Perfect Parties Theme One: The Polka Dot Party!

I told you I would twist my friend Krista’s arm into sharing her kids’ party-planning expertise!

To start with, she let me look through her daughters’ birthday books: each girl has a beautiful photo album with memories starting with the first birthday and progressing onward. Her big girl has celebrated six times, while her baby will be four this fall. There are lines for writing notes beside each photo, and that’s where Krista records special details: the decorations, the gifts, the games, the loot bags. A special memento for her girls, and a handy resource for her blogger friend!

Though Krista has done a few licensed-character-style parties, several of her themes are her own creative inventions, and today I am starting with one that I love: the polka dot party.

First of all, scour the stores and find any polka dot items you can to incorporate into your party. “It’s the silly details that make it fun for the kids,” says Krista. Her problem is that she often comes up with a brilliant brainwave, and then has trouble finding merchandise. My suggestion? Tour the stores first, and choose a theme that will be easy to coordinate. Is that cheating?

If your heart is set on this fun polka dot idea, here’s how to follow Krista:

The invitations: purchase if you can, make if you want to, but ensure they are spotted (you can even have some round confetti fall out when opened!) and instruct your guests to come in polka dots. I even made a contribution here – Krista’s little girl borrowed a polka dot dress from Frannie in order to match her older sister!

The decorations: Balloons work well for this one, and coloured dots cut out and hung/mounted wherever possible. Krista used small, medium and large bristol board circles stuck to the wall with easy-to-remove painter’s tape (another of her little secrets). She also cut square napkins into circles so they would match the theme. (Coworkers who overheard her divulging this tidbit were quite amused!)

The activities: Twister, of course, with the theme song from “The Polka Dot Door” playing in the background. Also, hula hoops, and a game involving tossing bean bags in to the hoops. Orange, red and yellow balls spotting the yard for kids to play with (because, oh yeah, each of Krista’s themes is also colour-coordinated!), and connect-the-dots pictures. (I was thinking checkers or Connect 4 might also be good, but then I realized red and black don’t fit with the colour selection! For a Kate party, that would be a ok. Not for a Krista party!)

The food: M and M’s for game prizes, Yogos, orange and red mini rice cakes, and  “spotted”  (pepperoni) pizza

The cake: homemade rainbow dots minicakes, iced and decorated with more polka dots. And yes, she even found spotted cupcake wrappers.

The loot bags: These, of course, must also match the theme. For this party, Krista started with reusable containers covered in dots, and filled them with Smarties, Yogos, a CD, a polka-dot toothbrush, a pot of lip gloss and bubbles.

Impressed? I was! For more polka dot party ideas visit:

Martha Stewart
Polka-Dot Birthday
Kids Birthday Party Guide

If you’ve ever thrown or been to a polka dot party, I’d love if you could add your own ideas below in the comments. Thanks again, Krista, and stay tuned next week for another great party theme!