Want a super party activity that will WOW your guests? This activity is a homemade “super bubble” that party guests can stand inside of! It’s the perfect idea for a superhero party, a bubble party, a water party, or just an outdoor summer party.

This activity is from the new book Kara’s Party Ideas by our friend Kara from Kara’s Party Ideas.com. The book comes out on October 9th, and you can pre-order it now on Amazon: Kara’s Party Ideas

If you have ever wanted to throw fabulous parties like you see pinned ALL.THE.TIME on Pinterest, look no further than Kara’s Party Ideas. From concept to details, this book showcases some of the most fun ideas for a perfect party. Kara threw thirteen amazing parties and documented every detail (in gorgeous pin-worthy photos) in her book.

Super Bubble Station

This project is from the Superhero Party. Check out some of these other gorgeous details from the Superhero Party:

What you Need:

• 19 L (5 gallons) distilled water
• 2.5 L (10 cups) Dawn® dish soap (non-antibacterial)
• 1.2 L (5 cups) Glycerin (optional)
• Children’s hard plastic swimming pool
• Hula Hoop

What you do:

1. Set the pool in an area that’s away from any wind. Mix distilled water with Dawn® Dish Soap in the swimming pool.

2. To create stronger bubbles, add Glycerin to the mix. The bubble solution will get better with time, so if possible, allow
your mixture to sit overnight.

3. When you’re ready to start the activity, place the hula-hoop at the bottom of the pool. If desired, put a small stool in the
center of the swimming pool so children won’t have to remove their shoes.

4. Have a child get in the pool (or on the stool), and quickly and steadily lift the hula-hoop straight out of the water over
the child’s head!

Hint: If your bubble isn’t forming it is probably because you are lifting the hula-hoop too slowly.

About Kara: Kara has been planning parties and events for people in her life ever since she was a little girl. Through the years, Kara’s creativity and love for party styling has only increased. Kara is known for her capacity to ‘think outside the box’ and do things that haven’t been done before. Kara’s amazing attention to detail and unique sense of style have rocketed her blog, www.KarasPartyIdeas.com, into one of the top party planning sites in the world. Kara has been featured on TLC, HGTV, several morning talk shows, numerous magazines and publications, The Rachael Ray Show and more.

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To keep your drinking glasses and goblets distinct at your shark soirees, create these quick and simple drink charms. Don’t limit yourself to Shark Week – you can customize drink charms for any party theme using this technique, using stuff you probably already have on hand.

Shark Week Wine Glass Charms

by Jeanette Strole Parks, Off The Cuff Cooking

Project Materials:

• Graphics program on your computer, on hand
• Computer printer, on hand
• Clear packaging tape or clear contact paper, on hand or $1
• Rubber bands, on hand or $1
• Scissors

Total: Free and up

A note about graphics programs: If you don’t already have a graphics program on your computer, you can use Picnik online to create your graphics.

To Make:

1. Create a sheet of graphics that fit your theme (in our case, we chose various shark images). If you already know your guest’s names, you can add a name next to each image, or wait until the party and add names with a permanent marker.

2. Print out images using your computer printer.

3. Carefully sandwich the front and back of the sheet of paper with strips of clear packaging tape (or clear contact paper, which can be found at the dollar store). When it’s all “laminated,” cut out your individual shark name tags.

4. Tape on a rubber band on the back side of each shark so that it can slip over a drinking glass.

More shark crafts:
Follow Mrs. Greene’s board Shark Week! on Pinterest.

