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What a great budget birthday party idea that will be fabulous fun for the kids: a FOOD FIGHT! If the idea interests you and your child, here are some ways to put this together:

1. It would be great to host this party outdoors, but it you are willing to have the food fight indoors, it would be good to have it in a space that you don’t mind getting messy, like a garage or a basement or perhaps a shed if there is enough room inside. You may want to cover the space with plastic so that clean up is very easy afterward.

2. When the kids arrive at the party, for both safety and easy clean up, provide kids with shower caps, plastic goggles, and a rain poncho to wear. These will keep the kids safe and relatively clean through the food fight.

3. After they have their outfits on, give the kids a bag of marshmallows and slingshots, and they can start the fun of slinging marshmallows at one another as they wait for everyone to arrive. Make sure the kids are supervised in the designated party area.

3. On a table, put out lots of foods that are perfect for a food fight, spaghetti, whipped cream, mashed potatoes, chocolate pudding, Jell-O, Cereal, hard boiled eggs, popcorn, oatmeal, bananas, etc. Whatever you like, and you can make it even more interesting by putting food dye into the different foods, for example, green mashed potatoes.

4. You may want to announce a few “rules” to the kids before the food fight breaks out: some suggestions include: they must keep their goggles on, they must stop throwing if they hear the sound of a whistle or something else you find appropriate, and that the food fight must stay within the space you have designated.

5. If there are kids who do not feel comfortable participating, let them have fun watching on the sidelines.

6. Make sure to have your video camera out to capture this fun!

7. You can also have the kids play some organized “food games,” including blindfolding the kids and having them eat donuts that have been strung on a string. First kid finished eating his donut wins! Have the kids partner up and feed each other pudding standing 5 ft. away from one another using a plastic spoon. Afterward, the kids can use squirt guns to clean themselves up.

8. Your party menu can be very simple, as they will be playing with the food at this party, more than eating any of it! Serve ice cream and cake to top the party off.

9. Send the kids home with a splattered brown paper bag filled with good food: a piece of fruit, a veggie, pudding pack, etc. as a reminder of their foodie fun!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

July’s FBT Twitter Birthday Bash was a blast! I’d like to thank:

• Jessica (@PetSmartTLC) from PetSmart for being our featured guest and doing a fabulous job of providing a wealth of information about celebrating pet birthdays and pet safety for the 4th of July. It was her first Twitter party and she was awesome!
• Lisa (@cactusandivy) from Cactus & Ivy for sponsoring the door prize. You’ve got to check out her natural spa and body products that are hand-made and not tested on animals!
• Savvy Host (@SavvyHost) for sponsoring the giveaways: (2) TableTop-in-a-Box sets. I’m so jealous! I would have loved to win one of those! They also have a birthday offer I’m adding to the directory on FreeBirthdayTreats.com - I’ll introduce it in another post though so be sure to check it out.
• Tori (@HostessTori) from Thoughtfully Simple for doing her best to keep things moving even though Twitter was running slow. Be sure to check out her site for some fabulous entertaining ideas for the 4th!
• Carissa (@CarissaRogers) from GoodNCrazy for creating the custom TweetGrids for #FBTbash!
• Janice & Susan (@5minutesformom) from 5 Minutes for Mom for cross promoting #FBTbash with their event #HebrewNational.

And most importantly, I’d like to thank everyone who participated last night to make it such a wonderful event. I loved all the pet pictures everyone shared! So many of them are rescued pets which makes them all the more special.

If you missed our fabulous shindig on Twitter or if the tweets were flying by too fast for you to catch them, here is a link to the transcript provided by What The Hashtag: #FBT Transcript for July 1, 2009.

Be sure to mark your calendars for next month’s #FBTbash on Wednesday, August 5th, 5-7p PST with our very special featured guest panelist:

Kathy Ireland - She has an amazing positive presence on Twitter so be sure to follow her!

Thank you all again for making #FBTbash so much fun!

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit my website, Free Birthday Treats.

As most of you all know, I’m a huge advocate for the American Cancer’s Society’s new More Birthdays Campaign. I’ve posted about it before, but just in case you missed it be sure to check out: More Birthdays Campaign by the American Cancer Society

I just received an email from them asking…

In honor of America and her 11 million cancer survivors, we’re asking you to take part in a little challenge this holiday weekend:

As you celebrate the 4th, will you cook a healthy “more birthdays” dish and tell others why you cooked it?

They even provide some healhy More Birthdays Snack recipes on their website and on their Official Birthday Blog just in case you need some inspiration.

Please join this worthy cause and share with your family and friends!

Happy 4th of July!

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit my website, Free Birthday Treats.

I am so excited about July’s FBT Twitter Birthday Bash door prize giveaway - a You’re the Balm Bag gift set from Cactus & Ivy!

