Flip Flop Party

Flip Flopping Party!
By Anne Cavicchi
Written Exclusively for The PartyWorks.com

Flip flop around the pool.... whether your party is at home or at your local swimming pool, your little ones are sure to have a great time! Have your guests dress in their swimsuits, flip flops, and other beach wear - regardless of the time of year!

Invitations
You can purchase pool party invitations or make your own!
How about cutting out a flip flop shape from construction paper? Then attach it to a beach ball or bottle of sunscreen.
Or write all the party details on a real beach ball with permanent marker -- then deflate the ball and place it in a large envelope.


Decorations
You can find a full range of decorations at thePartyWorks.com
If you are feeling creative, use solid color party ware in blue, red and yellow and decorate the table cloth and cups with stickers or drawings. Use a beach ball fun center piece!
Decorate using beach balls, ballons, streamers, a few inflatable palm trees (or make your own by cutting out large green leaves then hang about 20 straight gold or brown ribbon strands from the middle to make a hanging trunk. These can be as tall as you want - just make the ribbons long), and some tiki torches using streamers for the flames.
Use bright beach towels for tablecloths.
Balloons -- if you're using helium filled balloons, try using pairs of flip flops as the balloon weight! These can be given to the guests after the party.

Food and Snacks
Octopus and seaweed hot dogs
Blue Jell-O with Swedish fish inside in clear containers.
Sandwiches cut with a fish shaped cookie cutter.
Jell-O jiggles cut into fish, starfish and shell designs with cookie cutters.
Set out a sundae bar where kids can make their own sundaes. Sprinkles, syrups, toppings and fruit

Cake

There are so many great cake ideas!
This is as EASY as it gets... buy a frosted cake or prepare your own... add the cake toppers. The decorated cake can then be used as a centerpiece or table decoration! The toppers can be kept as mementos or played with as toys after the party has been celebrated. Be as eleborate or simple as you like.
Try using these cute flip flop pics on cup cakes.
Flip flop cake art images are also a snap!

Games and Activities
Make funky flip-flops! Buy cheap flip-flops for each guest to decorate. You can cut colorful fabric into strips 1 - 1.5 inches wide x 3 - 4 inches long. You'll need about 80 cloth strips per pair of flip-flops. Tie the strips onto the top of the flip-flop covering the whole top part. Or use glue, glitter, beads or whatever (be sure the items are age appropriate) Really fun and the kids love them!
Have a soaked shirt relay! Teams line up on one side of the pool or room. have the first person put on a large t-shirt and swim to the other side of the pool and back (if doing this on dry land and walking from one side of the yard to the other, soak the t-shirt before you start). Then they take off the wet shirt and the next player must put it on and swim to the other side of the pool and back. Keep going until all players have completed the task - first team done wins. The shirt is very hard to get on and off while it is wet. For added laughs, add items such as a swim mask and flippers.
Rubber Duck Race - Using only their noses, players nudge a rubber duck from one end of the pool to the other.
Race the clock to see which team can gather the most floating objects from the pool; rubber ducks, bath toys, cut foam noodle pieces etc.
Flip Flop Hunt -- Every child gets one flip flop sandal and has to search the yard for it's match. The pair is a prize to take home!



Goody Bags
You can purchase small buckets and shovels and place the treats inside. You can also use a plain paper bag with stickers or drawings on them. Fill the bag with things like water guns, water balloons, sunscreen, sunglasses, bubbles, beach balls etc. You can also give a pool noodle.

Don't forget to send out thank you cards to all your guests too.

About the Author:
Anne Cavicchi is a Canadian mom and owner of Annie's Boutique and www.maternitycorner.com. When she's not working, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, golfing, photograpy and traveling.