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How fun is this trick for a summer evening? Over at Come Together Kids, find instructions for making glow in the dark drinks for your next party (using dollar store stuff). The trick is simple, and the supplies are cheap, so what are you waiting for? [how to make glow in the dark drinks] [inspired by & 2nd photo by Giver’s Log]

Project Estimate:

• Clear plastic party cups, $1
• Opaque plastic party cups, $1
• Small glow sticks, $1

Total: $3

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One of my favorite summer party ideas is to have a neighborhood parade with kids and all their vehicles: bikes, tricycles, wagons, and even strollers. Set up a decorating station before the parade so kids can decorate their rides with streamers, balloons, and ribbon. I used a pack of those luau leis to create handlebar streamers for AmazingMoms. Did you know that if you unravel plastic leis, you get huge, long, colorful streamers? I’m sure we can come up with some other great projects to use those streamers for (crochet? decorating fused plastic?). If you want to deconstruct some leis, now is the time to purchase them at the dollar store. I bet the luau stuff will be phasing out pretty soon. [click here to find out how to make handlebar streamers]

Project Estimate:

• 2 leis, (pack of 6 for $1), $1
• a piece of curling ribbon, on hand

Total: $1

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Hi Heather,
I first want to say that I love your blog and always enjoy seeing the crafts you showcase. I have seen you come up with ideas for several other decorating and party schemes (and your readers are wonderful too!) so I was hoping you might be able to help me out.

My husband’s family (of 14 kids *gasp) has 7 birthdays from April through May (ages 17 through 30, boys and girls) and every year we do a mass birthday party instead of trying to have a party every week. This year we are trying to plan a masquerade theme and I would really love some cheap ideas. I’m already making giant and over sized paper masks to hang on the walls and I have a couple of wrought iron candliers to hang up (we’re decorating in our large unfinished basement) and I plan to use lots of twinkly lights as well as balloons but I would sure love some ideas for centerpieces and other decor. We plan to have the party on the first of May in the evening with indoor and outdoor entertaining areas so we’ve got a couple of weeks and I’ve got a LOT of free time.

Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions you can make!

Melissa

My idea:

A Candy Buffet: Since there will be guests of all ages, a candy buffet would be a fun and colorful centerpiece (and the best part: you don’t have to spend money on stuff you won’t use again, because it’s all edible!) Here are some ideas for how to make a candy buffet:

I found a fantastic example of a candy buffet at Kara’s Party Ideas. She gives a lot of info on how she created her candy buffet in this blog entry, but some of the cool things she made are: marshmallow pops, tissue paper pom-poms, and a Dum Dum topiary, which is a fabulous centerpiece idea for a masquerade!

The Dum Dum topiary is a great dollar store craft! So great, in fact, that I’m gonna cost it out for you right here:

Project Estimate:

• Planter, $1 (paint your theme color)
• Floral foam, $1
• Foam ball, $1
• Dowel, $.50 (will make several topiaries)
• Maribou boa, $1 (if you can find one in the toy section of the dollar tree, otherwise more like $3-5 per boa)
• Bag of Dum Dums, $1 and up (sometimes they have these at the dollar store)

Total: $5.50 or so

One reason why I like the topiary is that it gives a lot of visual impact (and the appearance of a LOT) of candy, but you can make it for relatively little money. Instead of having to fill an entire vase with candy, you can strategically place your candy on the foam ball and visually extend it!

Lollipop Display Idea: There are a lot of other great candy buffet ideas at Hostess With The Mostess, including this Sesame Street candy buffet post in which she gives a lot of good advice for setting your own buffet up. I like how she displays these lollipops by filling a container with a flat piece of foam, sticking the lollipops in the foam, then topping with loose candy.

Sourcing Your Candy: If I were doing a candy buffet, my first stop would be Winco–a west coast grocery store that has a great bulk food section, including lots of candy. If you don’t live in WA, OR, CA, NV, ID, or UT, you might have a similar grocery chain in your area. The dollar store has some novelty candy (although not in big quantities!), so you might be able to do some fill-in candy from the dollar store. You can also buy a variety of candy in bulk from Oriental Trading Company (and they also have some masquerade party supplies). [I found the swirl sucker assortment shown here at OTC: $24.99 for 110 pieces]

This photo is from a Pirate birthday party I had for my son. As you can see, you don’t have to have huge containers of candy to make visual impact! I used dishes I already had at home for a few kinds of candy, and then filled in with other cheap, colorful items like plastic containers of bubbles, and basket of fruit.