This sweet gift set includes:

Peppermint Tree Foot Balm - Our signature balm! A soothing blend of oils and vegetable waxes to create a balm perfect for daily moisturizing of your feet. Use this balm as needed or for an intense overnight treatment.

Butter Me Up Body Balm - A combination of soothing oils and cocoa butter give this balm a nice glide on your skin.  Perfect for after shave use, soothe sun burned skin or an all over intense moisturizer for dry, itchy skin, especially on the knees and elbows.

Lip Service Lip Balm - Creamy blend of oils, candelilla wax, grapefruit seed extract, vitamin E, plain or essential oils of spearmint and peppermint.

Lisa from Cactus & Ivy creates, by hand, natural spa and body products.  She never tests her products on animals (just family - lol) and uses only the finest ingredients.

CLOSED:

1. Follow CactusandIvy, JulieFBT and HostessTori on Twitter.

2. Tweet the following message to your followers:
Just entered the @cactusandivy giveaway hosted by @julieFBT & @HostessTori! #FBTbash http://tinyurl.com/mxyps2

3. Very Important! Leave a comment & Twitter ID below stating that you completed these actions!

Special Note: There are no multiple entries. It’s one entry per person and all requirements must be met. So please be sure to follow the tweeps listed and tweet the message to your followers. Thank you!

Two random winners will be chosen and announced during the #FBTbash on July 1st.

Good luck!

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit my website, Free Birthday Treats.

Do you love to entertain or do you avoid entertaining because it can become such a hassle? If you’re in the latter, you’ll definitely want to check out The Savvy Host. They have a full range of services from planning to decorating.

If you love to entertain, be sure to check out The Savvy Host Market which is filled with a variety of items to help you entertain or give as gifts. They even have one of my favorites, Grill Charms!

The Savvy Host’s 8 Entertaining Essentials take hosting from stressful to stress-free (while saving a few dollars!)

Even better, The Savvy Host is sponsoring two giveaways for July’s FBT Twitter Birthday Bash (#FBTbash)! They will be giving away two (2) Savvy Host’s TableTop-in-a-Box *for 6* value-priced gift sets - one in Red and one in Terra.

These sets include:

• 6 Leone Placemats (100% cotton),
• 6 Cotton weave Napkins (100% cotton),
• 6 Vienna Napkin Rings,
• 1 Roma Serving Basket, &
• The Savvy Host’s 8 Entertaining Essentials (©2008)

CLOSED:

1. Follow TheSavvyHost, JulieFBT and HostessTori on Twitter.

2. Tweet the following message to your followers:
Just entered the @SavvyHost giveaway hosted by @julieFBT & @HostessTori! #FBTbash http://tinyurl.com/medyeq

3. Very Important! Leave a comment & Twitter ID below stating that you completed these actions!

Special Note: There are no multiple entries. It’s one entry per person and all requirements must be met. So please be sure to follow the tweeps listed and tweet the message to your followers. Thank you!

Two random winners will be chosen and announced during the #FBTbash on July 1st.

Good luck!

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit my website, Free Birthday Treats.

I was reading the Frugal Girls blog today and found out that Chick-Fil-A is giving away a free milkshake for Dads.

From Chick-Fil-A’s site:

On June 20th, bring your dad to a Chick-fil-A and he will receive a FREE 14oz. Hand-Spun Milkshake. Participation differs based on individual Restaurant Operator. One FREE 14 oz. Hand-Spun Milkshake for dad per visit. Father must be present with child to receive offer.

Be sure to call ahead to make sure locations near you are participating.

Happy Father’s Day!

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit my website, Free Birthday Treats.

Are we all ready? Thoughfully Simple and FreeBirthdayTreats.com are gearing up for next month’s FBT Twitter Birthday Bash and want to extend an invitation to you, your friends, your family and your beloved PETS!

When: Wednesday, July 1st from 5 - 7pm PST

Where: On Twitter! Use the hashtag #FBTbash to join the party! We’ll create a custom TweetGrid and post that link here closer to July 1st.

Featured Guest: Jessica Douglas (@PetSmartTLC) - PetSmart

Pet Pics: Do you have a picture of your pet’s birthday? If so, get ready to share them during the #FBTbash!

Giveaways: We’ll have a door prize and two $100 or more giveaways that are TBD…still working on these details, but will post them here as soon as they are confirmed!

RSVP: Did you RSVP at Thoughtfully Simple? Please do so we know who all is coming and so others can follow you too!

NEW! Become a fan of our new #FBTbash Face Book page!

SPECIAL CAUSES:

Save the lives of homeless pets with PetSmart Charities®! Through their adoption programs alone, one pet is saved every minute that a PetSmart Charities® Adoption Center is open. In addition, all the programs we create and animal welfare agencies we support help to end euthanasia while promoting healthy relationships between people and pets.

