The Party Edit

Hoopla is an excellent game for kids of all ages to play. Perfect for parties or whenever they want to have fun. We’ve designed a colorful hoopla game for them to create, easily made from paper card and paper straws. We also reveal our favourite classic party games, which we know you’ll love too. Make the Hoopla Game Who can get the highest score? This is an amusing traditional game for the kids to make and play. Click here to download the template. You will need: A printer, paper and card, glue, scissors, sticky tape, 5 paper straws (cut to a length of 5.5 inches/14 cm. We’ve got a great range of glittery and striped straws, see here.) and pencil and putty (or any tool for making holes in the card). How to Make: Step 1: Print out the template for the base and the hoops, and glue them onto the card. Step 2: To attach the straws, pierce holes into the base where the X’s are marked by placing a piece of putty underneath and pushing through a pencil. Make sure the holes are big enough for the paper straws.Step 3: Push the straws through the holes by approximately half an inch. Cut three slits into the bottom of each straw and fan out the slits. Tape them down flat to the underside of the base piece so that the straw stands upright. Repeat this until you have stuck down all 5 straws. To make the straws extra secure, you could glue an extra piece of card to the underside of the base.Step 4: Cut out the hoops and now you’re ready to play! Each straw is worth a different number of points. Each player throws their 4 hoops and writes down their score. Whoever scores the most points after all the players have had their turn, wins!  The 3 Most Fun Party Games Ever! Our hoopla game will be a highlight of your party. Here are some other traditional games we love too – which can all have a different twist if you want to match your party theme. 1. Pin the Tail on the Donkey We’re sure you know this classic game, where blindfolded children stick a paper tail on a picture of a tail-less donkey, and the winner is the child who gets it as close to the point where the tail should be. But, have you considered tweaking this game to match your party theme? For example, ‘pin the jewel on the tiara’ for a princess party or ‘pin the patch on the pirate’ for a pirate party. Let your imagination flow! 2. Memory Game A great game to play when the kids need a bit of quiet time, or at the end of the party to get calm before they head home (parents will thank you for this!). All you need is a tray filled with memorable objects, along with a pen and paper for each child. You can make the objects match your party theme. For example, if you’re having a mermaid party, then all the objects can be underwater themed like seaweed (green tissue paper), fish candies, fish scales (sequins), a seashell and plastic whales/dolphins and turtles. Place the tray with objects in the centre of the table and set a timer for one minute to let the kids gaze at it and memorise everything. When the minute is up, remove the tray and everyone has to write down as many objects as they can remember. The child who remembers the most is the winner. 3. Musical statues and bumps Get the kids to burn off their party excitement with lots of musical games. For this, you’ll need a funky playlist, check out our Meri Meri Summer of Fun Playlist on Spotify. For musical statues, put the music on and get the kids to show off their most impressive dance moves. They then need to keep statue-still when the music stops and they’re out if they wobble. Keep playing until one person, the winner, is left. And have you tried musical bumps? Instead of standing still the players have to sit down quickly when the music stops. The last person to sit down is out. You could make this even more relevant to your party theme by getting the children to sit in special areas. For example, if you’re having a space party divide the room into the ‘Moon’, Neptune’ and ‘Mars’ zones. Tell the children to sit in a specific zone when the music stops, varying the zone each time. This will cause lots of running about which will wear the little darlings out! And have you tried musical bumps? Instead of standing still the players have to sit down quickly when the music stops. The last person to sit down is out. You could make this even more relevant to your party theme by getting the children to sit in special areas. For example, if you’re having a space party divide the room into the ‘Moon’, Neptune’ and ‘Mars’ zones. Tell the children to sit in a specific zone when the music stops, varying the zone each time. This will cause lots of running about which will wear the little darlings out!Make your birthday parties even more special with fabulous tableware and decorations. We’ve got many fantastic ranges with popular themes like unicorns, space, princesses, mermaids, pirates and knights. Or you can never go wrong with a Happy Birthday themed party! Check out our range, which includes colorful and pastel choices.

