Corporate Holiday Party-Glenerin Inn

Date: Friday, December 16, 2011
Location: The Glenerin Inn, Mississauga, ON
Guests: 32 adults
Budget: >$30 per person

Menu: 
Yuletide Buffet:
Wide variety of soups, salads, side dishes, entreés, carving station (turkey and ham), stuffing, cranberry sauce, condiments, fresh fruit, assorted desserts. The coleslaw was some of the best I've ever had.
The cheesecake and chocolate mousse cake was unbelievably delicious .It was all good, really!

 Dessert Table

 Decorations: All centrepieces and decorations provided by the Inn, included in the rental fee. Rental fee varies depending on the size of group. I booked the Evans Room, it was a perfect fit.

 The Evans Room

Evans Room had it's own tree

 Lobby Tree

Lobby Fireplace

Entertainment:

I printed out some index cards with holiday themed riddles, brain teasers and trivia. I downloaded the index card template for free from the Microsoft website. The content came from various sites-just google "Christmas riddles" and you will find plenty. I put the answers on the bottom of each card in smaller font, and rotated it upside down. Print out on card stock, and cut out each card.
I put some on each table for guests to quiz each other.  Once a table had finished their stack, I encouraged them to trade with their neighbours.

Gift exchange game (optional):
I asked the guests beforehand to bring a wrapped gift valued no more than $10. After dessert, I asked all guests to pick up the gift they had brought, and form a circle. A guest volunteered to read out the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas"-when you hear the word "right" pass the gift to the person to your right, left passes to the left. If done correctly, no one should end up with their own gift. You can find the poem here

Much laughter ensued. Some guests traded amongst theme selves afterwards. This is a really great game if you are short on time-it only takes about 10 minutes or so.



I can't praise the Glenerin Inn enough for the fantastic experience.  The staff is so wonderful, the atmosphere elegant yet cozy at the same time. The food scrumptious. Free neck and shoulder massages in the lobby!
Turn key service-I hardly had to do a thing, it was definitely the easiest party I have ever coordinated. I felt so relaxed that day-no running around, everything was seamless.


I would recommend the Inn again for a corporate event in a heart beat.
Weddings are also available.
For more information, visit their website

Zombieland Halloween Party

Date: Saturday, October 29, 2011
Location: Mississauga, ON
Guests: Teenage Boys, 13-16
Budget: $100
Menu: Brains!

Almost all of the supplies and decorations for this party are from Dollarama, with a few exceptions that came from Party Packagers. The stuff from the Dollarstore is actually better! This theme is actually pretty easy to throw together. The "set" is real life with a gruesome twist. Set things up in unexpected places to surprise your guests. Play some creepy sound effects and music. Don't forget bugs, such as roaches and maggots to add realism.

This party is based on the movie "Zombieland", I used Columbus' rules as inspiration.Obviously, I didn't use all 32 rules, so pick and choose your favourites.

The Front Yard

The Front Door

 

Foyer

The Patio Door

 

Living Room Fireplace

 

 The Powder Room

Beverages

 

Appetizers

The Main Course

 

Dessert

I found a brain gelatin mold at Party Packages, and the recipe here

I used peach gelatin powder, it results in the most realistic flesh colour. The blood is corn syrup and red food colouring.

Zombie hunters were served pizza, chips and other snacks. After all, tracking down the Walking Dead is hard work! 

Transformers 8th Birthday Party

Date: Sunday, October 2, 2011
Location: Rinx, 65 Orfus Rd, North York, ON
Guests: 12 children (ages 4-8), 10 adults
Budget: less than $500
Theme: Transformers

* Photos of actual guests are included in this post, but faces are not clearly visible.

Rinx is a huge entertainment complex featuring an ice rink, a roller rink, glow in the dark mini putt, 10 pin bowling, mini bowling, laser tag, and other games. Various party packages are available, at varying costs.
The Silver party package includes: invitations, 2 activities, a party room, a party coordinator on site,  pizza and pop and all plates, cups, napkins, etc, and a t-shirt for the birthday child.

Decorations:

To be honest, I found the party rooms at Rinx to be shabby, very worn down. There wasn't much that could be done to improve the decor quickly. When the staff said everything was included, I had expected them to provide tablecloths, which they did not.  In retrospect, I should have brought some myself. Oh well, the kids didn't mind. I blew up some over sized balloons, and hung up a Transformer's poster of Bumblebee. When the birthday boy saw it, he asked if we were playing pin the tail on Bumblebee. I laughed, but then I thought, we could have played a version with the transformers logo. Oh well, file that idea away for next time.


Guest Favours:
I created the lootbags by printing out a large Transformers logo and adhering it to the gift bags with double sided tape. I chose a red logo over a black, for a more colourful effect.
They turned out really well, and the kids were impressed.

 Inside the bags were various small items from the dollarstore, including a bouncy ball, glow in the dark bracelets (we wore them during bowling), a transformer's candy dispenser,stickers, and these really cool aliens. They are my favourite item. I actually had a hard time finding affordable Transformers items, so I stretched it a bit to include aliens, since Transformers really are a kind of alien.

