Party Theme: Movie Night

There is nothing better than to organize a party watching your favourite movies with your friends and its even better doing it outdoors when its a warm evening but if the weather is not on your side, you can still have fun watching indoors.

Equipment

The movie night party needs a big screen to watch the movies on so you may have to consider equipment needed to set it all up.
You'll need:

• a LCD projector
• laptop/ DVD player
• Speakers 
• Screen 

If you don't own a projector, you can rent it from the local schools or online or if you are good at DIY then you can make your own using a cardboard box, magnifying glass, tape and your mobile phone, get the tutorial here. 

You can either rent out a screen as well or get handy with a plain white cloth or wall for the background. Make sure to set up all the equipment in advance so that everything is working and ready to go for the party and to put all the cables away so that no one trips on it. 

Movie 

Decide on a movie depending on your guests taking into consideration if the party is for kids. There are lots of great summer movies you can pick from. Here is a list of 50 greatest summer movies.

Invitations 

The most likely invite for a movie themed party is a ticket stub, you can add in the movie names, location and the time. 

Decorations 

Go for clapper board, movie reel banners, movie posters for decorations.

For seating outdoors, go for pillows, blankets or lawn chairs. Invite your guests to bring their own if you are short on seats. 

Food 

. Get all your movie treats: popcorn, chocolates, crisps and soda. 

Costumes

If you are going for a particular movie, then guests can arrive in the movie characters' fancy dress or you can opt for general movies and guest can come in as their favourite movie character. Fancy dress always makes a party a whole lot fun if everyone commits to it. Here are some of the movie costumes at Fun 'N' Frolic.

(1) Adult Buzz Lightyear Costume from Toy Story (2) Adult Captain Jack Sparrow Costume from Pirates of the Carribean (3)Adult Belle Costume from Beauty and the Beast  (4) Hellboy Costume  from Hellboy
 (5) Gothic Swan Masquerade Costume from Black Swan (6) Child Wilma Flinstone Costume  from The Flintstones(7) Child Deluxe Spiderman Costume from Spiderman (8) Child Wonder Woman Costume  from Wonder Woman(9) Child Deluxe Quidditch Robe Costume from Harry Potter

With or without fancy dress, movie themed party is always a great fun outdoors or indoors and is very easy to organize. If you are planning on doing one or have other ideas, then leave us a comment below. 

5 DIY Outdoor Party Games

Bean Bag Toss/ Cornhole

Cornhole is a fun outdoor game played similarly to horseshoes except you throw bean bag at a board, laid at an incline with a hole cut in it.  It is preferable to make the board with wood but you can also try out cardboard such as one done by Missy Balance that also act as a photo backdrop.

Balloon Pop

Take a plywood or wallboard and attach cork squares to it to make a dartboard. Lean it against a tree or fence. Completely cover the board with blown up balloons using tape or thumbtacks.  Cordon off the area to prevent injuries and with continual adult supervision, have party guests take turns trying to pop the balloon using the darts with plastic tips. When the balloon pops they get the prizes inside. To do this just add in the party favors before you blow up the balloon, for more detail, here is a tutorial from Off Beat Families.

source: Teachpreschool

Garden Twister

To play twister in the garden for a party, paint in the colours using a cardboard with a circle cut out on the garden. Make the grid larger depending on the number of party guests.

source: Womenlivingwell

Outdoor Bowling/Ring Toss

Fill in plastic bottles with coloured water for lawn bowling or ring toss. To make the ring, just use a nylon rope wrapped in a duck tape or use colourful large size braceletes.

source: Susquehannastyle

source: Teachpreschool

Toppling Tug of War

 A twist to the original tug of war, make the players stand on milk cart or a small chair and  have them pull their opponent off the chair to be the winner.

source: Bhg

If you have any party games you want to share then leave us a comment below. Follow our pinterest board for more ideas.

Follow Fun N Frolic's board Party Games on Pinterest.

Looking at the History of Fireworks

The first fireworks were probably made in China, around 2000 years ago by a Chinese cook who accidentally spilled saltpetre into a cooking fire made of charcoal and sulphur and the mixture burned with a pretty flame resulting into a black, flaky concoction that came to be known as gunpowder.

The Chinese developed this powder further by inserting this mixture into the hollow of a bamboo stick and when thrown into a fire, the gases produced by the ignited burning powder inside caused an immense build up of pressure and blasted the tube apart resulting in the invention of a basic fire cracker. These Chinese crackers are still used in China today to celebrate weddings, births and religious festivals.

Sometimes the firecracker did not explode but instead shot out a jet of fire and flew away in the air or along the ground resulting in the primitive rocket. The Chinese made rockets by fixing tubes packed with gunpowder to sticks, that kept the rockets pointing in the right direction as they flew through the air.