We’ve got the ultimate stylish party ideas for all ages. From roarsome dinosaur themes to elegant French tea parties – there's something for every age group. 

Discover the 10 best tween and teen birthday party ideas that your kids will adore, from spa pamper sessions to movie nights and retro parties!  

For little royals and budding princesses, throw a princess party complete with magical costumes, gorgeous garlands, and beautiful princess illustrations. 

Discover our guide to hosting the best fairy birthday party, whether it’s for kids or adults – from food ideas and costume inspiration to activities galore, we have everything you need for a successful event

Craft a Friendship Bracelet Little people love to show their friends and family they adore them – and what better way than with a hand-crafted colorful friendship bracelet? Our talented design team have created one for your kids to make and give as a gift to their favorite person or people. We also share other craft creations, to team with the bracelet, to make it even more exciting to give and receive. How to Make the Bracelet Simply click here to download the template to make your beautiful bracelet. You will need: A printer, paper and card, scissors, pencil and ball of putty (or something to make a small hole in the card), 7 strands of thread (embroidery threads work well), each approx 20 inches long. Instructions: Step 1: Print out the loom template and stick onto some card. Cut it out and make cuts along each of the small lines. Step 2: Make a hole in the middle of the loom by putting a ball of putty underneath and pushing through a pencil.Step 3: Take 7 strands of thread and knot them together at one end, leaving an inch of thread loose at the end so you have a decorative tassel. Step 4: Push the knotted end through the hole in the middle of the loom so the knot is on the underside. Step 5: Thread each of the strands through each of the slots, you should be left with one empty slot. Step 6: Hold your loom so the empty slot is at the top. Count 3 strands to the left and move this third stands into the empty slot. Step 7: Turn your loom so the new empty slot is at the top. Count 3 strands to the left again and move it to the empty slot.Step 8: Keep repeating stage 6 and 7 and you’ll see your friendship bracelet grow from under the loom. Keep the threads nice and tight in the slots as you continue making your bracelet.Step 9: Keep going until your bracelet is long enough to tie around your wrist. When you are happy with it, remove it from the loom, tie a knot in the end and cut off the loose threads, leaving an inch at the end to make another tassel. Now you can make as many as you like and give them to your friends!   3 Friendly Ways to Present Your Bracelet 1. In a card. If you can’t see your friends at the moment, then send your bracelets by post inside a special homemade card. We’ve created 3 amazing notecards for you to make – an adorable sausage dog, dreamy sailboat and a cherry ice-cream, go here for the instructions and downloads. As an extra touch, why not include a quote about the wonders of friendship?Here are our favorites: “A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.” - Proverbs 27:9 “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” - Eleanor Roosevelt. “There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends.” - Jane Austen. “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” - Woodrow Wilson. 2. Pop it into a piñata. Little piñata favors are the perfect way to present your bracelet to a friend. Put it inside and they’ll get a lovely surprise when they open it. Make your own mini piñata, go here for ideas or choose one of our lovely designs which include unicorns, llamas, skull and crossbones, flamingos, swans, robots, mermaids, crocodiles and rainbows. 3. Include it with a gift. If it’s your friend’s birthday then you may want to team your homemade friendship bracelet with another gift too. Look for presents that have a true friendship meaning, like our Secret Notebook necklace or a notebook for them to write notes to you, like our sausage dog, unicorn and cat notebooks.

Find inspiration for your magical rainbow party here, featuring food and décor ideas – brighten up your kids' birthday with our rainbow balloon arch or pińata!