Aren't these cool? Love the eyes.

Activities:

The birthday boy chose Laser Tag, and I chose mini bowling after some discussion with party staff about appropriate activities for the ages of the guests.

Since, everything is glow in the dark, the lighting conditions were not optimal for pictures.
I have a few, but most are blurry streaks.

Laser Tag was the first activity of the afternoon, the on site staff helped the kids get into their vests, and explained how to play. This activity was a bit daunting for some, but most got right into the game. Two adults volunteered to play with the kids, and I stayed close by to keep an on things. A few children got scared, and wanted out. I entertained them with bubbles and balloons in the hallway. A few 6 years olds loved it, and some 8 olds were scared, so it really depends on the personality of the child, but I would say 8 would be the minimum age for this activity.

Mini Bowling turned out to be the highlight of the afternoon. We had the whole room to ourselves, the lanes are about half the size of 10 pin lanes, and the kids used a 5 pin sized ball. It was perfect for them.

Even the 4 year old could knock down the pins!

Now that the kids had really worked up an appetite, we headed back to the party room for lunch. Pizza and pop was included in the package. I also brought a fruit and a veggie tray, popcorn, chips and salsa, and cupcakes.
The pizza was delicious, and is made in house at Rinx.

 

The Transformers cupcakes turned out great, and they tasted delicious. Two flavours, chocolate and vanilla, decorated with some of the well known characters.  The cupcakes are from the Cupcake Shop

 Bumblebee

 Optimus Prime

Soundwave

Overall, the kids really enjoyed themselves. One boy exclaimed "this is the best birthday party ever!"

And that's what it's all about at the end of the day.

Toy Story 4th Birthday Party

Date: June 4, 2011
Location: Mississauga, ON
Guests: 17 children (age range 1-8) plus about 30 adults
Budget: $40 (not including food)

*To protect privacy, no photos of guests are included in this post. 

This party was intended to be held outdoors in Erindale Park. Major thunderstorms forced a last minute change of plans-party was held at the client's house. While not ideal, I did manage to salvage most of the party plans. It cleared up in the afternoon, I was able to take the kids outside for a few games.

Concept: Woody's Round-Up.
Four stations with various activities, at each station the children received a prize.

Upon arrival, each guest received a cowboy party hat and a sheriff badge. 

I put out crayons and colouring sheets for the kids to do while we waited for all the guests to arrive.

Free download from the Disney website, you can find it here


Station #1: Mr. Potato Head

 
For this station, I cut out a potato shape from brown cardstock for each child and provided them with a variety of features to choose from, including shoes, hat, arms, noses, mouths etc to glue onto the background shape with a gluestick. Obviously,  younger children might need help with this activity. Each guest can take home their creation at the end of the party.
Variation: Print out the shapes onto sticker paper.
I didn't do this since the adhesive paper is quite expensive.

The link to download the features can be found here
Template for the body can be found here I found the body to be too large for the features so I reduced it on the photocopier to 70% before cutting out the template.
It could have been a bit smaller.

 Image source: http://twilightsummer.deviantart.com/art/ToyStory-Woody-110822912

Station #2: Woody's Shoot-out
Knock down a pyramid of plastic cups with a water pistol. This activity should be done outside, we played this game on the front lawn. It was little too difficult for the younger children. The older boys had a great time, they asked to do it again and again.I was so involved with running the games, I forgot to take pictures.
You'll have to use your imagination.

Image source: http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Toy-Story-Buzz-Lightyear-Posters_i5239758_.htm

Station #3: Space Ranger's Training

The hunt for moon rocks.

Sort of looks like a rock, you get the idea. The moon rocks were hidden throughout the front and side yards for the children to hunt down. Sort of a space themed easter egg hunt, if you will.
Prizes inside were small toys like parachute army men, bouncy balls, toy story note pads and silly bands.

Image source: http://www.thetoyshop.com

Station #4: Jesse's Lasso Challenge
This game involved "lassoing" a toy cow. I thought using rope might be a tad dangerous with small children around (think choking) so we used frisbees with holes in them, sort of like ring toss.

Decorations:
In addition to the usual streamers and balloons, I made this centrepiece from a box, paper and templates from the Disney website. Lots of free templates, crafts, etc can be found there, with all sorts of characters.

 

The aliens are easy to put together, Woody and Buzz are more challenging. Prepare yourself for lots of cutting and gluing. Since this is paper, it's not exactly the most kid friendly thing. All the kids wanted to play with it. Looks cool though. And since it's just paper and glue, it's practically free. Woody is technically a marionette, but I cheated by mounting him on a skewer instead of hanging him. I covered the box with blue paper and cut out white clouds that sort of look like the wallpaper in Andy's room. Each little character has toothpicks taped to the inside. I drilled holes in the box with my cordless drill and inserted the toothpicks. As I said before-toothpicks are not appropriate for young children. This was meant purely for decoration-but of course all the kids wanted to play with it. I had to explain over and over that it was only made of paper!

This party was not without it's challenges-rain, last minute change of venue, wet grass and mud, and a small space. I must admit-I was exhausted after this party!