Have you declared the American Cancer Society as the official sponsor of your birthday? I know this is personal preference, but it’s something I’m passionate about and you’ll hear it from me alot.

Sponsorships: If you’d like to see more details about the FreeBirthayTreats Twitter Birthday Bash (#FBTbash) - like how to sponsor a giveaway or the event itself, visit: Twitter Birthday Bash

Tori and I are looking forward to celebrating with everyone! Please do us a favor and spread the word! The more tweeps we have the merrier it will be! Thank you!

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit my website, Free Birthday Treats.

It’s that time of year when you begin to plan your Fourth of July celebration, and you want to include the kids in the fun too, of course! Check below for easy, budget-friendly ways to make the Fourth of July full of family fun!

Decorations

• Instead of filling vases with flowers, fill them with blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. This is yummy and festive looking. Guests can scoop the berries out and add whipped cream for a truly red, white, and blue treat!
• Use different-shaped vases to hold dips and chips as well. These make great centerpieces as well as unique serving dishes.
• Mix and match red, white, and blue solid paper ware. Cloth napkins in the same colors would also add an elegant touch.
• Roll butcher paper out onto your party table. Scatter red, white, and blue crayons across the table for the kids to color with while eating.
• Fill balloons with red, white, and blue crinkled paper. Have the kids pop the balloons for festive explosions of color.
• Using pop-cork place mats and attach the kids’ names to the pop corks for easy seating arrangements. The kids can take their pop cork home along with their tags, so use red, white, and blue colors to make them festive.
• Sprinkle red, white, and blue confetti and candies around the table.

Activities:

• Have the kids make small US flags and place them into red, white, and blue sand pails that have sand filler at the bottom! Turn this decoration into a game. Divide the kids into two teams and have them run, grab a flag, and quickly walk back to the team line, where the next person must do the same. The team that has all of the flags in hand most quickly wins! Let the kids take the flags home as a goody!
• The kids can make a sidewalk chalk mural. Have red, white, and blue sidewalk chalk on hand to give to the kids and let them create their own patriotic mural. They can create an American flag, fireworks, the Washington Monument, etc. This is a great activity for a dry Fourth of July Day!
• Boil a dozen eggs and color some red and blue (be sure to keep some white)! Have an Egg Spoon Relay Race. Divide the kids into two teams, and provide each team with a spoon and eggs. The kids must balance a colored egg on their spoon and walk quickly from one end of the yard to the other and return. If the egg drops, the team member must begin again. The first team with all members completing the relay race wins!
• For older kids, water balloons will be loads of fun. A fun twist on traditional water balloon games is to create a small hole in each balloon, and then fill it with water. Let the kids toss the leaking balloon, which will become a bit of a time bomb as you don’t want to be the last one holding it when it finally runs out of water! Quick, easy, and fun!
• Play classic relay races and picnic games, such as ring toss, sack race, and three-legged race.
• Have the girls add red, white, and blue star beads to their shoelaces for added fun.
• The kids can make their own creative rockets with cardboard tubes, tin foil, craft paper, tissue paper, glue, markers, ribbon, and child-friendly scissors. 

Tasty Treats:

• Have a red, white, and blue taste test with the kids. Put out all sorts of foods and spices in a series of small dishes. Blindfold the kids and have the kids taste the foods and spices and guess what they are. Ideas for tasting include salt, ketchup, blueberries, strawberries, French salad dressing, mayonnaise, sponge cake, strawberry jam, pepper jack cheese, beets, tomatoes, garlic, bananas, cherries, etc. 
• Freeze blueberries and raspberries in ice cube trays to make star spangled cubes.
• Make a rocket pop drink. Fill a glass with ice cubes. Carefully pour cranberry juice, blue Gatorade, and 7-Up into the glass directly over the ice cubes to maintain the patriotic colors. 
• Using blackberries, cut up/halved strawberries, and bananas, have the kids create a fruit flag using the fruit pieces. They can place this on a cookie tray, and then you can lay it out to serve to the rest of the guests. The kids can also make mini flags for themselves. You can also provide lollipop sticks to the kids to skewer the fruits with.
• Using a star cookie cutter, make up a batch of patriotic gelatin stars, star sugar cookies, cheese slices, and sandwiches filled with cream cheese and blackberry jam.
• Make a batch of cupcakes and have the kids frost them and decorate them with red, white, and blue sprinkles.

So much fun for so little money and time. Happy Fourth of July planning!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs 

Tis the season for trips to your favorite ice cream spot, and for ice cream socials! If you want some cool ice cream social party ideas for the upcoming summer season, check out these yummy ideas.

For decorations, bunch balloons together to look like an ice cream cone. Use brown balloons for the cone, and different colors for the different flavors of the ice cream! Another way to make balloons look like ice cream cones, and have a centerpiece for your party table, is to attach helium-filled balloons to party hats.