Children love animals and adventure, so having a safari party will be absolutely amazing for them! Why not transform your party room into a fabulous jungle with safari-themed music, party games and party food? We reveal some of the best decorations, music, games and tasty treats. It’s a jungle out there! Place animal prints from outside into the safari party zone. You can either draw or cut out these out on card, or use chalk. Hang sheets of green paper on the walls. Make vines out of twisted brown kraft paper or brown grocery sacks, and attach large green paper-shaped leaves. Mix some rubber snakes and jungle toy animals, or animal balloons, into your décor. You’ll love our large cheetah and crocodile foil balloons, and our fabulous monkey, leopard and zebra knitted organic cotton toys. Or, you can make your safari party really on trend by having lots of metallic fringed garlands and bright colors by the party food table and in the house! Invite guests to the watering hole to meet the “animals” and have a drink. Place blue card or blue plastic on the floor and surround it with large safari animal cut outs or print out images of animals. You can also place toy jeeps and sand here too. Serve up cups of yummy “safari swamp water” (see the party food ideas section). Jungle boogie  Music is essential to get everyone into a party mood, and it’s a great idea to choose songs that have a safari and jungle theme. We’ve put together a list of some fabulous tunes for you, check this out on Spotify. You might also want to create a roaring soundtrack for your party too. Ask all the kids to make their favorite animal sound as they arrive at the party, record them and then play them back as a soundtrack when it’s time for games – or you can use this as a game itself ‘Guess who made the animal noise’. Voice Recorder, is a really good app to try, it works on IOS and Android. Silly safari games Here are four fun games we just know kids will love to play. Monkey, monkey, tiger. Get the kids to sit in a circle on the floor. The birthday boy or girl, also known as the “patter”, starts by walking around the outside of the circle and patting the head of each child. Each time they pat a head they shout out “monkey”. Then, out of the blue, they shout “tiger” as they pat someone. The patter then runs clockwise and tries to sit down before the tiger catches them. If the tiger tags the patter then the tiger gets to sit back down and the patter starts again. If the tiger doesn’t tag the patter, then the tiger becomes the patter and the game starts again. Continue for either a time limit, or until everyone has had a chance to be the patter. Animal scavenger hunt. Buy a big bag of plastic animals, or draw animals onto card, and hide them around the house and/or in the garden. Get the kids to put on their safari hats, grab their binoculars and go on the hunt. Give them a time limit to see how many animals they can find (you can give them a list to tick off if you want too). The winners will go in order of who has found the most animals in the time limit, with prizes for everyone. Temporary tattoos make great prizes, you’ll love our Safari Trek Large Tattoos, with lots of shimmering silver detail. Termite, vulture, rhinoceros. Name the kids as “termites”, “vultures” or “rhinoceros”. Put on some music and get the party guests to move, like their animals would do, around the room. When an adult shouts out “danger” they have to find safety to protect themselves. Termites need a chair to stand on, vultures lie flat on the ground and rhinoceroses have to flatten themselves against a wall. The last person to assume their animals’ position is out of the game. The adult shouts out “carry on” and the game repeats. The person who was the last animal to find safety can now shout out “danger”. Continue until one person, the winner, is left. Sensational safari party food ideas Here are some food suggestions that are tasty and fun!  For an extra touch, serve them on our new Animal Print or Cheetah plates, with coordinating cups and napkins and pop our crocodile, flamingo or cheetah piñata party favor, piñatas, all filled with confetti and temporary tattoos with room for extra treats, next to each place setting. Zebra doughnuts. Simply drizzle black and white royal icing stripes onto the tops of ringed doughnuts to create a stunning zebra print effect. Animal print pizzas. Make your own pizzas using alternates of white, yellow and orange cheese stripes, and black olives, to look like an animal print. Peanut butter and “jellyphant” sandwiches. Cut out the sandwiches with elephant cutters. Safari cupcakes. Add swirls of frosting to cupcakes and top with plastic animals or creative paper animal toppers, like our fabulous Safari Animals Cupcake Kit, which features striped cupcake cases and animal designed toppers with gold foil and tassel details. Savory snakes. Make multiple diagonal cuts into hot dogs, three quarters of the way through, and fill the slits with ketchup, mustard and relish. Crocodile eyeballs and guts (also known as spaghetti and meatballs). Kids love gross sounding meals! Safari swamp water. Simply mix limeade, pineapple juice and Sprite or Seven Up together for a delicious green mocktail. Either mix the drinks individually, or make a punchbowl, in which you can float plastic or gummy crocodiles. Shop the Safari Animal Collection

Balloons are a fabulous way to make any birthday party, baby shower or special celebration look sensational. For extra effect, why not decorate them to look even more spectacular? You can individualize them for the birthday boy or girl, or to fit a particular party theme. We've got four fabulous ideas for you to try.