Another discovery made by the Chinese was that powdered iron mixed with gunpowder made beautiful, flower like sparks. However they did not know about the chemicals needed to make coloured flames and white sparks, these effects were developed in Europe over the last two hundred years. It is believed that Marco Polo was the one who transported this invention to the Middle East from where European Crusaders then brought it to England.

The first recorded fireworks in England were at the wedding of King Henry VII in 1486. They gained popularity during the reign of Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth I even invented the post of fireworks master so that someone would be in charge of organising firework displays for great occasion.

An etching of the Royal Fireworks display on the Thames, London, England in 1749 , Source

Nowadays, fireworks mark celebration of families and of the nation so if you are celebrating something special why not get your hands on fireworks available at our store and online to create awesome displays and to end the party with a bang.

Face Painting: Beginner's Guide to Mixing Colours

Get all the face paint available in stock here: 

Summer Party Theme: Wild West

BBQ season is here despite the ever changing weather and a great theme for a bbq party is an authentic Wild West theme party and to make it easier for all to organize, we are going to rope in everything you need:

Invitations

Wanted posters as invitation works wonder for the theme, include a photo of the host with all the party details. 

Decorations 

Turn your party venue into a saloon. Hang wanted posters on the wall featuring pictures of the various guests rendered in sepia tones. Accompany each photo with a humorous nickname and description of the individual's crimes. Cover tables with chequered table cloths. Use bandanna as napkins and secure with a plastic sheriff's badge. Use playing cards as guest name cards. 

Use cactus cardboard cut out or inflatable around the room or use them as table centrepieces, depending on their size. 

Food

BBQ style grub works perfectly for this theme. Think spare ribs, hot dogs, burgers, chicken drumsticks, potato wedges and garlic bread. 

Dress Code

This theme is the easiest to dress up for. There are a range of  wild west costumes available: 

From left to right: Cowboy Leather Costume, Fringe Cowgirl Costume, Authentic Western Sheriff Costume, Fever Wild West Costume, Cowboy Costume, Rodeo Cowgirl Costume, all at funnfrolic.co.uk 

For the kiddies, we have this wonderful pair: 

Ropin Cowboy Costume(left),Cowgirl Sweetie Costume (right) , at funnfrolic.co.uk

If you don't want to go the head-to-toe fancy dress route then opt for chequered shirt, jeans, cowboy hats, bandanna and moustache (for guys) for that that authentic western look. 

Suede Look Cowboy Hat (left),  Fever Boutique Wild West Cowboy Hat (right)  

Cowboy Bandanna(left), Cowboy tash(right)

Games

•  Tin can shoot- line up some empty bottles on a box outside and get people to take in turns to shoort them down with a water pistol. 
• Piñata- there are various shape piñata that can work with a particular theme and its a great game for everyone to enjoy
• Cowboy lasso- using a smaller hula hoop or only a rope, children and adult alike can try to rope the neck of a wooden horse or other chosen object.
  
   

Shop all the wild west ranges by clicking on the cart: 

5 DIY Balloon Decoration Ideas

Floating Effects 

Release a cluster of helium filled balloons on the roof to create amazing effects but make sure the strings are long enough so you can take them down. You can also tie photos to the floating balloons as shown in this DIY at wedding chicks.

If you are celebrating outside, just tie down the balloons on the lawn to create an effect of balloon forest.

source: Green Garden Blog

Table Decor

A balloon bouquet can be created to put on the centre or place individual balloon for a place card, tying it behind the chair or on goody bags, the balloons are going to add fun to the venue.

source: Pen & Paper Flowers

source: Catch my party

Balloon Garlands 

Join the balloons together to create a festive atmosphere  by hanging the  balloons together with a thread.

source: Trusper

Balloon Wall/ Backdrop  

Create a wall full of balloons by taping them or weighing them down at different heights, it can be used as a cool backdrop for photos or to separate up the venue into different sections.

source: Apartment Therapy

Learn how to create this floating balloon hearts via Studio DIY. 

source: Studio DIY

If you don't want to go for the helium ones, then just blow up the balloons and simply tape them on the wall as shown below.

Giant Balloons Streamers 

Giant balloons can be a fun addition to the party by hanging streamers or ribbons on it.

source: 100 Layer Cake Let

If you want to do any of this decorations at your event, then drop in store or give us a call at 0800 294 1130. We have all the balloons in stock ranging from latex balloons to foil and even the giant 3 feet balloons. For more balloon decoration ideas, follow our pinterest board:

Follow Fun N Frolic's board Balloon Decoration Ideas on Pinterest.