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Pajama Party -18yr- Pillow-Like Invite

March 2010

Jessica in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Honorable Mention

My sister enjoys having birthday parties, but doesn't so much like the stress and hassle of organizing them, so this year (for her 18th) I organized it for her so that she could relax and enjoy the night to the fullest. All she had to do was make up a list of the friends she wanted to invite and hand out the invitations. After coming up with a few different ideas, she decided on a pajama party with a twist that we both thought her friends would have a lot of fun with; I'll get to that later.

INVITATIONS - For the invites, I got pieces of purple card and cut them in curved shapes so that they looked like pillows. I typed up the details of the event (times, the theme with an explanation, location, etc) and printed it on baking paper (so that it's see-through) and attached them to the 'pillows' with a silver split pin. I then wrote a guest's name on each of the invitations with a silver glitter gel pen in nice calligraphy.

DECORATIONS - We used our rumpus room that has big sliding doors leading onto our back porch and onto our front balcony as the party area. I decorated all 3 areas and guests were allowed to walk through all of them (my parents were happy as there was minimal contact between guests and the main part of the house as our bathroom is right next to our rumpus room). I hung bunches of purple and silver balloons in each corner of the room and joined them with trails of purple and silver streamers.

Outside, along the walls of the house, I also hung bunches of purple and silver balloons with purple and silver streamers. We covered 3 tables with purple table clothes (1 for food, 1 for drinks and 1 for gifts) and sprinkled silver glitter over them. On the gift's table we placed a centrepiece of silver and purple balloons in a cute little pot with 18 all over them that we bought from a party supply store. On the food and drink tables, we placed glass bowls at either end that we filled with water and sprinkled with purple flower petals and set a few silver floating candles that were lit as the night got darker.

I hung up fairy lights out the front and back and we had no lighting (other than candles) inside. I set up a corner inside with an iPod and speakers for the music as my sister didn't want all the fuss of a DJ. All napkins, plastic plates and cups were in purple. As my sister wanted a memento for her guests to sign, I bought a plain teddy bear and a purple permanent marker that was left on the gift table for everyone to sign as they wished.

FOOD - I had bowls of potato chips and lollies (mostly in purple) laid out on the table as well as trays of mini pizzas, party pies, sausage rolls, club sandwiches and spring rolls with dipping sauces (we had soy and sweet chilli). Basically, all the stuff you like to eat at sleepovers. For drinks, we supplied water and soft drinks. To be a bit clever, I got a majority of lemonade, 7Up and Mountain Dew (to represent silver) and Passito (to represent purple as the packaging is in purple). We also had all the usual flavours like orange and cola.

CAKE - For the cake, I ordered a vanilla cupcake tree iced in purple that was topped with a small cake also iced in purple. I had edible silver beads arranged in cute patterns on top of both the cupcakes and the cake and had a silver 18 candle on the cake for my sister to blow out.

COSTUMES - Now, for the interesting part of the night. As the theme was 'pajama party with a twist', we had to put a short explanation on the invites telling guests to 'dress up and formalize' their pyjamas. My sister wore a cute lacey nightie in pink with a belt, stockings and high heels as well as having her hair and make up done nicely. Other guests turned their pyjamas into high waisted shorts with cute tops, belts and high heels.

One boy even wore black pajama bottoms, a white singlet, a black pajama top, a black tie and dress shoes so that it looked as if he were wearing a suit. The favorite outfit for girls was definitely nighties turned into dresses. All of my sister's friends had a great time with the theme and lots of photos were taken to remember the night; it was something really different, especially for an 18th, and was a lot of fun to plan - hopefully it gave you some ideas for a different, but highly enjoyable, birthday party.

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