How to Throw a Great Holiday Party for the Kids

Your child wants to have a holiday party with a few friends. You want to arrange a hassle-free party. Follow these instructions to throw a great, hassle-free gingerbread house party. Each child will create their own gingerbread house to take home as a “party favor”. This great party idea works for children ages 7+.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Graham Crackers
• Icing
• An Assortment of Candy
• A gift to wrap
• Cardboard boxes
• tin foil
• saran wrap

1. Set a time for the party. Early evening is best. If you do not want to serve dinner, have the party after 7. 7-10 works great.
2. Invite the guests. To simplify the invitation process, have your child call her friends instead of sending out invitations. Be sure to have your child mention that you will be serving desert and snacks, not dinner.
3. Assemble the supplies. You will be buying supplies to make simple gingerbread houses. For every three kids, buy one box of graham crackers and 2 containers of icing. Buy a few extra boxes of graham crackers and containers of icing for back-up supplies. Buy lots of candy to decorate the houses. Be sure to buy an assortment of colors. Candy such as dots, Smarties, Hershey kisses, and colored M&Ms work great to decorate the houses.
4. Assemble the platforms for the houses to be made on. Cut one square pieces of cardboard about 12 in X 12 in for each child. Actual size can and will vary- but you want the cardboard pieces big enough for each child to assemble a gingerbread house out of graham crackers. If you make the cardboard pieces too large, the children will probably try to make enormous gingerbread houses. If you cut the pieces to small, the kids will not have enough space to work with. Wrap each piece of cardboard with one layer of tin foil.
5. Buy a gift to play pass the parcel. Buy a simple age appropriate toy that almost any child would enjoy. To play pass the parcel, wrap the present in multiple layers of wrapping paper. Every other layer should be a different design of wrapping paper so the children know when they are done taking off a layer. The kids sit in a circle. One person, (usually the adult) stands with his/her back to the children and randomly turns off the music. When the music stops, the child holding the “parcel” unwraps a layer of paper. The person that unwraps the last layer of paper gets to keep the present. Avoid buying an extremely expensive or extravagant gift. You do not want to make the other kids feel jealous.
6. Party time. First step. As the kids arrive around 7, have healthy snacks [apple sauce, yogurt, pretzels, carrots, etc.] readily available for them to eat. Make sure the kids have eaten dinner and encourage them to eat the snacks. This is really important because you do not want the kids to eat too much of the candy while decorating their gingerbread houses.
7. Start to make the gingerbread houses. Position each of the “cardboard platforms” around a large table. Disperse the icing and one plastic knife per kid around the table. Place one package of graham crackers [each box has three “packages”]. Roll-up the carpet and remove all the chairs from the room. If you leave the chairs around the table be prepared to spend a long time cleaning them up. Making the gingerbread houses should take a little over an hour (start around 8 and be done about 9:15).
8. Make the gingerbread houses. If the kids are having trouble, demonstrate how to make a small house. Take three full graham crackers. Break one in half so you have two smaller squares. Place a thin layer of icing on the cardboard platform. Put a thin layer of icing on the edge of each piece of graham cracker. Take the two long pieces of graham cracker and one of the small squares and use each for a “wall” of the house. Leave one side open for a “door”. Put an extra layer of icing on the edges of the house to make sure it stays together. Lay two full pieces of graham cracker flat on the top of the house to make the “roof” with an overhang. Decorate with candy.
9. Play pass the parcel. After making the gingerbread houses, wind everyone down by playing pass the parcel. Sit all the kids down in a circle and play pass the parcel following the instructions from step 5. After completing the game, depending on the age of the children, play circle games until 10, time for pick-up.
10. Party Favors. While the children are playing pass the parcel, be sure to cover each house with plastic wrap. Each child then takes their gingerbread house home as a party favor.
11. Congratulations, you have just thrown an awesome holiday party for your child. Repeat as necessary in the years to come.

Tips & Warnings

• Set some boundaries about eating the houses as the kid make them. Otherwise, you may lose popularity with other parents if you send all the kids home at 10 PM sick from eating candy.
• Buy brand-name graham crackers. The generic graham crackers, while cheaper, tend to break more easily. The money saved is not worth the frustration caused by the broken graham crackers.