Candyland Birthday Inspiration

Oops! Somehow I pressed publish before I even wrote this post. I'd better hurry and finish it before people think I've lost it...Oh, nevermind. They already know I have!

One of my friends has a daughter that is turning 4 in a couple of weeks, and though I know all too well the challenge a December birthday produces (more on this to come), I couldn't help but think of what theme I might attempt if it were my 4 year old daughter. I'd want it to be a birthday party (not a Christmas party), but it is fun if the birthday feels seasonally appropriate. So I propose a...

CANDYLAND BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Apparently this is a popular enough theme that Celebrate Express has a whole line of party goods to match the theme. Although, I must admit, I like this napkin, but not the whole line.

So here's what I would do:

I would buy the peppermint suckers that look like this (except red and white):

from the dollar spot @ Target, and attach a tag with the party information to take around for invitations. Tag could say something like, "Please come to Candyland to help celebrate K's birthday. It will be sweet!"

As guests arrived, I would serve them chocolate milk in candy cane shot glasses like these. They actually have these at the dollar spot at Target right now. And I would have them decorate their own gingerbread men (or women. :-))

The highlight of the party would be playing a life sized version of Candyland. Tile floors seem to lend themselves well to gameboards, in my opinion. You could just put down colorful squares of paper on the floor. But as I learned from my cupcake walk, you'll want to secure the papers well (laminate them?) so they don't cause children to slip and fall. You could use the cards from the game, or if you are feeling ambitious, make large cards out of posterboard.

Here is where you have to decide how much time and energy you are willing to put into this. I would simplify the game board a little a leave out a few destinations that would be the hardest to recreate.

The candy cane forest would be easy to do with all of this Christmas decorations availiable. I would change the Molasses Swamp to a Chocolate Swamp and use a chocolate fountain there. It shouldn't be too hard to construct giant lollipops or to come up with something pink and fluffy for Queen Frostine.

And I would have this cake at the end of the gameboard--meaning they've reached the castle.

I was thinking of a cake that would look just like this before I found this picture. I didn't find the directions, however. I would bake cupcakes in the cones. They would be easy to decorate and serve. And decorating with candy should be pretty easy.

(There are a bunch of other ideas for CandyLand Cakes here.)

Then you could do presents and cake, and if they aren't too sugared out, you could have a candy bar and let each guest fill a small bag with their favorite candies to take home.

(So you might have to scale this down just a little bit--we can't all be Amy Atlas, darn it!)

Sounds cute, huh?

So, I told my friend I had this party all figured out for her, and then she said, "but she likes Barbies." Hmmmmm. There is a Barbie version of The Nutcracker. Wouldn't The Nutcracker be a fun theme for a Dec. birthday?..............*sigh* So many parties to plan, so little time!

For more sweet inspiration, Check out these sites:

Hostess

Peppers and Pollywogs

suite 101

Leese

Stem Parties

And don't forget to vote for Trina's NOEL card at Tip Junkie!!!