From an egg hunt for little ones to a sophisticated spring soiree, party planning is easy with these three stylish themes Down the Rabbit Hole Bouncing rabbits and sweet pastels equal a classic Easter affair Set the Scene: Our pastel and wildflower bunny plates and cups are designed to be mixed and matched. Style them with eggs dyed into pastel colours and delicate wildflowers. Hang our playful ‘Hoppy Easter’ garland or give each guest a quirky bunny cracker to help get the party off to a lively start. Serve: Easter baking is made easy with our cute cookie cutters – just add icing for colorful appeal. Cupcakes will look extra sweet encased in striped cases and decorated with our bunny and honeycomb toppers. For a healthy party snack try small Chantenay carrots teamed with dips. Give: An egg hunt, where children fill up their bag with as many chocolates as they can find, not only provides entertainment, it also creates a memorable take-home treat. For a sugar-free activity our bunny egg decorating kit is sure to be a hit. Bunny pinata favors, filled with confetti and temporary tattoos (which can also be used as dainty egg transfers) are another winning way to skip a sugar rush. SHOP THE LOOK >     The Secret Garden Take your cues from spring for a celebration inspired by blossoming buds. Set the Scene: For a grown-up Easter get-together, look to our new range of floral decorations. Make our eye-catching chandelier the centerpiece of your table, then continue the theme with paper bunting fashioned into blooms and painterly flower plates. Touches of gold - like gilded foil straws and gold-rimmed glasses - will lend a glamorous edge. Serve: Start the party with drinks that echo the hues of spring blossoms such as gin mixed with pink-tinged aromatic tonic or rosé champagne. A dessert scattered with edible flowers is the perfect finish. Give: For a fun twist make flower arranging part of the event and send guests home with crowns or bouquets they have made themselves. Alternatively, tie posies of flowers with ribbon or twine for a pretty party favor. SHOP THE LOOK >     Once Upon a Time Who else but cheeky Peter Rabbit to enliven an Easter party? Set the Scene: A striped blue tablecloth is the ideal foil to our classic range of Peter Rabbit tableware. Plates, cups and napkins come illustrated with Beatrix Potter’s charming drawings of her much-loved and mischievous character. Partner them with clusters of small bud vases filled with dainty white and yellow blooms. A garland featuring Peter and his friends will lend a cheerful feel. For the final touch set each place with one of our fun surprise carrots. Serve: Take inspiration from Mr McGregor’s garden and serve fresh vegetable crudités. For a sweet indulgence, little guests will find mini carrot cakes or cupcakes decorated with Peter Rabbit toppers hard to resist. Give: A Peter Rabbit party bag will delight children of all ages. A sticker sheet of the famous fictional characters and mini bunny balloons make playful additions. SHOP THE LOOK >  

