How to Throw a Lego Birthday Party

Kids of both genders love Legos, and you probably have most of the materials you will need to throw this party if your child is a LEGO enthusiast. Be creative and get ready to have a fun time!

Invitations: DIY invitations are simple to make with card stock in bold primary colors of red, yellow or blue. Fold sheet in half. Add a pair of contrasting circles to the front with glue as the LEGO studs. (Use soup cans or similar sized cans to trace the circles.) Put all the pertinent details on the inside. If you prefer, there are many construction-themed invitations choices on-line or at party stores. Encourage your guests to dress in jeans and t-shirts in primary colors.

Decorations: Use primary colors for your decorations. Select red, yellow and blue for your plates, napkins, flatware and balloons. (If making the Magical Thirst Quenchers for drinks, buy clear cups.) Your child can craft some LEGO creations for a centerpiece.

For added detail make your own construction signs with poster board. Cut the paper into diamond shapes and write "Kids at Work" on them (or similar ideas).

At the beginning of the party, outfit each guest with a hard hat and a waist apron. Hard hats are $6 per dozen at Oriental Trading Company. Waist aprons are $15 per dozen at Oriental Trading Company.

Activities: A great ice breaker for this party is a guessing game. Fill a clear jar with LEGO bricks. As each guest arrives, have him or her guess how many bricks are inside, and write down the name and answer. At the end of the party, the child whose guess came closest to the real answer wins the entire jar.

Games: Organize a LEGO Hunt. Before the party hide a variety of LEGO bricks around the party area. At the appointed time give the signal to the kids to begin searching for them. Count the number of bricks each child finds to determine the winner. (Waist aprons are very useful for collecting bricks.) You can decide if the children get to keep the bricks or not. Another variation is to assign scores to the different brick colors to determine the score and the winner.

LEGO Chopsticks is a great party challenge. Have a pair of disposable chopsticks for each guest. Fill several bowls with an assortment of small objects, like big buttons, erasers, crayons and LEGO bricks. Have 3 or 4 kids at a time use their chopsticks to pick up as many objects as they can in two minutes. The child or the group with the most objects at the end wins.

Organize a Skyscraper Challenge. Give each child a small pile of LEGO bricks and have the group sit in a circle on the floor. Put one brick in the middle (on a tray to add some stability if the room is carpeted.) Going around the circle, each child adds one piece from their pile to the top of the growing tower. How high can they build it before it topples over?

Crafts: Hold a construction contest. Give each child a kit with 30 tooth picks and at least 80 mini marshmallows. (Once you figure out how many 80 are - you can eye ball the rest). Ask your guests to build something with these materials. Give awards for the most creative, scariest, smallest, biggest etc. - think of awards ahead of time or as you see the creations unfold. Take a picture of each child with his or her creations. Pictures make excellent favors for a party.

Ants are great builders. If you want a paper activity to settle the group down, print a coloring page featuring these creative creatures at work.

Food: For party food give each child a "brown bag lunch". Include a sandwich, some pretzels or chips and a few carrot and celery sticks. Your LEGO maniacs may also enjoy building some fruit kabobs. For drinks serve a magical thirst quencher. These layered drinks will be the talk of the town.

Cake: You can transform any cake into a LEGO cake. Bake a rectancle or square cake and 4 or more cupcakes. Turn the cupcakes upside down, place them on top of the cake as the LEGO brick "studs", and frost everything with buttercream icing. Add "paste" blue, red or yellow food coloring to your white icing to get the vibrant LEGO shades.

Favors: For party favors thinks LEGOs. You can purchase small LEGO sets for about $3 at discount stores or toy stores. At "official" LEGO stores you can buy pieces in bulk. The bulk bins have some unusual colors and some unusual pieces. Buy a handful for each child or create a special favor kit with select pieces. To finish the favor, add Tootsie Rolls or other small candy, if you choose. Wrap in cellophane bags and tie with primary colored ribbons.

Construction Site Magical Thirst Quencher

With a steady hand and two colorful drinks, you can create a tasty, layered drink. The secret is in selecting liquids with varying amounts of sugar, since those that contain more sugar are denser than those with less. That is the secret behind stacking one drink on top of the other - at least for a little while, anyway - eventually they will start to blend.

Here is how to serve up a magical thirst quencher with two layers. This recipe is for a red and blue version for a Lego party. Be careful to pour your liquids onto an ice cube - not directly into the other drink - to keep them from mixing.

Ice cubes, lots of them
Cranberry juice
Wild Berry Gatorade

Step One: Fill a clear glass with ice cubes. Pour the cranberry juice in first half way up the glass.

Step Two: Very slowly add Wild Berry Gatorade. You can use G2 since the blue layer is on the top and therefore can have less sugar content. Be careful to pour it onto an ice cube - not directly into the other drink - to keep them from mixing.

Lego Maniacs Fruit Kabobs

Fresh pineapple, melon and strawberries stacked on skewers offer a refreshing side to your party fare. You can buy ready-made 6-inch bamboo skewers. Pass a platter of fruit and let your little builders make their own kabobs.

Pineapple
Melon balls
Strawberries

Brownie Pizza

Brownies and pizza are always a big hit with kids. Imagine the impact when you combine the two. This recipe puts a sweet twist on two classics to create a chocolate delight that is soooo easy to make.

Your favorite brownie mix

2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 1/2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Red food coloring paste

6 ounces white chocolate

Assorted candy toppings

A drizzle of chocolate sauce to finish pizza

Step One: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the brownie recipe according to package directions. Except pour the batter onto a lightly greased 12-inch pizza pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool.

Step Two: Meanwhile, make the "tomato sauce" in a large bowl, cream the confectioner's sugar and butter. Add the vanilla and milk and beat until smooth. Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of red food coloring paste (use paste to get the rich tomato color) and mix until you have the desired shade for your "tomato sauce". Spread the sauce evenly over the cooled pizza.

