Polka Dot Party

Amount of Time: 5-10 Hours
Budget: $100-$200
Age Group: 6 and Under
Number of Guests: 5 to 10 guests
Indoor/Outdoor: Either is fine

Special Notes: Polka Dots can be a special theme for a small child. Make sure to keep with the dot theme by having everything be colourful circles, from decorations to food. Also, to make it easier for you, decide on two to three colors for the polka dots so that yo can limit colors of balloons, etc. It might be easiest to choose your child’s favorite colors.

This is also an easy theme to do on a small budget and with limited time.

Invitations:

Print on polka dot stationary.

Cut out large polka dots and put all of the party information on the big polka dot.

Invite everyone to dress in polka dots.

Decorations:

Cut out large dots in a variety of colors and decorate the party room with them.

On some of the large dots that you cut out, write out the letters that spell “Happy Birthday” on each one and string the message together as a welcome greeting to your guests.

Have balloons tied in groups of three different colors in the party room.

Have a polka dot tablecloth for the party table. You can match it either with polka dot accessories, or use primary colors and put a dot on the cups or the plates.

Stick polka dots all over the guests once they enter the party.

Crafts:

Have the kids color upon their arrival or do a few other similar activities, do connect-the-dot puzzles or have them draw animals or other pictures using the circle shape. They can use circle stickers and dot stickers to also decorate the sheets,

Games/Activities:

Play polka dot bingo. Make little bingo cards with different colors of dots. Call out the colors and the first kid who gets 4 colors straight in a row wins a prize.

Pin the dot on the dog. You could draw a Dalmatian and have multiple black spots and the kids will have to pin it on the dog where there is no dot yet.

Play musical dots, similar to musical chairs. Use cardboard paper with a big colored dot on each one instead of chairs.

Break a bright-colored piñata and fill it with circle candies.

Hide dots that you have cut out in a multitude of colors. Upon entering the party, give the kids a dot nametag each with a different color. Later on, during the party, have the kids find the dots in the party room or outside in the yard that match their nametag color. Tell them how many there are to find. Once they have found all of their dots, give them a prize.

Get some big plastic beach balls and let the kids free play with these.

Have a relay race with a polka dot small ball. Have the kids carry it back and forth to their team members with a spoon. First team done wins a prize.

Play Twister.

Menu:

Serve small, round food to your guests to keep with the dot theme:

Sandwiches cut out as circles. You could make the bread look like dots by making little holes with a Q-Tip and filling it with food coloring.
Fruit balls, such as melon
Cheese Balls
Globe grapes
Round Cookies

Serve this as a bagged lunch and have the bags decorated with multiple dots.

Cake:

Make any type of cake you like, sheet, round or cupcakes and use round candy to decorate the cake. If you are doing cupcakes, you can give the kids the dot candy and have them decorate the cakes themselves. Candy to use that could be used include: dots, Necco wafers, gumdrops, M&Ms, etc.

Goody Bags:

Kids can decorate their own paper goody bags with dots ~ either stickers or drawing and coloring dots. Inside fill the goody bags with circle toys/candy. You could give the girls little pots of lip gloss, and for everyone little rubber balls, bubbles, strips of dot candy, bubble gum, gum balls, round memo pads, round erasers, etc.

Hand out dot markers and coloring books.