"YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY?IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOO, YEAH! THEY SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! WE'RE GONNA HAVE A GOOD TIME!"
The girl who is quite possibly the world's biggest Beatles fan just celebrated her eleventh birthday in a very Fab Four sort of way. This party has been a long time in the making. About six months ago, the idea of a Beatles birthday party popped into my head, and Hannah's reaction to my idea was a big smile, big eyes, and a big YES! Since then, she and I have been churning out ideas and writing them down on our master "BEATLES PARTY IDEAS" list. The goal was to make it fun and Beatles-ish without breaking the bank, and I think it was a success!
First, I incorporated as many Beatles songs as I could into the invitation, and printed them out myself. Brightly colored decorations were inspired by the Sgt. Pepper album, and I cut black cardstock records to hang from the ceiling, complete with the Apple Records label. We put up Hannah's Beatles posters, pulled out her postcards and vinyl albums, and printed and framed lesser known Beatles photos we found online. Hannah has the framed photos on her dresser now, so she can swoon over them whenever she pleases.
I made the big menu poster so the girls would see the connection between the Beatles songs and the food. Everything was relatively simple...just pizza and soda, chocolate dipped strawberries, a bowl of green apples to represent the Apple record label, Fudge Stripe cookies turned on their backs to resemble vinyl records, and Twinkie* yellow submarines decorated with Skittles and straws, and Swedish fish swimming about on the platter. The trickiest part was decorating these cupcakes with the Beatles' faces, but they turned out okay...? And of course we were blasting Beatles music all through dinner!
On to the activities! Hannah and I came up with a Beatles playlist and corresponding prizes for a game of "Name That Tune." We gave the girls a split second to hear each song and whoever named it first won the prize (although after two prizes they had to let the others have a go at winning). I was amazed at how quickly some of the girls named the songs...Hannah has trained her friends well! Here is our playlist and what we did for little prizes:
Come Together – Hershey's bar with the Abbey Road photo wrapped around it I Feel Fine – Sugar Babies ("Baby's good to me you know, she's happy as can be you know!") Penny Lane – Two penny rolls Paperback Writer – Cute pencil and matching eraser Mr. Postman – Cute pencil and matching eraser Strawberry Fields – pack of strawberry gum I Want to Hold Your Hand – nail polish Octopus Garden – packet of Swedish Fish I Want Money – one bill of Beatles play money Taxman – one bill of Beatles play money You Never Give Me Your Money – one bill of Beatles play money Can't Buy Me Love – one bill of Beatles play money Twist and Shout – small package of Twizzlers She Came In Through The Bathroom Window – cute travel packages of Kleenex tissue All My Lovin' – roll of Sweethearts candy Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – package of 'pepper'mint gum Boys – Ring Pop (since RINGo wrote this one) Across the Universe – package of Starburst candy Here Comes the Sun – small bag of Sunchips Golden Slumbers – eye mask from the dollar spot at Target Yellow Submarine – packet of Swedish Fish
We had a few extra prizes left, so the girls played Hot Potato with Beatles music until all the prizes were gone. Other activities we considered doing was making cardboard guitars like these, or painting yellow submarines, however, we just didn't have time. Instead, the girls drummed, strummed and sang their little hearts out to Beatles Rock Band, and finished off the night by watching one of the funniest movies ever made, HELP. If you have never seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it.
For the party favors, I printed paper sacks with an image from HELP, and filled them with Beatles buttons, stickers, Penny Lane penny rolls (see below for free printable!), and "RINGo" Pops. Some other possible prizes and/or party favors would be these adorable music boxes. They really do make a great little gift for any Beatles fan.My girls are working on collecting all of the Beatles songs available. You could also do Beatles posters, magnets, or tote bags (all very inexpensive on Amazon.com). The list is endless, and it really just depends on your party budget. Another fun shopping site is fabfourstore.com.
This was by far the most fun party we've ever hosted, and I think we may do it again for another little Beatles fan in a year or two.
For you! pennylanelabel (simply cut and tape around penny rolls) and beatlesjournalcover *Beatles pictogram can be found here. *Although Hostess Twinkies are no longer available, most grocery stores offer similar store brand versions.