Cheerleading Party -9yr- Certificate of Completion

My daugher Brandy was turning nine and she wanted a cheerleading party.

Since this type of theme didn't give me much to work with, I gathered what information I could find on the internet and filled in the rest. We settled on blue and white as her 'colors'. I had some leftover parchment paper, and using my computer, printed (using a collegiate-looking font) an acceptance (invitation) to Pom Pom University. I gave the date, time, RSVP, told the girls to wear something comfortable to cheer in, etc. and then rolled it up like a scroll and tied it with a ribbon. My daughter gave these out to the parents of the girls she wanted to invite so that we made sure the parents got them.

I found at the local Dollar Store a package with a megaphone and two pom poms. At the same store I also bought a white table cloth, blue cake plates, blue silverware, clear plastic cups, curling ribbon in blue and white, and a baton to decorate as a "Spirit Stick" for the girl with the most spirit. At the local Big Lots I bought blue plastic baskets that some restaurants use.

For our food, I decided to serve the kinds you would find at a sports game-hotdogs, nachos and cheese, cotton candy, big pretzels, Gatorade, popcorn, sodas and snow cones. I had my kitchen set up to look like the front of a concession stand and a menu of what we 'sold'. I lined the blue baskets with waxed paper, like the restaurants, and put in a hot dog and nachos. The cheese was put into small plastic, bathroom sized cups and put in the basket wedged between the hotdog and nachos. The popcorn-popped earlier that morning-was put into waxed paper bags that I got from the local chinese food restaurant.  I put the cotton candy into sandwich sized ziplock bags and had them all ready to be handed out. I cooked the pretzels earlier that morning and had them stacked in a 9 X 13 baking pan. The snow cones (machine is $14 at Wal-Mart, but I already owned) were put into small white 4 oz. cups and they could choose between 3 flavors. The Gatorade was chilling in a big bucket of ice, as were the sodas.

Also done up ahead of time were tassels made out of blue and white DMC floss for their 'graduation'(bought at Wal-Mart) and their diplomas. I had some diploma paper, also left over from another project, that fit my needs perfectly. However, the local Staples, Wal-Mart or Office Depot also sells diploma paper. Again, using collegiate-looking font, I printed up the diploma that said "Pom Pom University, having completed and fulfilled the required courses of study and discipline and upon the recommendation of the faculty, staff and administration of the University, (your name here) is hereby awarded the degree of Doctorate of Cheerleading, with all the rights, honors and priveleges thereof on this fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Five". There is a spot on the left bottom where the Presidents signiture goes, and on the bottom right the Dean of Students. I used some clip art found on the internet to add to it, and put a gold foil sticker on the bottom, in the middle, between the President and the Dean of Students. These were also rolled up like a scroll and tied with blue ribbon.

Instead of a birthday cake, I had Wal-Mart make a cake using cupcakes with white icing in the shape of a megaphone that said "Go Team" written in royal blue.

As each girl arrived, she was given a bracelet that said 'Cheer' on it, and a word search puzzle that I created on the internet with words like cheerleader, pom pom, spirit, go team, captain, cocaptain, etc. I hung posters all around the room like you would find at a pep rally or game-go team, fight, we've got spirit, etc. I bought a book online at amazon.com on cheerleading that was very helpful. My oldest daughter had some glitter gel that we put on the girls and I took pictures of each girl, in two different poses, in the front yard.

I also got pictures of the girls forming a pyramid and another group pose similiar to one out of my old yearbook. The girls learned some basic moves, then an actual cheer. Afterwards, we divided up into two teams to invent a new cheer.

At the end of the party, the girls voted on who had the most spirit, and win the spirit stick. No games were planned, as I figured that all of this would take up all of our time. I figured right. As each girl was leaving, she got to keep her megaphone, pompoms, cheer bracelet, blue visor, and a goody bag.

For the goodie bags I bought yellow bags and I added cheerleading stickers found at Wal-Mart. I decided to scallop the top of the bag instead of leaving it plain. After placing inside the bag twister lollipops, puzzle rings, candy bracelets, blue or pink beaded necklace and matching bracelet, a hologram pencil and a fancy pen (I couldn't find anything cheer related), I folded the top down about 1" and hole punched two holes in the middle. I bought some scrap book paper and used it to make name tags, which I cut out with pinking shears. I wrote the name in black sharpie marker and also punched two holes (done at the same time as the bag), used blue and white hologram curling ribbon, and threaded it through the bag, tied it in a bow, and curled it. Once the film is developed, I will have doubles made. Each girl will be given a picture of her two poses and a group photo, put into a cardboard frame, as a thank you gift.