Restaurant Party -5yr- Make Your Own Pizzas

Restaurant Theme.  We had a great party for my 5 year old daughter. She loves to help in the kitchen, so I thought a Restaurant theme would be great for her party.  Our children guests were aged 1 - 9 years old and all the adults accompanied theme.  I started with a an invitation that read: Special Delivery…. Just for you. Anyway you slice it Ashley is turning 5 and provided all the "cheesy" details and asked them to make a reservation as an RSVP.

When the children arrived, they were asked to make placement of their favorite foods with crayons and markers.  Then each child had to write their name on a name tag and wear an apron that I made out of white kitchen garbage bags by cutting out head and arm holes.  They stuck the name tag to their chest and decorated the apron with stickers.  Then each child made a chef hat out of white bristol board for the band around their head and white tissue paper stapled in as the top puffy part.  This made a great picture! 

To test their chef skills, each child made their own pizza.  We used Greek pitas as the crust and let the kids choose their toppings (sauce, cheese, peperoni, ham, peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, peas?, carrots?, and other odd stuff).  While the pizzas were cooking we played a quick hot potato game with water ballons.  I served the adults homemade pizza, meatballs and rice and other nibbelies. 

The kids enjoyed their pizza and then played more games.  We had a waiter game. The kids had to complete an obstacle course in the backyard, by  going around pylons, through tunnels etc. carrying an empty cup.  They filled the cup with water and had to run back to the start.  The waiter with the most water won first prize out of my birthday treasure chest filled with a variety of toys.

Then it was dessert time!  Each child was given a cupcake with their choice of icing.  Then they were given 5 tickets and a cup.  I setup 10 candy stores.  10 of the adults held candy bags (smarties, sprinkles, choclates, jube jubes etc.) and a small scoop. The kids had to buy their toppings with their tickets and could only choose 5 of the 10 choices. These was a great way to get Great-Grandma involved.  She got to see/talk to each kid as she gave them a scoop of sprinkles for their cupcake.  The kids decorated their cupcakes and/or just ate the toppings. 

I made a birthday cake in the shape of the number 5 for everybody to enjoy. We played more games like scavenger hunt for matching balls etc.  Plus the kids enjoyed the treehouse/swingset and sandbox.  In the loopbags, I included a cookie mix, wooden spoon, a movie and other little candies and toys. The kids had great fun and still wear their hats when cooking in the kitchen.