Got any ideas for a party on a budget? Most of our budget goes to the bigger events like 4th of July.

What are some great themes and contests etc?

Suggestions: Well you certainly have an awesome venue for a party. A live band wouldn’t be expensive and would really make the event memorable. Choose your theme, then choose an entertainer of band that fits with the theme. I’m thinking a WW2 Navy Party would be very cool and everyone would look goregous in white with elegant navy hats. Then the band I’d go for would be brass with a duet or quartet who can sing great harmonies with an upbeat wartime forties feel.

Give away prizes for best ladies and gents outfits, and spot prizes for the couple who happen to be dancing on a previously chosen area of the dance floor. This will encourage everyone to dance for at least a few songs.

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On this site you’ll find all the party ideas and expert advice you’ll ever need to create and host a memorable party that your guests will talk about for years to come.

How do I know? Because I’ve hosted a LOT of extraordinary parties and I’m still receiving compliments for them a decade afterwards!

My name is Barbie Young and I’m sharing with you right here all my enthusiasm and creative expertise for hosting unique and memorable parties.

BarbieYoung, Queen of Parties

No matter what sort of party you’re having, from children’s parties to costume parties and weddings, I can help you make it a HUGE success.

You can spend a lot of money or work to a tight budget, but either way, I’ll give you the options and advice you’ll be looking for.

People often ask me why I don’t hire my services as an event coordinator. The reason is that I get very excited about my events and put in extreme amounts of energy and commitment. I couldn’t possibly sustain those energy levels for extended periods. However, by utilizing my other passion, writing, I can transfer all my experience and knowledge over to you and still have my sanity intact.

Can’t find what you want here? Contact me and let me know and I’ll get the answers to you in a flash.  Parties are my passion.

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Suggestions:

Musical Tombstones

Draw or print some pictures of tombstones the size of a piece of standard paper. Spread them out on the floor. Play musical chairs, except instead of chairs you have to jump on a tombstone. Have a parent do the music.

Wrap Your Mummy Race

You’ll need 2 rolls of toilet paper. Divide guests into two teams.  One person is the ‘mummy’ and the rest of the team have to wrap the mummy in toilet paper. The first team to finish wins.

Printed Decorations

Print off some halloween pictures from online to use for decorations. If you’re short of ink, look for non-cloured in pictured and clour them in yourselves. It makes it more fun to make your own decorations. String some pumpkin pictures together with yarn to make garland.

Cheap Ghosts

Use white sheets to make ghosts. Dont ruin the sheets by drawing on them with permanent marker or cutting holes in them. Instead, use black  paper or material to make circles and pin them on the sheets for eyes.

Or try using white garbage bags instead of sheets, thend raw the faces with permanent marker.

Using tissues or paper towel, Make small white hanging ghosts  by tying a thread around the ‘neck’ . Use a marker for the eyes and hang them with fishing line or string.

Go Batty

Draw bat outlines on black paper, or colour in bats you’ve drawn on white paper. Cut them out and hang them with string from the ceiling or trees near the front door.

Spooky Welcome

Scare visitors with a big spooky face on the steps. Stuff a large black garbage bag with some clothes, rags or leaves. Tie the bag at the top and put a rest a hat on it.  Cut out  large scary eyes, nose and mouth from white paper and tape them onto the bag.

Halloween Movie Night

Get a scary movie for free from the local library. Make some popcorn.

Regular popcorn balls:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1934,135184-240194,00.html

Garbage Bag Spider

Stuff one full bag with rags or pillow stuffing for the body. Cut another bag in half and stuff it to make the head. Tie them off and tie them together. Cut the leftover half bag into long thin pieces and connect them to make long the legs. Cut out yut yellow eyes from coloured paper adn stick them on the head. Attach the legs and arrange it in the corner of the room. If it’s light, you can hang it from the ceiling.

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Coming soon!

