How to Have the
Galloping Birthday Gala Everypony Dreams of!
Kids seem to
really connect with the idea of stations, and my daughter couldn’t decide which
pony she wanted as the main theme, so we went with the elements of harmony and
then borrowed ideas from the world of MLP to flesh it all out. Eowyn wanted all
the girls to have pony ears, and I wanted to do something different than the
usual candy stuffed goody bag, so the details of the stations took shape with
all the little items adding up to one great take home outfit!
Rarity’s
Fashion Boutique
The ears that
my daughter wanted her guests to have grew into horns and a tail as well. I
refused to make wings – you have to set limits on these things!) So I made a
variety of ears, horns and tails in girlie pony colors (I made a brony hat and
tail for my son to wear, and he was quite happy with it!) and the girls got to
pick and dress up in these when they arrived at the party. They were so
excited, I’m not sure if they all actually looked before grabbing one. The rule
was once you put it on you can’t trade it as it goes on the hair… Anyway, they
were a roaring success! The only thing I would have done differently was to
have an adult supervise and have each girl go one at a time and express what
her favorite color is, then receive a horn and tail to reflect that rather than
let them simply grab one off the table. This station could be enhanced with
scarves, dresses, gloves, etc for the girls to prepare for the gala!
Apple
Jack’s Canteen
This one was
tricky as I had a guest allergic to apples, so no apples on the menu, but if
you can serve apples, there are of course many other options available! We had
an early afternoon party and several of the girls were coming straight from a
dance class, so I served lunch. We had easy cheesy pizza (bread sprayed with
olive oil, spread with tomato sauce, topped with cheese and toasted in the oven
for seven to ten minutes). They can be cut into cute shapes with cookie cutters if you’d like. We also had a
veggie platter with carrots, celery and cucumber. It’s a party, so we rounded
it out with crinkle cut potato chips, and offered cutie oranges too. For
drinks, my daughter doesn’t like any kind of fizzy drink, so we wrapped juice
boxes with My Little Pony water bottle covers, making sure the kind of juice
could be seen.
Rainbow
Dash’s Arena
This is the
main game station, where the pent up energy gets burned off and an appetite for
cake can be gained! Depending on if you are playing inside or outside the games
can be modified or substituted. Really, if you can think of a cute pony name
for an old favorite, have at it! My son offered to run this station, so he
decided to go by the name Stony Pony (a play on the meaning of his name), so we
renamed some games to play on this:
Pin the tail
on Rainbow Dash/ Tiara or Rarity/ Cutie mark on Twilight Sparkle
- an updated version of the old tried and
true, just take a free printable, blow it up and either use stickers or make
some tails for the guests to plaster on the pony!
Roundabout Relay/Stony’s
relay race
- If you have a large space, make it big
with several stations to complete before they trade off. If you have a small
space, a balloon between the knees as the run down the hallway and back works
well too! You could also make two heart shaped “stepping stones” for the guests
to use in order to walk around the room or from station to station (not the
best game for young girls…)
Stony Pony
Says
- just like Simon Says, just with a pony
name
Stony’s Pony
Pillow Fight
- Each guest gets a pillow and has fun
tagging each other below the shoulders.
Stony’s Egg
Balance
- You can boil and dye real eggs for this
game or just use plastic Easter eggs. Balance them on spoons in the guests
mouths and off they trot on all fours to the finish line!
Pony, Pony,
Dragon
- Pony version of duck, duck, goose.
Princess
Celestia’s Cutie Mark Creations
My daughter
wanted to wear these on her “flank”, but I didn’t think this would work too
well for running around an playing games in, nor did I want to have to look at
the girls “flanks” to praise a cutie mark, so we went with a stock paper
medallion on ribbon around the neck. The girls got to create and color their
own cutie marks and then wear them. This was a big hit, but went much faster
than I expected!
Fluttershy’s
Hoof and Hair Salon
I had a
rainbow of quick-dry nail polish available, covered the table in plastic, and
let the girls have fun – this station is best done outside due to the fumes,
but if done inside, parent supervision is a must! Also at this station was a
mirror and a variety of sparkly barrettes and hair ties for the girls to
decorate their manes and tails with – again, one each and no trading as they go
in the hair…
Twilight
Sparkle’s Treasure Hunt
In keeping
with the elements of harmony theme, I put a picture of each pony with the name
of their element on one side of a piece of paper and “Congratulations! You’ve
earned your crown!” on the other. I made four of these, each on a different
color, cut them into six individual elements, then laminated them so they were
weather proof as I wanted to hide them outside and it was calling for snow. I
punched a hole in each and attached a string. My son hid them throughout the
yard, and I divided the girls into groups of four. They were told to look for
the six elements in their color only, and if they found a different color to
leave it in it’s place for the other team. They were told that when they found
all six pieces, flip them over and put the puzzle together to see what you win!
Hint: if you aren’t the one who hid them, don’t have someone who won’t be
present for the whole party hide them, as missing pieces make for very anxious
girls! In the end they were all found, and each girl was crowned a princess at
a crowning ceremony just before the gift opening. I made little crowns out of
yellow felt hot glued around hair elastics and decorated with plastic gems.
These fit nicely around the horns on the girls headbands.
Pinkie
Pie’s Party Wagon
This is a good
station to end on if you don’t want to have sugar crazed ponies running around
your house for too long! This is cake (ours was a three layer, tricolored
vanilla cake with purple, pink and yellow frosting), icecream (I had thought to
turn this into a mini sundae bar, but didn’t have time for that…) and a candy bar
with gumballs, saltwater taffy, licorice and cotton candy. Once done eating
they get up and get down to a dance mix of your pony’s choosing – use a disco
ball if you have one!
A big thank you to all the many pinterest ideas that kept me going (and going overboard) and Hasbro for their free printables!
