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My third child/ youngest daughter turned 10 last week. I threw her a Unicorns & Rainbow themed party.

Whenever I put on a party for my kids, I try to put my energy where it matters most – into the memories my kids are making. Did I want to get in on a game of water balloons? No, but I know that’s the stuff that stick in my kids’ memories. In a few years, she won’t remember all the details of any of these parties, but hopefully she’ll remember that I tried and that I love her. That’s what it’s all about.

DECORATIONS

Honestly, I went to Target and just bought most of these decorations. Just me? I did make the long Rainbow Banner (pictured above – see how I made it here). Best re-usable decoration ever. Here’s a few of my decorated spaces.

PARTY MENU

For the food, I really just asked my daughter what she wanted. I may have suggested a few additions, like fruit and carrots …

Homemade Mac ‘n Cheese
Chicken Nuggets
Carrots and Ranch Dip
Rainbow Fruit Kabobs
Chips
Cookie Cake

I debated whether I was going to show this unicorn cake or not. It’s pretty hideous, but it made the girls laugh and they all wanted to eat it, so not too bad.

SHRINKY DINKS (opening craft as friends arrived)

Shrinky dinks are making a comeback. I remember these from when I was growing up – I didn’t even know they were still around, but I found an old package at the bottom of a craft container and tried it out with my kids. My girls (11, 11, and 10) loved it, so it went into the party plan.

I bought a small variety of shrinky dink stuff and then spread markers/colored pencils out on the table. I also printed a couple of unicorn and rainbow pictures from google images for the kids to trace and color. Some kids used the stencils and some just had fun drawing whatever, but EVERYONE had fun watching their creations shrink up!

Materials needed:

Shrinky Dink – Clear (for use with markers)
Shrinky Dink – Ruff n’ Ready (for use with colored pencils)
Shrinky Dink – Cool Stuff Activity Pack (for my little guy who wanted to participate)
Permanent Markers
Colored Pencils

WATER GAMES (balloons, water guns, sprinklers)

Little kids at a birthday party tend to be hyper. They need some kind of active-activity to work out some energy. No, this had nothing to do with rainbows or unicorns, but it is hot in Texas and my daughter really wanted to do this. It was a lot of fun. We had the birthday girl and her friends play against me and my other kids. I wanted all the guests on the same team, because you know how much drama tween girls can be – I didn’t want to give them any reasons to feel excluded or upset with another party guest.

Materials needed:

RAINBOW SPARKLE PLAYDOUGH (more craftiness)

We used this recipe for an awesome no-bake playdough recipe. We wanted 6 Glitter Rainbow Colors and there were 6 girls total, so it worked out perfectly to have each girl mix up a color, then we split up all the colors for everyone to take “a rainbow” home. This is the recipe we used.

Materials needed:

flour, salt, cream of tartar, vegetable oil, water, food color, and glitter (see recipe)
plastic take-home containers

UNICORN PINATA

Pinatas are classic for a reason. Kids love them. Plus, they’re super easy.

Materials:

Unicorn Pinata

PARTY FAVORS

I found these adorable gift bags on clearance. They were only 33 cents each – what?! We added a few things before the party started, including fun-shaped erasers and sparkly nail polish, but most of the stuff got added to the bags DURING the party. We added shrinky dinks, playdough, and pinata candy.

Materials:

HER WORDS: “Best party ever.”

Of course, my kids say that every year after every party because they can really only seem to remember the most recent party … but yeah, best party ever.

This really was a great party. If I did it again, I’d do something different for decorating the cookie cake, but other than that. It really was a lot of fun.

I planned the party using the party planning pages in my planner – made it so easy to plan!