Make a sign welcoming your guests to your child’s “Ice Cream Parlor.”

Play some old fashioned ice cream parlor music to get your guests in the mood of the party theme as they arrive.

On the party table, place old fashioned stick candy in brightly colored pails as an additional decoration and treat. It will look festive!

Match your tableware to the ice cream colors you choose. If you choose a plain white tablecloth, further decorate by either sticking ice cream cone cutouts all over it, or by drawing an ice cream parlor on it.

Enjoy a sundae bar with toppings, nuts, chocolate sauce, cherries, caramel, etc. Make “Creamy Cones” by using standard ice cream cones and providing whipped cream for the kids to fill them up with. The kids can top their cones with chocolate shavings, sprinkles, gummies, etc. They will love this one as well.

Play a version of the Pin the Tail on the Donkey, where you pin a cherry on a sundae or an ice cream cone!

Organize a game for the adults where they match the Ben and Jerry’s flavors to their names. This could be challenging!

Make paper soda hats.

Have an ice cream eating contest!

As a favor, buy some vintage sundae cups at a thrift store, and fill them with Baskin Robbins’ flavored candies. Add a Pixie Stick candy as a straw for the ice cream soda.

Ice cream socials and birthday parties are sure to be a huge hit and to cool everyone off!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

Photo Courtesy of Shindigz

A Luau is a very popular theme for any age and can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. This is especially fun during the warm summer months. You can plan a luau to be very inexpensive to more costly depending on the invitations, decorations, crafts, food, and goody bags that you have at the party. The following ideas are designed to provide ideas for any budget.

To save money, you can easily send an e-invitation to your party if your guests have access to the Internet. There is no cost associated to sending e-invitation and they have a wide variety of themes to match your party.

If budget is a consideration, ask your local party store and/or grocery store and see if they have any old decorations, such as grass skirts, tiki poles, lanterns, that they would be willing to give to you for free. Often major stores have old decorations that they would be happy to donate to your party. It just requires asking a question.

Another inexpensive way to decorate is to make tissue paper flowers that you can scatter across your party tables and area, as well as tissue paper tropical birds.

• Make a flower napkin/cutlery holder out of felt. Wrap the holder around the napkin and cutlery and this will also add a festive touch for a small amount of money.
• Make paper lanterns and hang them on trees throughout your yard.
• Have your guests wear tropical attire, i.e. their wildest Hawaiian shirt. This will also make for a festive atmosphere.
• Provide your guests with leis as they enter the party. You could either make these out of string with tissue paper flowers all the way to real, tropical flowers. Just depends on your budget.
• Paint a Hawaiian tropical scene on an old sheet and hang it between two trees. You can take pictures of guests there as well.
• Other decorating ideas would include: grass skirting for your tables, tiki torches, which can also be filled with oil that keeps the bugs away, a big “Aloha” sign can be hung to welcome your guests as well. (You can either make it or buy one.) Blow up Palm Tree Balloons.
• Use fun cocktail umbrellas in all of your drinks for a festive touch.
• Have Hawaiian music playing in the background.
• To give it a tropical feel, spray paint an old white sheet with a tropical scene…and hang it outdoors…perhaps between two trees…when the guests arrive, take pictures of everyone with the tropical scene as a back drop.
• If you have a pool, fill it with beach balls…you could even get a small kiddie pool and fill it with beach balls as well.

Games:

• Have a limbo contest!
• Have a Hula Hoop contest!
• Teach people the Hula. Provide grass skirts to your guests to make it authentic.
• Play Pass the Pineapple. Purchase a pineapple. Have your guests pass it around to music. When the music stops, the person holding the pineapple wins a prize. Have a relay contest, but with a twist. Fill a suitcase or a big tote bag with clothes that both a man and woman would wear on a vacation. The relay consists of running to the bag, getting dressed in the outfit, running back with the bag, taking the costume off, and then the next person must put on the costume and run with the suitcase to the other side.
• Coconut Bowling: Use a coconut as a bowling ball to knock over three pineapple pins.
• Play Pin the Monkey on the Palm Tree.
• Have a tropical piñata. Kids can take home the candy from the piñata.

For your party menu, serve fruit salad, (try to include some tropical fruits like pineapple) veggies with a ranch dip, crackers and cheese, and chips and dips

Set up these snacks at a Snack Shack, a cute store front for guests to get their goodies.

• Have a BBQ and enjoy chicken, steaks, and kebabs on the grill
• Hawaiian Pizza
• Make fresh pineapple boats
• Have the kids create their own fruit skewers and dip the skewers in chocolate and other sauces.

For the kids, serve punch and add in cherries with the umbrella for extra fun!

Send the children home with a hula-hoop or an inflatable beach ball.

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs