Chinese Party -10yr- Decorate Chopsticks

For my tenth birthday we had a Chinese themed party. It was a ton of fun!

INVITATION: My mom and I made these on our computer. We used clip art of things like lanterns, butterflies, Chinese paper cuts, cherry blossom branches, plus a picture of me in my Chinese clothes. It read: Guess WHO is turning 10?        You are invited to_________'s Chinese themed birthday party! Then all the party info like DATE, TIME, and RSVP. I invited 16 girls and all but one came.

DECORATIONS: My dad got all of our Chinese stuff out of the basement. We hung up things like traditional Chinese knots,wall hangings,and a dragon head costume. There were also lanterns that we ordered, streamers, and balloons.

COSTUMES: Everyone in my family wore Chinese clothes that we had gotten last time we went to China. My sister and I had our hair in a bun with a chopstick through it.

ACTIVITIES: When the girls got here they held a Chinese parasol and took a picture with me. When everyone arrived, my mom taught us some simple Chinese sayings like hello, goodbye, thank you, and happy birthday.

For our first activities we split up into three groups and had three different stations. My mom's station was painting your name in Chinese at our dining room table. We had these Elmer's paint brush things that looked like pens, but the tip was a brush. you squeezed it to get the paint out. My mom wrote there name, and they had to copy it. My Aunt Linda teaches Chinese dance at my cousin's Chinese school, so her station was teaching us some Chinese ribbon dancing. My Aunt Helen ran the origami station. We had an origami kit with an instruction book, so we used that and bought some extra paper.

After everyone had been to all the stations, two of my cousins showed us a Chinese Pecock Dance. Then we had our next two activities. Chopstick Relay: We had four bowls filled with red and gold pom-poms and another empty bowl next to it. They had to transfer the pom-poms into the empty bowl, using only the chopsticks(This was hard for a lot of people.)Their partner would time them with a stopwatch.

Decorating Chopsticks: Before the party my Dad drilled a hole in some chopsticks about 2cm down from the top. We strung some wire through and put beads on. to secure it we looped the wire back through. Everyone got to make one. These were really pretty.

Next, we dipped fortune cookies in chocolate, and sprinkles. Each girl made two.

GAMES: We had two games planned but we didn't get a chance to do them because we ran out of time. Chase the Dragon's Tail: Everyone stands in a line and puts their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. The first person is the Dragon" and the last person is the "tail". The "Dragon" tries to run around and tag the "tail" without having the whole line fall apart. If she does than she becomes the "tail" and the next person at the front of the line becomes the new "Dragon". Ping-Pong Relay Race: This is a game that kids play in China. You split up into two teams. Each team gets a ping-pong paddle and ball. The first person has to walk across the room touch the wall walk back and give the paddle and ball to the next person etc. If you drop it you have to start over again.

FOOD: My grandma made some dumplings and everyone got to try one. My cake was one of those where they can copy on a picture for you. The picture we used was just like my invitation but instead of the party info it said Happy Birthday Clare! In Chinese and English. For Drinks we had Sprite Coke and everybody got to try some weak green tea that my mom made.

GOODY BAGS: For the goody bags we ordered red Chinese take-out boxes. Inside was a fortune cookie a Chinese fan Chinese candy a silk Chinese coin purse a mini Chinese noise maker and a pair of cute red chopsticks with pictures of fortune cats on them. We ordered everything from this great website called www.asainideas.com. They also got to take home their chocolate dipped fortune cookies their origami their decorated chopstick and their name painting. The party was two hours long and cost around $200. This is a great party. I had a great time and so did all of my friends. I hope some of these ideas help!       "