purchased at grocery store $.99 for 125)
• Masking Tape
• Individually-wrapped candies (I purchased a HUGE value pack with Nerds, Laffy Taffy, Gobstoppers & Sweat tarts for $8.99 and had a ton left over)
• Crepe-paper streamers, assortment of colors (purchased at Hobby Lobby for $.99 a roll)
• Elmer’s Glue
• Ribbon
• Pen

Directions: 

1. Stuff a Styrofoam cup full of candy. This is the bottom of your piñata.
2. With a second Styrofoam cup, use a pen to poke two holes near the bottom of the cup. Take a 15” length of ribbon and thread so that both ends of the ribbon are inside the cup. Tie a secure square knot inside the cup. This is the top of your piñata

3. Place the openings of the top and bottom piñata together. Use masking tape to secure them together

4. Take a small length of a crepe-paper streamer, just enough to wrap around the piñata once. Cut slits about ¾ of the way to the top. Place a small line of glue along the top and wrap around the piñata. Continue with this step until the entire piñata is decorated. This can be done with as little as 6 rows, but you can add as many as you want to make it fuller. 

5. Ruffle up each of the rows of crepe-paper to make the piñata look fuller.
6. To finish off the top, take a 4” length of crepe-paper streamer and fold it in half. Cut slits almost to the fold. Crinkle the folded end together and glue to the top of your piñata. Make at least 4 for the best coverage.  

Your final pinata should look something like this:

**Tip: I completed steps 1-3 at home so the girls would be surprised at the treats that come out. Save a lot of time and let the girls complete the fun part!

Here are the pinatas that the girls put together. They had so much fun!

Other details at our Party:  

• Gift for each of the Girls: I took a cue from the story and purchased stationary notecards for each of the girls and wrapped each set with a purple ribbon. I was able to pull this off relatively inexpensively by purchasing a package of 4 sets of cards from Hobby Lobby and separating out the sets. With a 40% off coupon, I paid $4.19 for this set making each gift a little over $1.00/girl.

• Cupcakes
• Music (think children’s song book or other appropriate music)