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Your little one has an eye for glamour, perhaps she dreams of her name in lights. But no matter how much of a ham they are for a camera, every child enjoys dressing up and imagining themselves to be the people the dream of becoming. A dress up party is a wonderful way of encouraging their creativity without busting the budget by sending them to Hollywood. To throw a simply marvelous dress up party, all you really need are old clothes and a little imagination. With a little planning your little starlit will be the talk of the town.
You will need: Old clothes, a cardboard box, scarves and hats, old costume jewelry, old shoes preferably high heels, old costumes (check out after Halloween sales, and thrift shops for some great bargains). A large mirror and a Polaroid camera, or digital camera and printer, two suitcases and a whole lot of imagination.
Invitations
Invitations should ask that each guest request with her politest pretty-please to search through mom's (or dad's) old clothes for appropriate wardrobe accoutrements. Party Mom should do this too.
Here's a great idea for invitations: Make them the shape of a hand mirror.
Get a large piece of cardboard and cut it our in the shape of a hand held mirror. Paint it using acrylic paints a solid color, perhaps pretty in pink, or royal purple. Cut out a circle of tin foil and paste to one side of mirror: for the other side Paste a computer print out of the following information: Use fun colors and fonts. Feel free to change the message to suite your needs.
Sally Jones cordially invites you to a DRESS UP PARTY
on the 14th of April at promptly 2:00 pm.
It will be held at the Jones Mansion at 123 Strawberry Lane, MA, 34517.
Call 654-8436 to R.S.V.P and for directions.
Please come prepared with one to two outfits rummaged from closets, the attic or your mother's wardrobe .
Note to the moms: Please assist the creativity of this party by providing our guest with old prom dresses, cocktail dresses, hippie skirts, old Halloween costumes, etc. anything you can spare would be appreciated.
Get a large cardboard box and convert it into a trunk. Use tinfoil to make it shiny. Paint and Bedeck it to your hearts desire. Set this trunk up by the mirror to create a dress up station.
Before the guest arrive create a dress up station in one corner of the party area. Put all the clothing items you have and place them in your trunk. It would be good to include your mirror(s) in this area as well. Another good idea would be to use an old card table as a make up station, put small mirrors and old make up and hair styling things like combs, brushes, hair ties, barrettes, etc. on this table. When the guests arrive have them add their donations to the trunk. Note: If their moms want items back, perhaps you should make a list of what each child brought before the party goes into full swing that way you can aid them in bringing the same pair of red baggy pants and the purple feather boa they came with home.
Here are some games to get the party rolling, but do not underestimate your childrenfs ability to entertain themselves in free dress up play. It's amazing what a pair of high heel shoes, a cow-boy hat and a feather boa can evoke.
Game One: The who's who of Sally's Party
Before the party write out possible cruise ship guests on index cards. Examples: Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, the Queen of England, Suzy Q, Movie Star, King Aurthor, Peter pan, etc. Choose one child to be the host and tell them to go out of the room. Then give each player a card, and two minutes to adorn themselves with whatever necessary costume items will help get their goal across. The host then pretends to set up party, every two minutes or so a new gguesth arrives and acts like the person on their card. The host tries to guess whofs who at their party. This game will be more fun depending how out-landish the guests could possibly be. Perhaps ET should make an appearance or Big foot. Each guest leaves once theyfve been guessed the last guest becomes the host for the next round.
Game two: Cruise Ship murderer.
(This game is for older children 7-11)
All of a sudden the party is transferred aboard a cruise ship, where something mysterious is about to happen. Have all the guests stand in a circle with their eyes closed. You pick the player that is going to be the murderer. Before the game starts each person takes on the persona and the costume of a guest aboard a cruise ship. While the game is going on each shakes hands with each other and acts like their having a jolly good time. When the murderer shakes hands he/she does something different, they tap the other persons wrist with their thumb as discreetly as possible. The player that has been tapped, counts to ten in their head and then dies the most dramatic theatrical death they can. Everyone else guesses the who the murderer is. This game is highly successful and a lot of fun.
Game three: Get Dressed Quick!
In this game players pretend to be salespeople who have to dress a Mannequin quickly before their boss gets back and fires them. Fill two old suitcases with various clothes, they should be baggy and numerous and include hats, scarves, shoes, and ties in addition to dresses, pants and shirts, and skirts. Split the guests in two groups of two. Have each group choose one person to be the mannequin. The mannequin is not allowed to move while his/her group members dress him/her. Use a stopwatch to see which group can dress their Mannequin fastest before the store manager gets back to fire them as sales people.
The Coup de Grace:
At the end of the festivities there should be some kind of climax, and what could be better than a fashion show / photo shoot. Have each child dress in their favorite ensemble from the party. Lie a sheet on the floor folded in three to resemble a runway. Set up chairs on either side so the other guests and siblings of the host child can watch. Have your camera ready as each struts down the runway.
Give each child a photo of themselves to take home as a favor.
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