Party Plan for "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" Halloween Party

We've had our party on
October 23, 2011

Here's the link
Great Pumpkin Party

As Halloween draws closer, I've been receiving a lot more "google hits" for my Great Pumpkin Party blog.  I will be throwing this party the weekend before Halloween to actually let those children who are able to go trick or treating have that weekend free.  Our party will be on Sunday, October 23rd, from about 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.   We have several parents who share custody and swap kids on Sunday evenings, and having it on a Sunday allows for all of our friends who are working on Saturdays to be able to attend as well.  I didn't want to do an "after dark" party on  Saturday night since the general age of my guests will be approx five years old or younger!! 

In any party plan, just like in English class, you have to address the following:

• WHO??  Who are you inviting??
•  (kids only, kids and parents)...once you know "who" you want to invite, tally up the number and decided on the number of invitations to buy/print/make. 
•  In general, it's best to send out invites at least two weeks in advance of the party.  Too far in advance, people will forget...too close and they will have already made other plans. 

WHAT??  What kind of party?

• What's the theme?  (lol of course you wouldn't be here if it wasn't Charlie Brown Halloween)
• What kind of refreshments will you have  1) Do you want to feed your guests?  We will be serving BBQ ribs to the parents and the "fixings" and grilled hot dogs for the kiddos  2)  Will you be serving just a dessert style party with cake and ice creams and treats or 3) is it a candy only party??  START NOW candy shopping and if you are going to order a cake NOW is the time to get it done.  You CANNOT wait to order a specialty cake until the last minute.  Most cake shops require at least a two week notice....the local grocery stores require about a 24 to 48 hr advance notice!! 
• What do you want your guests to wear?  Do you want them to dress up in costumes?  Don't forget to include that in the invitation
• What time of day? (this also answers the WHEN lol)  Definitely consider the ages of your guests when choosing a time.  For young children mid day to mid/late day is usually best.  Most little ones are done napping by this time and it's not so late that they are grouchy and hungry and ready for supper and bed time.  Also consider the weather in your area, here in Texas now the temps really drop as the sun starts to set.  A bunch of chilly children is not going to be fun!! 
• What are they going to do at your party?  My proven "recipe" is as follows, GAMES, FOOD, THEN CAKE /TREATS  .  There are many many fun games for this age child to be found all across the internet.  I've seen "pin the tail on the pumpkin".....yard or living room bowling (I'm going to spray paint some pins from Wal Mart orange and black)...maybe bobbing for apples ....a bean bag toss into a pumpkin painted on a cardboard box...little kids just have fun with the simplest of games.  We are also going to play "FREEZE DANCE"....a favorite amongst kindergartners.....I thought I would run an extension cord outside with a portable CD player and play some Halloween music......JUST FOR YUCKS I THOUGHT I MIGHT HAVE A FREEZE DANCE CONTEST FOR THE ADULTS WITH THE CHICKEN DANCE, THE MACARENA, ETC :) :)  The key  to any party is to get your guests to relax, join in the games, AND LAUGH.  Once you've got them laughing and participating, the hard part is out of the way and they will look back with fond memories always of your party.  This is why insist on games first at my parties.  It kind of "breaks the ice" .  You may have to put on a brave face and direct everyone including the adults to the games and be a little dramatic with some.....trust me...IT'S WORTH IT!!  :)
• What are you going to give them their treats in?  Do you want to buy little gift sacks?  Pails?  Start looking around now and checking prices.  There are quite a few reasonable deals to be found NOW....don't wait until the last second !! 

WHERE?  Where will you have your party??

• Do you want to have the party inside at your home?  If so, do you need to rent any tables or chairs?
•  Do you plan to have the party outside at your  home?  This is what we are doing.  Now would be the time to call your local party store and ask about renting tables and chairs.  Our party store has kid sized tables and chairs at a super reasonable price for rentals.  We rented two tables and about fifteen little chairs, and then two tables for adults and enough chairs for their parents etc. It would probablystill be a good idea to have one more table for food/treats.    ALWAYS REMEMBER TO CALCULATE IN THE OLDER/YOUNGER brothers and sisters when having kids come to parties!! 
• You could also throw this party at another location scaled down a little, such as Chuck E. Cheese or other venue.  Just coordinate some of the tableware to be Charlie Brown Halloween, give them Halloween toys/treats in Halloween candy bags/buckets.....the kids will still love it!!

Here is what my timeline looks like for our party:

ALREADY DONE:

Cake Ordered

Tables and Chairs rented

TO DO THIS WEEKEND, OCTOBER 8th

Send out invitations

Order Charlie Brown Plates, Cups, and Tablecloths (I am only doing the kids tables in those, the adult tables will be plain orange or green etc....those are really cheap to buy at the party store locally)

Order the "treat stuffers" (halloween play dough, halloween bubbles, halloween coloring books and crayons etc...).  You can find these things sold in packs of 12 and 24 usually, and at great prices. 

Buy the food we will be serving at the party.  (Our local grocery store has the CUTEST little cans of soda with monster faces on them...have NO IDEA what brand they are....but they are great for the "littles"....cute but not too scary!!  (I will buy some and take a pic and share who they are made by)

I will also order any "unique" candy items that I want the kids to have that cannot be found locally.  These are also sold in large packs and is more than enough for a small party. 

TO DO THE WEEKEND OF OCTOBER 15th

Make all the DIY projects.  I will share these in a future blog.  I have seen lots and lots of super cute little ideas, from the "mummy Hershey bars" and the "pipe cleaner sucker spiders"....that the little ones would love.  This will be also be the time to work on games that need to be "made". 

THE SATURDAY BEFORE THE PARTY OCTOBER 22nd

Buy the candy!!

Pick up the rentals

Pick up the caken

Put the candy in the containers you want them in on the table the next day....it makes it SOOO much easier to set up the next day

THE SUNDAY OF THE PARTY OCTOBER 23rd

We will start the ribs cooking at about 9 in the morning,( the other foods such as hot dogs for the kids we will start after they have been there for a while...approx 30 minutes after arrival...so say 1:30...that way everyone is ready to eat at about 2:00)

At about 11:30 we will start setting up tables and chairs

Set up Games

At about 12:15 we would put tablecovers on and plates (depending on the wind)

Put out coolers for drinks or containers you want your drinks in with ice in at about 12:40

Our party starts at 1:00, that leaves me 20 minutes to run in the house and get "freshened up".......now of course if you are dressing up and your costume is complicated, start a little earlier!!  :)

It's going to be a FANTASTIC PARTY and I KNOW YOURS WILL BE TOO!! 

I've been having problems with comments not posting on my blog for some reason, sometimes it takes several tries, or signing out of google friend connect and then unchecking the box that says "keep me signed in".  If you have any questions/comments please ask!!  I will be happy to help you!! 

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Here's a link to a party game DIY that I put together
http://thebesttexasmimi.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-game-diy.html