American Idol -10yr- Bring Your CD

American Idol was the theme for my 10 year old daughter's birthday this past August.  We told all of her friends at the beginning of the summer to get "their routines ready" for the date of the August bash.  All summer long my daughter was deluged with excited emails and letters about what they were going to sing and what were they going to wear.... 

The invites were sent out 2 weeks prior and contained "American Idol" logos on the top with a musical staff and notes on the bottom.  It invited them to participate in "Jessica's American Idol Party" as a "contestant".  It laid out the "rules"...  "Have two songs prepared to perform"..."Bring their own cds marked with their name"..."dress cool!! You're a star now!!"  And at the very bottom it said "PSSST!  Secret message for shy girls...if you don't want to sing; a duet or lip syncing is cool too.  Or you can just sit back and enjoy your friend's performances.  No pressure!!"  Well, the rsvp's FLEW in. 

We decorated an almost empty living room by covering a complete wall with royal blue table covers.  I drew the "american idol" logo out of 3 pieces of white poster boardand cut them out.  We hung stars from the ceiling and cut out pics of popular stars, actors, singers and taped them to each side of the blue wall.  A flashing disco ball completed the scene. 

When the girls arrived they went to "registration" and filled out a sheet with what two songs they would sing and with whom if it was a duet.  Also, a mad lib intro and 4 judges comments sheets.  What those are, are typical comments from the show but missing the adjectives.  I had attached a sheet of adjectives for them to fill in.  One went like this  "DOG!"  That performance was just _______!"  You made that song your own.  The song you chose was _______.  Look out ________(fill in popular singer)"   They loved it and took turns reading the judges comments pulled from the bowl.  No mean adjectives so it was fun for everyone.  Simon could not attend.haha  At registration, they grabbed from a pile of "All access passes" to wear around their necks.(again with the logo on it and it said "All Access on top and Contestant at the bottom with room for them to write their name) 

Well, on the back of each pass was a number.  This was their number to perform and for a game later that night.  The girls showed up all glammed up with boas and everything.  They loved looking at the magazine pics hung up and sang from karaoke cds we had going while they all filled out their registration.  I took a pic of each of them "posing" under the logo'd blue wall.  My 7 year old held up an "applause" sign after each performance. After each mad lib intro, they performed one song. Intermission time for pizza, cake and presents in a different room. 

Then, in lieu of goody bags, we played the white elephant game.  I wrapped up many different books for their age and using their pass number, number 1 chose and opened her prize, now number two could either steal #1's or take a chance and choose another to open.  They loved it.(i work at a bookstore by the way!!)  On to more singing.  Number 12 started the singing out this time and those kids did not sit down the rest of the night.  My house was literally shaking they were having such a good time when their parents showed up. 

The girls still mention how fun her party was and the pictures were a nice keepsake for the girls.  

Needed: 
two microphones(long cords are a must)         
karaoke machine         
2 1/2 hours of party time         
5 blue tablecloths         
some cd-g karaoke cds as a time killer at beginning and end         
disco lights The girls brought their own regular cds and just sang over the artist.