Candy Buffet Display: You can find various colorful or clear receptacles for holding candy at the dollar store. They have a lot of candy dishes, bowls, vases, glasses and goblets. You can also make your own tiered serving dishes from trays and a candlestick, like this one at Tatertots & Jello, or this tiered bowl would also be especially great for a colorful candy display. Don’t overlook the cylindrical vases! They’ll make a great visual impact filled with colorful layers of candy.

[this candy buffet by Holly at Art, Meet Craft]

Serving the Candy: Remember to provide some kind of portable receptacle for people to take their candy in. Clear plastic party glasses are good for at-party snacking, and little favor bags or boxes work well for to-go boxes. You can find all of these things in the wedding section at your local Dollar Tree.

Now it’s your turn: Readers, I know you have a lot of good ideas for masquerade party centerpieces and decor, so please chime in with your ideas!

The post Masquerade Party Ideas? (Candy Buffet!) appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Okay, readers, we need your brainstorming for this question from Heather:

Help! My daughter will be 14 in 2 weeks, and wants a Twilight party- I need some inexpensive ideas on what to use for decor!

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

The good news is, just a few decorations go a long-long way! Here are some ideas of how to decorate cheaply for your Twilight party.

Suggestions for cheap decor:

• First of all, you have to pick up a couple bags of Red Delicious apples! It doesn’t get any cheaper than decorating with fruit!
• Pick up black and red partyware at the dollar store: tablecloths, plates, cups. Very cheap yet impactful, and a great backdrop for other decor.
• Hannah at the DSC Facebook page suggested: Glitter ’cause the vampires sparkle!

New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)

• Pick up some faux tulips from the dollar store. Custom paint some white tulips with red paint or nail polish (for a more blood-red color).
• I know roses aren’t part of the books, but if you can find red rose petals in the wedding section of your dollar store, they still might work! Or, white rose petals and give them the red paint treatment. It’d be cute to sew them into a quick garland!

Eclipse (The Twilight Saga)

• A few spools of red ribbon will tie in with “Eclipse” and also be useful for decorating for the party. Ooh, it could be cute to glue red ribbon around some black party cups.

Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)

• At the DSC Facebook page, Chris suggested: Create a chessboard feel on the tabletops by using your black tablecloth as a backdrop, and taping white cardstock squares in a checkerboard pattern across the top of the table.

• If you can find them, use a few dollar store finials painted in black and white (or white and red, like on the “Breaking Dawn” book cover) to further suggest chess. (These are some of the finials I have at my house, and they just remind me of chess pieces!)

Other Cheap Props:

• Netting is cheap at the fabric store (I found red tulle at Fabric.com for $.99 a yard, and also adds a romantic air to decorations. If you have a black backdrop, either white or red netting could be a good accent to your table decor.
• I swear by crepe paper streamers. There’s not a bigger bang for your buck! To make them more sophisticated, make these 2-layer ruffled streamers.

Twilight Food Ideas:

• Red Velvet Cake: you can get red velvet cake mix at the store. I think this is the most frugal way to make a RV cake because otherwise you have to use an entire bottle of red dye in your scratch cake!
• Ooh, it’d be cute to make cake pops, a la Bakerella. Make ’em look like apples (without happy faces)?
• Hannah suggested candy apples at the DSC Facebook page, and they would look super pretty. You can get a candy apple mix at the grocery store for a buck, or make your own.

Other Resources:

• Some good decoration ideas at this Craftster post
• Twilight Roundup at One Pretty Thing
• Another Twilight Roundup at OPT

Update:

• How Heather decorated for her Twilight party

Readers, add your great ideas in the comments! How would you decorate for a Twilight party on a budget?

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