Dollar Store Party Challenge

POPCORN & A MOVIE ON THE HOUSE {summer edition}: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE
unique ways to have family time. This is something we have done as a
family for a couple years now and it turns out to be so much fun. It’s the
summer memory that our kids talk about frequently. They always wonder
when we are going to do it again.

The dollar stores have so many themed items for parties, there were
definitely enough things to there to have parties with different themes like:
a luau, graduation party, bug collecting party, baby showers, 4th of July,
water party and much more, but I wanted to do something a little more
unique. This could be used as a birthday party, neighborhood party, late-
over, friend party, 4th of July, holiday or just for fun, which is what we do.
Here are the details supplies:

· package of tickets: $1
· popcorn bucket: $1
· smaller popcorn buckets: $3 (3 sets of 2)
· Glow-in-the-dark bracelets $1 (1 set of 5)
· boxed movie candies $6 (6 boxes) : sugar babies, marshmallow poles,
tootsie pops, runts, Swedish fish, sweet tarts
· Bazooka gum for a bubble gum blowing contest: $1
· sparklers $1 (set 3 boxes)
· bottles of bubbles in the shape of a soda bottle $2 (2 sets of 3)
· hand-made printables that can be printed at thecraftingchicks.com:
(Mad Libs) made to fit the movie theme: $1
· Props for the photo booth $2: 1 phony lollipop, gag glasses & clown
nose
· backdrop for the photo booth (1 white plastic tablecloth and 1 red
plastic tablecloth): $2
· yellow baskets to hold movie treats $3 (3 sets of 2 baskets)
· Plastic tablecloth (for the concession stand): $1
· metal trays: $2 (2 trays)

CRAFTY DETAILS:

· Movie Tickets: Each of the kids, upon arrival at the party, will get a
ticket bow tie (for the boys) and a tickets bow cuff (for the girls). The ties
on the bow cuff were made from strips of the white plastic tablecloth. The
bow ties and the cuffs were made from the double stripes of red tickets.
There is a small safety pin on the back of the red ticket bow tie to fasten
onto a shirt. Who would have thought that a new fashion statement was
tickets ;).

· Movie Libs: On Photoshop, I made printables called MOVIE LIBS. These
are like Mad Libs except the story is catered to our movie party. It’s a short
story about a kid that is in a movie that decides that going to the movies is
much more fun than being in a movie. These are so fun to fill out and take
turns reading aloud. I have made these before, and they are such a hit at
any party and for any age of person.

· Ruffle Photo Booth Backdrop: My favorite project is where I used 1 red
plastic tablecloth and 1 white plastic tablecloth and cute them into 108″
long and about 7″ strips and used my ruffle foot on my sewing machine to
create ruffles out of these strips. A ruffle foot gathers the fabric as you go,
instead of stitching and cinching the fabric. It really saves you a couple
steps. If you don’t have a ruffle foot, you can also make a ruffle by making
a zig-zag stitch over a piece of embroidery thread, then cinching it along
the embroidery thread. I used a giant picture frame that I purchased from
an estate sale 3 years prior as the frame to hold the ruffles for the photo
backdrop. The strips were used and layered by color. To go along with the
photo backdrop, I bought the props for the photos, the gag glasses and the
fake lollipop. I love how these look and go together in the pictures. I also
used the ruffle idea for the front of the tablecloth for the concession stand.

· Soda Pop Bottle Bubbles: there is a darling printable attached to the
bottle of bubbles that says, “Thanks for ‘poppin’ in!.” They get this when
they leave.

· “Now Playing” Serving Trays/Signs : These I purchased from the dollar
store and used painter’s tape to tape stipes for spray painting. I used red
and white spray paint to make them fit into our theme and to match our
backdrop. These can be used as treat trays, however, I am using mine as a
sign that says “NOW PLAYING……”. These can also be used as surfaces for
filling out the MOVIE LIBS sheets.

· Glow-in-the-Dark Bracelets: When it’s dark one of the games that can
be played is to have each person close their eyes, and after activating all
the glowing bracelets, one person throws the glowing bracelets into the
grass and everyone scrambles to pick one up. After each round, one
bracelet is taken out so there is always one less bracelet than players.

· Concession Candy Baskets: These will be used to hold the candies that
they choose from the concession stand.