Candy Land Birthday Party

My sweet daughter, Ayvah, is celebrating her seventh birthday this month. She wanted a Candy Land-themed party. I knew I was in for a bit of work, but I was so excited. Our fourteen-year old and twelve-year old have let me know that they are past the ages of themed, kiddie parties. So, I'm thoroughly enjoying these final years that our youngest actually wants me to go all out and run with a fun theme!

It all started with the invitations. I created them using Microsoft Publisher. I just loved how they turned out!

I did most of the shopping for party décor supplies at Hobby Lobby. They have a candy-theme party grouping in the party supply section, so I was able to pick up the candy banner, the candy garland and some of the other décor that coordinated with our colors. (Be sure to print off the weekly 40% OFF coupon from their website before visiting their stores.)

I, also, purchased the tulle there. It was such an inexpensive way to really add lots of drama and color to our party. (I paid $1.29 per yard and needed 2 yards of each color to create the backdrop "curtains.")

Some of our décor was stuff I found around our house and borrowed from family. The kids loved the real gumball machine that we borrowed from Ayvah's grandmother.

For the giant suckers, I bought lots of tiny dowels from Hobby Lobby at a cost of twenty-nine cents each. Then, we simply coated them with white spray paint. We bought large balloons in different colors, inflated them, attached them to the top of the rods, covered the balloons with clear cellophane and tied them off with ribbons. Hello, awesome yard suckers.  Everyone loved these and the kids each took one home. (I didn't end up getting a very stellar photo of them at the actual party, but you can see them a little better in a photo that I snapped of our party supplies prior to setting everything up.)

For the gumdrops, we cut out the desired shapes from recycled cardboard boxes and painted them in various colors. They were brushed with some clear glue, then we sprinkled on a little glitter and sequins to imitate the sugar coating. We attached them to kabob skewers so they would stick easily in the ground.

I have a pretty extensive collection of glass canisters, vases and jars. So, I didn't really have to purchase those. But, craft stores sell these in tons of shapes and sizes. You could, also, ask around to family and friends to see what they have that you could borrow. We filled them with a variety of candy to be set out on the main display table. Instead of making up party favor bags, I simply bought cute bags that matched our theme and allowed each guest to fill up their bag with candy from the display table before they went home. (It was a great way to not have to be stuck with all of that candy post-party.)

We filled cupcake liners with colorful Goldfish crackers and set them out on a cupcake tower for guests to nibble on throughout the party.

My mother baked and frosted the cake, but my fourteen-year old, Allanah, and I did the decorating. It was such a fun "job." Obviously, we bought lots of different candy and created a mock game board drawing inspiration from a combination of both the older Candy Land boards and the newest versions. It took us a couple of hours of work to decorate the cake and I think it was a little over-loaded when all was said and done, but the kids loved it.

NOTE: If you have a store in your area that sells candy in bulk bins, that would be the way to go. You can buy what you need in the quantities needed.

It was such a great party. We enjoyed a cook-out with all the fixings, played party games with the kids and ended the day on a total sugar high! Here's the birthday girl enjoying her fun day.

You can check out some of our other party ideas HERE.