Pizza Party -6yr- Checked Tablecloth

Pizza Party 6 yr old  For my daughter's sixth birthday she wanted to make pizza.  We checked around to different pizza restaurants to see if they would allow the children in the kitchen to make personal pizzas.  We found the perfect place, a small family pizzeria, just around the corner.  They had the red checked tablecloths and everything and they were great because they would allow us to have the party when the restaurant was closed to the public. 

My daughter and I made invitations from materials purchased from the local scrapbook store.  We printed the party information on white cardstock.  It said "Come see what we are cooking up to celebrate Allison's 6th Birthday!"  and told that we were making pizza.  We mounted it on red checked paper, punched two holes and tied a red ribbon on.  We also stuck on a cute little cutout of a chef, put pizza stickers all over the invitation, and added a magnet to the back so it could be stuck to the refrigerator. 

For party hats we made chef hats out of white posterboard and white tissue paper.  All you do is cut a strip of posterboard and staple it to fit your child's head. Then push a large piece of tissue almost all the way through the posterboard band and then tape the edges inside.  Puff the tissue up out the top with your knuckles so it stays up.  SO easy! Then we wanted little aprons for each child.  You can buy fabric ones from the craft store, or do what I did and make them.  Much cheaper! 

I got a huge red checked plastic tablecloth from Wal-Mart and traced out fifteen child sized aprons and cut them out.  I hot glued on red ribbon for the neck and apron ties, and wrote each child's name on the front in permanent marker. (The aprons cost me  about $5.00 total, as opposed to $5.00 a piece at the craft store)  I found a coloring book of foods with a big picture of a slice of pizza and photocopied it with the words "Happy 6th Birthday, Allison!" on it for the kids to color when they first arrived.    

When the kids came to the party, they each put on a hat and apron and colored while they waited for everyone to arrive.  During this time I took pictures of each guest with the birthday girl.  Then the chefs took the kids six at a time into the kitchen and they each got to make a personal pizza.  They had so much fun getting to create their own pizza and see what the kitchen looks like!!  While one group was making pizza, the other group was coloring and stringing all different dyed macaroni noodles (I dyed them using food coloring and rubbing alcohol) onto red ribbon for necklaces.  Then the groups switched. 

Very quickly the pizza was done and we all ate.  We had ordered several large pizzas for the grown ups to eat, too.  After that we played Pin the Pepperoni on the Pizza, which I made out of butcher paper with red circles for the pepperoni. (Make sure to label the names on the pepperoni ahead of time) Whoever's pepperoni was closest to the one in the center won. Then we had cookie cake and opened gifts. 

For party favors, I got single slice pizza boxes from the pizza place in the mall, lined them with red tissue and filled them with heart shaped cookie cutters, a small wooden spoon, biscotti (Italian cookies), red and white starlight mints, and pizza stickers.  The kids got to take these home with their hats, aprons, coloring picture, macaroni necklace and any of their pizza that was leftover.

The party was a hit and VERY inexpensive. It ran about an hour and a half which was just long enough for us. 

For thank yous we made the photos we took of each child into postcards and wrote the thank you on back.  This was a nice memento of a fun time.