One of the hardest parts about planning a party for littles can be the question, "what in the world are we going to do to entertain these kids in our house?!" Raise your hand if this thought has kept you up at night or has been the main reason you did not host a party in your home.
When I found out that we were going to have 23 (gulp) kids in our house in the dead of winter, I knew that I was going to have to get creative with what we did to entertain them. And honestly? Coming up with cute games and activities to pair with your theme can be one of the funnest parts!
I believe that every good children's party has a fun mix of games and crafts. Something the kids can take home and something to get some of that energy out ;) I'm excited to share with you the games + activities we played to go along with our kitty cat theme. Did you check out the party details I posted yesterday?!
CAT EARS + FACE PAINTING
As soon as each girl came in they were given cat ears that we made ourselves and had their whiskers painted on with face paint. This was a party for kitties after all :)
Our cat ear headband was a super easy DIY. I bought a few packages of headbands from Dollar Tree as well as felt in the three main colors of our theme: Black, creme, and pink. I created a quick template for the ears using paper. I made sure to add a little extra space on the bottom to wrap around the headband. Folding the felt in half, I cut out the ear, making sure the crease would be on the bottom. After cutting, I wrapped the felt around the head band and used hot glue to secure. Since glitter was a huge part of this party as well, I added a glitter detail to the inner ear with special cardstock I found at our craft store.
The girls LOVED the headbands and wore them weeks past the party. Sorry teachers!
COLORING STATION
There is always that awkward time in the beginning of any children's party where kids are starting to show up and want to be entertained *right that moment* but you are still waiting on others to arrive before you start the party. For younger kids, I love to have a coloring station set up that matches the theme. This gives them something fun to do while you wait for the others (or just to buy yourself time while setting up).
Personalized coloring sheets available as part of our party package.
KITTY CAT GROOMING PAW-LOR
One of the girls' favorite activitY that we did was pedicures in our own little grooming 'paw-lor'. Simple buckets of bubble bath (both purchased from the Dollar Tree) and nail polish I already on hand made it super affordable.
COLLAR DECORATING
If you saw our party reveal, you know that we gave out small stuffed kittens for the girls to 'adopt' as their favors. I thought it would be fun for the crafts to be things that the girls could make for their new pets.
I bought small wooden hearts from our craft store and glued small strips of ribbon on the back to create a hoop. These served as the name tags. We bought cheap collars from the Dollar Tree (notice a theme here?! LOL) as well as some jewels and glitter.
FEATHER CAT TOYS
We also had the girls make cat toys for their kitties. This was a super easy project that I mostly just used leftover items I already had for the party (paper straws, ribbon/yarn, and feathers).
PIN THE PARTY HAT ON THE CAT
An oldie, but goodie. Looking back, I wish made little pom poms to go on top of the hats. How CUTE would that have been?!
KITTY CAT TRAINING
I thought it would be cute to have a station that involved a game where they had to 'train' to be kitties.
For this game, I created a 'start' and 'finish' line with painters tape. I took a couple of the larger balls of yarn we used as decoration and had the girls compete by seeing who could race to the finish line first while rolling their ball of yarn using only their noses (no hands!).
UNRAVEL THE BALL OF YARN
This was my take on a classic holiday game. It's perfect to use for any theme - just adjust the colors to match! Supplies were super simple: streamers (at least two colors), tape, and small favors (think candy, erasers, etc. An assortment is best so that the girls will be surprised - that's half the fun!). Small ball to start off is optional, but not necessary. I'll explain each step below. I used one favor per girl, but if you have a smaller group, you can easily plan for two/per child.
For this game you can either start off with just your first favor, or with a ball to help create that circle shape.
Tape a strip of streamer to your favor/ball and wrap around until it is completely covered.
Place your next favor on top (tape if necessary) and wrap it in the second color until completely covered. (I like to use at least two colors so the kids can visually see when to stop unwrapping)
Repeat, alternating colors of streamers, until you have used all your favors. Leave a small strip out so that you know where to start the game.
To play, have the girls sit in a circle. Choose someone to go first. That girl unravels the ball of 'yarn' until she either spots her gift or sees the next color (whichever happens first - sometimes small toys fall out without them realizing it). Once that happens she passes the ball to the person on her right. Continue until all the girls have a favor!
BONUS GAME: FREEZE DANCE
One of my classic stand by activities is freeze dance. Pop on the soundtrack to whatever Disney movie is hot at that time and when you press stop, everyone has to freeze. For added fun, have the girls act like cats instead of dancing and see what sort of silly positions they get themselves into :)
Whew, that was a lot of info! I hope you guys find a few inspiring ideas to use for your next event. Let us know in the comments what your favorite one was!
