Veronika chose a Princess Jasmine theme for her 4th birthday party, having fallen in love with the Magic Carpet scene and song! That meant a palette of turquoise and silver, and a big surprise in store on party day!

The birthday girl opened her first present of the day – a chance to look just like her favorite princess.

To start, we sent an easy fill-in-the-details Aladdin invite (amazon.com). Decorations included a Jasmine-themed set of plates, cups, tablecloth, and napkins. We added turquoise balloons in bundles, as well as a few Jasmine dolls!

I kept activities super-simple for this age group. Kids could draw or write a wish and put it in the magic genie lamp…

Or decorate an armband “bangle” (cardboard tubes snipped open) with jewel stickers for a Jasmine-worthy bracelet.

Since the party was at the park, food was quick snacks like pita chips with hummus, clementines, dried fruit (apricots and dates), and veggie sticks. Add mint iced tea for the grown-ups!

The big surprise of the day was an arrival from Princess Jasmine herself. We used a local party production company who couldn’t have been more helpful getting us the perfect Jasmine. She read stories, sang songs, played parachute games, and blew bubbles for the birthday girl and her guests!

The birthday girl blew out candles on her vanilla cake before guests had extra time to play at the local playground and then head home!

Turquoise gift bags included princess slime, a sparkly bouncy ball, pop-it bracelets, and sweets for the magic carpet ride home!

For Travis’s eighth birthday, he requested his first slumber party. We went with a Marvel-ous sleepover theme, for a Marvel-tastic night of fun for him and a few friends!

The invitation was a printable template from Etsy, which was helpfully customized to include the sleepover aspect and all the details. Don’t forget to suggest that friends bring their best Superhero pajamas!

Decor was easy with this theme, with many readily available Avengers items (Party City) including plates, tablecloth, napkins, cups, and hanging decor.

Continue the theme with easy sleepover-ready snacks. Red Vines or Twizzlers quickly become Iron Man’s lasers, and pretzels rods with Marshmllows (Dandies) were Thor’s hammer. We served pizza and fruit salad – in the shape of Captain America’s shield of course!

The activity of the evening? A Marvel movie of course. Based on the age of your birthday child, you can find a ranking of appropriate Avengers movies here.

Face masks added to the fun!

After that the superheroes were free to stay up as late as they liked (full disclosure: 2.45 in the morning!).

Send them home with Marvel-ous loot, including Avengers wrist bands, bubbles, slime, tattoos, and pencils.