How to Decorate a Party in a Native American Theme

Series Summary

Native Americans have a rich, colorful culture that has suffered considerably at the hands of European settlers. There is no argument against that point. What many people do argue, however, is how fair or humane the appropriations of Native American culture into the Euroamerican mainstream have been. Thanksgiving celebrations in schools, portrayals in film, themed birthday parties with paper-bag costumes, and sports mascots are just a few of the areas that raise contention. This struggle is not unique, however, and American mainstream culture is a pastiche of cultural borrowings, some more whimsical than others. Think of what we have done with Free Masons, turning them from solemn order to farcical boogeymen, or English history, making films like “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” or, for that matter, Roman Catholicism, astrology, Greek philosophy, German folk literature, or a number of other memes we treat with ridicule or as child’s play.

In this free video series, expert party planner Renee Melanson teaches you how to throw a Native American themed party for kids. She covers decorations, costumes, coming up with Native American names for party-goers, games that celebrate Native American heritage, and more. You will learn about dances, fruit and food, hunting buffalo, and headdresses. Rennee fills the videos with crafts, games, and great ideas to make the most of your kids’ parties, whether for birthday celebrations, school events, or whatever reason.

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is Renee Melanson with Kids Company. On behalf of Expert Village, we're here to show you how to throw an Indian themed kid's party. In the first clip, we're going to show you how to decorate for the party. We've used tents or tepees that are Indian style. You can find these on the internet. It's very inexpensive, or you can make tepees out of material and wood just tied together at the top. We've taken drums. The drums are just made out of coffee cans painted black with round shape material put over it. We've used strings to tie them, and we've just cut little holes to thread. If you don't want to take time to actually thread drums, you can take regular bongo drums or any other type of drum and set them around. We've also taken baskets and put fruits and vegetables to kind of accentuate the type of lifestyle Indians we've used."