The Festival of Lights

Chanukah or Hanukkah – there’s no exact English representation of the Jewish pronunciation – you’ll find other spellings as well.

Chanukah Basics – this comprehensive site not only has the basics, but also has history, videos, how to, and more.

The Food Network site has a brief history.

Happy Hanukkah – find out more about it from Family Fun.

Celebrating Hanukkah is an article by Donna Pilato.

Planning Resources

Hanukkah Party Decorating Ideas, an article by Gail Leino

Plans and Activities for Hanukkah

How To Throw a Hanukkah Party

How to Throw a Hanukkah Party for Preschoolers

Hanukkah games
From familycrafts.about.com and party411.com

Fun Hanukkah Party Games, Toys and Music - Kids Party Ideas for Chanukah

Chanukah Games and Crafts

Food

Hanukkah Party Menu Ideas for a Traditional Celebration

Hanukkah Recipes

Another article by Gail Leino, Chanukah Menu Ideas for a Happy Chanukah Celebration

Invitations

Favorites from iby.com
Menorah
Shooting Star

And one final resource. Wondering what’s permissible in public schools, regarding Chanukah or Christmas, etc. ? This site has links for a variety of categories.

Click here to read more!

Company or Office Christmas and Holiday Parties

Now that Thanksgiving is over, our thoughts turn to Christmas. I’ll first start with some talk about work Christmas (or holiday) parties.

I’ve gone to company parties at museums (Museum of Natural History and Museum of Flight in Seattle), at convention centers, on board ship, private homes, and more. There’s been food, music, dancing, casinos (with play money and an end of evening auction to spend play money), prizes, photos, etc. Obviously, the bigger the party the sooner planning must begin. Top places can get booked as early as January. Bigger companies can obviously offer bigger more elaborate parties. Sometimes even in a big company, groups do their own special holiday gathering, such as a potluck lunch.

Here are a few resources for your party planning:

Company Christmas Party Planning and Ideas

International Social and Business Etiquette Quiz

Company Christmas Party Games

Christmas Office Party Games

Some of my favorite Christmas and Holiday invites from our site.
Christmas Cocoa Die Cut Fill-in pictured above
Rudolph
Peppermints
Pretty Packages
Ornament Distinction
Did you know you can order as few or as many as you want?

Even just one for the office bulletin board!

Click here to read more!

Thanksgiving fun

Just found this site yesterday of Thanksgiving poems and songs. Thought you might enjoy them and perhaps it could be something you could use in your Thanksgiving celebration!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Picture courtesy of Mary R. Vogt, morguefile.com

Click here to read more!

Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?

I just saw this question on Yahoo Answers. For many, of course, it is a tradition. For others, it is a time to thank God for what He's given them. I thought that the first two people gave very interesting answers to the background of thanksgiving and wanted to share them with you.

Enjoy Click here to read more!

Mixer games for children’s and teen parties

Preschoolers and early elementary age kids don’t usually need an icebreaker per se, but just need an activity where they can get involved and soon they’ll make friends. As they get older, or if they are in a group where they don’t know others, sometimes an ice breaker is needed. Be careful though when choosing your activity to think about what will not be offensive or embarrassing. I remember my teenage daughters being upset about activities that they were “made” to do. You don’t want anyone in tears.

Here are some resources for mixers or ice breakers:
Icebreaker Games for different age groups.

Icebreaker Games – I think the frozen Tshirt would be a great outdoor icebreaker

Ice Breakers – you have to scroll down to see the games after you click.

At Party Games Central, you can customize game lists by age, indoor or outdoors, type of party, etc. Click here to read more!

Toddler/Preschool Parties

Toddler or Preschool parties can be very stressful on little kids, especially the younger they are. The non-birthday child attendees often don’t understand why they are not getting presents. The birthday child doesn’t want to share his new toys. One of the ways I dealt with this issue was doing all the fun and games first, have cake and ice cream, then open presents right at the end of the party, and immediately handing out goody bags to the attendees. I also recommend keeping toddler and preschool parties to a small number of children. The younger the child, the shorter the party. Also, most parents stay for a preschool party, but you need to make that clear on your invitation.

Here are some helpful resources:

Birthday Parties for Toddlers and Preschoolers

One parent’s Birthday Party Menu Pictures – Bug theme, plus comments and references

Planning the Preschool Birthday Party: 12 Ideas for Children Ages 5 and Under
- I especially liked the gift opening idea this article had, but it also had great thoughts about party favors.

Going along with the previous article’s party favor idea. What about a book for each child to take home? Make it extra special with a bookplate with each child’s name and the event.

More resources:

Toddler Parties from FamilyFun

Toddler Birthday Party Games from Love To Know

Toddler Birthday Party from For Parents By Parents

Fun Toddler Birthday Party Ideas article

The last thing to remember: the simpler a toddler party, the more fun for you. Click here to read more!

Teen Party Games

Looking for some games for a teen party?