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Suggestions:

Strained Eyeballs

6 hard boiled eggs
6 oz  cream cheese, beaten
7 oz stuffed Green olives
Red food coloring

Shell eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Discard the yolks. Stuff the centres with cream cheese. Press an olive into each cream cheese eyeball, stuffing facing up. This will make it look like a creepy green eye with red pupil! For a finishing touch, dip the end of a toothpick in red food coloring and draw broken blood vessels in the cream cheese. Yummy!

Simple Pimples

1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
Flavoured Cream Cheese Spread

Core tomatoes with a carrot peeler or knife. Drain excess tomato juice. Using a butter knife, fill holes in tomatoes with cream cheese. Give each pimple a gentle squeeze and arrange on a plate. Yuk!

Magic Brew
Ingredients:

1 8-ounce vanilla yogurt
1 cup orange juice
4 cups orange soda

Instructions:
Put the vanilla yogurt, orange juice, and 2 cups of the orange soda in the blender container. Cover blender with lid. Blend on high until well combined.

Carefully pour the liquid into  ice cube trays. Cover the trays with plastic wrap and place in the freezer. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight.

Just before serving, remove the frozen cubes from 1 of the ice cube trays. Put them in the blender with 1 cup of the orange soda. Cover and blend on high speed until slushy.  Pour into 6 glasses. Repeat with remaining frozen cubes and orange soda. Serves twelve.

Ghoul’s Punch
Ingredients:

6 cups chilled unsweetened pineapple juice
3 cups cold water
1 6-ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate
4  orange slices

Frozen Hands (recipe follows)

Instructions:
Punch: In a punch bowl stir together pineapple juice, water, and lemonade concentrate. Float orange slices and Frozen Hands in punch. Serves eight

Frozen Hands: Carefully pour a litre of cranberry juice into 2 or 3  washed and clean plastic gloves. Do not overfill. Fill the gloves so that the fingers can move easily. Tightly seal the ends of the gloves with rubber bands. Place on a baking tray lined with paper towel and freeze until firm. Using clean scissors, cut the gloves off the frozen hands. If any fingers break off, add them separately to punch.

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Suggestions: A teen scene scavenger hunt will work a treat. Do it in the mall or in your neighborhood if the weather is nice. Create  a list of fun things the girls have to find or do. Separate the girls into groups and when they find each item or do each task, they have to take a picture of it. The first group to find or do everything first wins!
Sleepovers are always fun too, even for the tomboys.

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Coming soon!

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Coming soon!

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Lighting for a party is a very important component in setting the mood. If you want guests to dance you have to realize that they won’t dance under fluerescent lights. Think coloured lights. Think fairy lights, festoon lights, flashing lights and professional lights.

For a party that goes off with a bang you want at least one professional lighting system. These are cheaper than you think and create an incredible atmosphere. If you’ve ever been to a nightclub or disco you’ll remember the huge lights that hung from the celing and flashed to the beat of the music. You can hire smaller versions that work just as well for your party as the nightclub lighting.

Gobo Flower Effect

I often hire a Goblin or a Gobo lightbox  which have multi coloured lamps which rotate and change to the beat of the music. The latest lights have LED lights, so the power cost is low and so is the risk of overheating. You simply attach the lightbox to an overhead beam or gutter, choose the lighting effect you want, and turn it on.

For other lighting around the venue I give a bit of thought to the theme I want the lighting effects to enhance. For Halloween I’d have low wattage coloured globes in lamps aimed up at ghostly props. Red lights give an eerie effect and yellow ones give off much less light than a regular bulb so create a scary mood.

For a luau I’d string up garlands of festoon lighting and light a dozen bamboo flares. For a Christmas party have lots of fairy lights and replace the blue and yellow globes in the festoon sets with red and green to make the whole string just two colours. For an engagement party, try stringing up fairy lights in the shape of a heart.

Get creative and put some effort into this important aspect of your party. Whatever the theme, your guests will be wowed.

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