Step Three: For "cheese" roughly chop or grate white chocolate. Spread it evenly over the frosting. For other toppings, add candy coated chocolate candies, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips or other favorites. To finish, drizzle chocolate sauce over pizza.

Step Four: Use pizza cutter to slice the brownie.

16 Servings

Slumbering Sea Dogs

This flaky combination of fish, cheese, salsa and taco seasonings makes for a finger-licking party treat. A perfect alternative to hot dogs or sandwiches.

8 frozen fish sticks
8 refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix from a one-ounce package
2 slices American cheese, each cut into 4 strips
3 tablespoons salsa

Step One: Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 15x10-inch pan with sides with non-stick cooking spray. Place fish sticks in single layer in pan. Bake 10 minutes, turning once.

Step Two: Meanwhile, separate dough into 8 triangles. In shallow bowl, place taco seasoning mix. Lightly dip one side of each triangle into seasoning mix, coating evenly. Place triangles on work surface, seasoning side down.

Step Three: Place 1 baked fish stick on shortest side of each triangle. Top each fish stick with 1 strip of cheese and about 1 teaspoon salsa. Starting with shortest side of each triangle, roll up dough around fish stick; place cheese-side-up on cookie sheet covered with layer of parchment paper.

Step Four: Return to oven; bake 12 to 15 minutes longer or until golden brown.

8 servings

Party Corn Dogs

Kids will love these delicious corn dogs baked in your oven.

1 can refrigerated large golden corn biscuits
8 teaspoons ketchup
8 teaspoons mustard
8 hot dogs

Step One: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheet or cover sheet with parchment paper. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Roll each to form 6-inch oval.

Step Two: Spread each biscuit with 1 teaspoon ketchup and 1 teaspoon mustard. Place 1 hot dog in center of each biscuit. Roll dough around hot dog; seal ends and edges well. Place seam side down on greased cookie sheet.

Step Three; Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.

8 corn dogs

Butterfly Birthday Bash

A Butterfly Birthday party is a good choice for the spring and summer months. An intriguing combination of art, nature and good eats, this active party will be a hit with the school age set. True fun for that special day!

Invitations: For an easy DIY invitation, craft a butterfly shape from card stock. Refer to this template if you need inspiration. On one side include all the party details. Decorate the other side to resemble your favorite butterfly using crayon, markers, stickers and glitter. Fold the butterfly and tuck inside a colorful envelope. Butterfly-themed invitations are available on-line from Birthday in a Box. Another way to go for this occasion would be flower or garden-inspired invitations.

Decorations: Check party supply stores for butterfly-themed plates, cups, napkins and a tablecloth for your party. Create butterfly napkins by folding large square napkins accordion style (one-inch back and forth), then slide on a napkin-ring and fan open each side to look like wings. For a special touch make Fluttery Wonders out of colorful magazine pages and pipe cleaners. Then tie them on helium balloons with long strings of curling ribbon. Let the balloons float to the ceiling, so the butterflies can "fly" around the party area.

Activities: Visit a butterfly conservancy or a natural history museum that has a collection. Check the Internet for one near your area. If you go this route, all you need to add are the refreshments for a complete party experience.

Otherwise, choose two or three activities/games (with one more for emergency back-up). Rent a video about butterflies, or borrow one from your local library. Or paint a butterfly on each guest's check with face paint or put temporary tattoos on their cheeks or arms.

An excellent way to settle kids down while you are serving the food is with a paper activity. Family Fun magazine has two excellent choices for this party theme: Bug Party Coloring Page and Buggy Tic-Tac-Toe Game.

Games: A great warm-up activity is a butterfly hunt. Hide butterflies all over the backyard (or inside the home). Kids can keep the butterflies they find. A variation is to hide some special butterflies which will earn the finder special prizes. Before the party buy several small items to use as prizes and assign them a number. On several of the butterflies write a number that corresponds with the prize. When a child finds a butterfly with a number they get the prize that matches that number.

Another perfect game for this theme is Butterfly Cocoon Wrap. You will need 2-3 new rolls of toilet paper for each team. Divide guests into teams of three to four players. Each team will choose its caterpillar - the one who gets wrapped. Give the other team members a roll of toilet paper. The team that uses all of its paper first wins. Tip: Buy inexpensive single-ply rolls for this activity.

An outdoor game of butterfly tag is a fun way to work off excess energy. Keep a close eye, so no one flies too far away.

Crafts: Have paper butterflies out of construction paper or card stock ready for your guests to color, stamp, sticker or embellish with glue, beads or glitter.

Food: Butterfly-inspired foods are a must for this event. Cut Jello jigglers with a butterfly cookie cutter. Serve butterfly-shaped mini ham and cheese sandwiches. Put out healthy snacks, such as baby carrots and celery with ranch dressing. If your group needs more sustenance add Butterfly Crunch. A perfect drink to complement this spread is Frosty Fruit Punch.

Cakes: Your guests will love to decorate their own butterfly cupcakes with bowls of frosting and items to create butterflies on top. Include jelly beans, mints, candy-coated chocolate, licorice strips and mini-pretzels. Another way to go is to create a Butterfly Cupcake Pull-Apart Creation. And if you are feeling more ambitious Wilton has three options for you; a butterfly cake made from a butterfly cake pan; butterfly mini-cakes and a butterfly flight cake crafted from heart pans and cupcakes. Check them out.

Favors: Send the butterfly kids home with butterfly or flower shaped lip gloss kits, bright nail polish, butterfly-attracting flower seeds to plant at home, butterfly stickers, flower pens or bubbles. Squares of netting wrapped around the party favors and tied with a pretty ribbon always make a fun goody bag.