Let me share a couple of my favorite teenage games:

One game I remember from my teen years is “If you loved me.” The person who is “it” goes up to anyone in the group (everyone is sitting in a circle) and says, “Honey (or Baby), if you loved me, you’d smile.” The second person must say without smiling, “Honey (or Baby), I love you, but I just can’t smile.” “It” can use all kinds of facial expressions, tone of voice, to try to make the person smile. I remember my friends getting pretty creative with this one, i.e. a guy jumping on another guys lap and the laughter erupted.

Another game I remember teens loving is Train Wreck. Works well in a big room, although I will warn that folding chairs can be at risk when you have big guys. Line up chairs in rows with one less chair than people. The person who is “it” gets to choose some feature (i.e. hair color, eye color, clothing item, age, girls, etc.). They say it aloud and everyone fitting that category must jump out of their chair and find another chair. Or “it” can say “Train Wreck” and everyone needs a new seat. “It” races to a chair, too. Whoever is left without a spot to sit is the next “it.”

Just thinking about these makes me want to play...

Here are some resources, too.

Party Game Central – Teen Parties

Eventwise had great collections of games. Here are a select few categories: Teenager Party Games Teenager Party Games Part 2 Sleepover Games for Teens

And from another site – Teen Party Idea for Movie Lovers

Check out these articles:

Birthday Party Ideas for Teen Boys
Birthday Party Ideas for Boys Who Want to Be Men

Birthday Party Ideas for Teen Girls
Throw a Party They'll Love Click here to read more!

Teen Friend Birthday Party Problems

What do you do when you have friends who don’t get along with each other and you’d like to have both celebrate your birthday?

Nothing says you can’t plan more than one celebration. Here are some ideas.
- You could do something special with one friend* and invite the others to a party. i.e. “I’d love to go see that new movie or go to so-&-so’s concert, but can’t afford to invite a bunch of friends, so would you go with me to celebrate my birthday?”
- Would your parents let you have two parties? If you keep the costs down by doing home parties and help with set-up and clean-up and explain why, you mom and dad will probably go for it.
- If your family parties aren’t too lame, maybe one or two friends can join you there.*

These ideas work well, too, if you have a friend who doesn’t know your school (club, church, etc.) friends.

Another possibility, if your parents allow, is to invite more friends. If there are enough people at the party your friends don’t have to spend time together and it won’t be obvious. But if you DO decide to invite them both, I suggest you speak to each one privately. Could say something like, “I know you don’t get along with ‘Janie,’ but she’s my friend, too, and for my birthday I’d really appreciate it, if you two aren’t disagreeable. I’m asking ‘Janie’ to do the same thing with you, too.”

*Where I work you can order as few or as many invitations as you like. How fun for the special people to get a special invitation. Here are a few of my favorites: Pajama Time, Indy Race Car, Circles of Fun & Make a Splash. Remember the wording is up to you! Click here to read more!

Thanksgiving Activities To Make Everyone’s Day Fun

I have several specific memories that really standout from my childhood Thanksgivings. The first one I was about 8 or 9 and my older brother (20 or 21) brought his fiancé home from college for Thanksgiving dinner to meet us all. At the dinner table a basket was passed around for us each to draw an after dinner activity. I think Dad’s was “take a nap.” Mom’s was probably “play the organ.” Mine was “read a book.” All were fun things except my brother and my future sister-in-law’s—theirs said “do the dishes.” In reality, all the slips said “do the dishes,” but the rest of us had been cued into make up some activity. Of course, we confessed to what we’d done. But I don’t remember whether that was before or after the dishes were done…

Anyway, you could use this idea several ways:
- A basket of Thanksgiving ideas, where each person draws out a slip and has to respond (i.e. someone you’re thankful for, what’s the best thing that happened to you this year, some thing you’re thankful for, your favorite part of Thanksgiving, your favorite Thanksgiving food, etc.)
- A basket of Thanksgiving chores divided up so no one person has to do all the cooking or cleanup
- A basket of after dinner activities with fun ideas

Here are some more ideas:

Thanksgiving Dinner Table Games & Activities

A Thanksgiving Game the Whole Family Can Enjoy

Kid’s Table Ideas

If you like me are traveling for Thanksgiving, have a safe and enjoyable trip!

Click here to read more!

Thanksgiving Parties

Many of us celebrate Thanksgiving with family, but sometimes it’s nice to do a party, too. And, if you’re going to invite people who don’t know each other well, party games and activities can be fun mixers.

Here are some internet resources:

Thanksgiving Party Ideas from 123greetings.com

Be sure and scroll down as well as click on tabs to see all the offerings here.

Holiday Spot – Thanksgiving Party Ideas – check out the links, too.

How To Throw A Thanksgiving Party, Man Style

Kids often get to celebrate Thanksgiving at school or in clubs or church groups. Here are some resources specifically for kids parties:

Kid’s Thanksgiving Party Fun

Classroom Party Ideas

Kid’s Party Ideas

Crafts for Thanksgiving Classroom Parties

Thanksgiving Party Ideas for Kids from Holidaypartyideas.com – choose by age and/or by theme

Thanksgiving and Autumn Harvest Party

And if you need some invitations, check these out.

Click here to read more!