Pool Party 12yr - Cookout & Frisbee Plates

For my 12th Birthday Party, I had a pool party in my backyard. We also went shopping.

INVITATIONS: I made invitaions that looked like a pool. They take time, but look really nice. First, you color a large piece of saran-wrap with a blue sharpie. Then you fold 8 (that’s how many people I wqas inviting)pieces of white Cardstock in half. Next, cut a small piece of blue saran wrap. This will be the water for your pool scene. Glue it on the front of the card (make sure it only covers about half of the front). Before glueing it, you can scrunch it up, then flatten it to make waves. Or, you could just draw i=on waves with a black Sharpie. Next you color and decorate the rest of the front to make it look like a pool (or beach) scene. You could draw in a sun, a beach chair, a beach umbrella, a towel, flippers, a pool noodle, etc. You could also use stickers if you're not that good at drawing. The on the front I drew a cloud and wrote on it: 'Come make a splash at my pool party!' On the inside I put all the information about my party: Date, Time, Place, What to bring, RSVP I told my guests to bring a bathing suit, sleeping bag, pillow, towel, and money for shopping.

DECORATIONS: My theme was Sumemr. We made wall decals to put on our deck. They were in the shape of flipflop, a sun, a fish, and a surfboard. I drew them freehand but you could probably print something off the internet and color it if you wish. We hung orange, green, and pink streamers on the railing of my deck, then taped on the wall decals. We hung stremers and balloon on my fence too. Since we were roatsting hot dogs over a fire, we put lots of beach chairs around the yard. We also had a couple of beach umbrellas. There were some beach balls and water toys in the pool. On the table were we would be putting the food, we had a pink and orange striped tablecloth. I also found some green confetti shaped like ocean animals at our local Dollar Store that I put on the table. We had a CD player on a table, where it couldn’t get splashed. I had made a couple CD's with upbeat, summery music that I would play at my party.

FOOD: For supper, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire. All the food was arranged on a table on my deck.We had chips in beach pails, candy, fruit, and juice. To go along with the Summer theme, we ate our food on clean frisbees and scooped ice out of a larger bucket with a shovel. For the cake we found a fun recipe on kraftfoods.com:   http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe _display&recipe_id=56742  

PARTY: My party was at 12 on a Saturday. After everyone arrived, we played Hide and Seek for about 20 minutes. Then we went shopping for 3 hours. When we got back, we opened presents, then ate supper. After that we swam for about two hours. My cousin trained to be a lifeguard once so she was there in case anything happened. Then we had cake. YUM! While we were eating cake, my mom was setting up a TV and DVD player outside. After cake, we each took a floating matress and watched Man of the Year while we floated in the pool!!! If it is too cold at night, you could also just watch a movie inside while sitting on beach chairs In the morning we had waffles for breakfast.

THANK YOU CARDS: About 3 days after the party, i gave everyone a deflated beach ball that said: 'Thankyou for coming to my party! You helped make it a big hit! Thankyou for the ______' (the gift they gave me) I also gave everyone a picture of all of us in a nice frame we found at Ardene. I also sent one to my cousin who was our lifegaurd". This was a really great party and everyone had lots of fun. I hope my ideas help you!!!!!!"