Make your little astronauts' dreams come true with an interstellar birthday blast-off. We’ve got some supersonic ideas just for you. Transform the room into a space odyssey Bring the awe-inspiring solar system into your home with colored cut-outs of the planets. Stick on the walls, or hang from the ceiling with ribbon or string. You can also hang up lots of shiny foil to create a space-age effect, or black sheets of card with shimmering silver foil stars. If you want to create an eerie alien atmosphere, then swap your light bulbs for blue or green colored ones - simple yet effective! We’ve got a brilliant decoration for you, such as our To The Moon garland, which features a host of bright 3D planets made with honeycomb paper, a rocket and lots of shiny stars. Make amazing astronaut and robot costumes Party guests will love to zoom around the room as astronauts or space-age robots, so set up a craft table to create some cosmic costumes (Do ask everyone you know for boxes and empty soda bottles, as you’re going to need loads!) For an astronaut costume, with a helmet and jet pack with pretend flames, you’ll need:  small boxes for the helmets, empty soda bottles for the jetpacks, scissors, silver foil, silver tape, flexible plastic tubing and red, yellow and orange tissue paper. Here are the step-by-step instructions.  For the robot costume, you’ll need big boxes for the bodies, square boxes for the heads, and smaller boxes for the hands. You’ll also need paper cups, scissors, large paper plates, paintbrushes, strong tape, pencils, and paints. Here is an excellent step-by-step. Fun space games to play One of our favorites is “Don’t Drop The Asteroid”. The aim of the game is for little space explorers to keep all the ‘asteroids’ (colored balloons) up in the air whilst the music is playing. When the music stops tell them to grab their nearest asteroid. Call out a color and whoever has an asteroid in that color needs to pop it and complete the challenge inside to win a prize. Go for silly space related challenges like ‘Do the moon walk across the floor’ or ‘Name as many planets as you can in 10 seconds’. You’ll need balloons of all different colors, and challenges to put inside them before you blow them up (or if you think balloon popping might be too noisy and scary, keep the challenges in a box for guests to pull out). For more brilliant game ideas, visit here For space themed prizes, you’ll love our Sun & Moon temporary tattoos and our Moon and Star hair slides. When playing music for games, or throughout the party, go for sensational space-themed songs. Check out our Meri Meri Spotify Space songs playlist. Create an extraordinary party table  After fun and games, it’s time to get your galactic guests to come back to earth for a space inspired meal. They’ll love our To The Moon range of plates, cups and napkins. Check out the very funky Robot plates! Delight everyone with sumptuous space-themed party foods. Our favorites include: ‘alien juice’ (fruit smoothies to which you’ve blended in some green food colouring or a few handfuls of spinach – you won’t taste the green goodness, but it’ll create a startling color); ‘space slime’ (green jello); moon rocks (meringues); flying saucers (filled pitta breads cut into UFO shapes), and heavenly cupcakes, make them look extra special with our To The Moon cupcake kit Check out here for more ideas. Finish with a birthday cake that is so amazing, it’ll almost blow the birthday boy or girl into orbit!  To save time and energy on icing, see our fabulous To The Moon cake toppers  Finally, send the tired little space adventurers off back to their home planet, happily clutching a robot party bag, filled with yummy treats and gifts. Mission impossible accomplished!

Ahoy me hearties, with a little clever preparation you can transform your house, or any venue, into a swashbuckling scene that will take the lucky birthday boy or girl’s breath away! It’s not just about buying essential party supplies such as balloons and garlands, but also getting creative with those extra special touches that make all the difference. Investigate crafts, games, foods and gifts to really rev up the pirate party fun factor! We’ve got 10 fantastic ideas for you. 1. Borrow a small boat or blow-up dinghy if you can for a real ‘WOW’ centerpiece. Little ones will adore clambering in and out, and pretending to sail the seven seas. Or, if that’s not an option, make a large ‘boat’ or several smaller boats from cardboard. This one is just brilliant. If your little one has any ocean-themed toys scatter them around the boat for extra appeal. Do take a look at our gorgeous soft-toys, including Otto and Milo Narwhal. 2. Create a treasure chest out of a wooden box and give guests maps to find the prizes. Here’s a simple one to make. Fill it with gold coins (don’t panic, chocolate ones will do!) and party favors like pirate temporary tattoos.. 3. Place blue paper on the floor to transform it into the beautiful briny sea. You can put paper plates on it and tell guests to hop from one to the other to avoid the ‘sharks’ in the water. Draw sharks on the sheets/paper, or simply let them use their imaginations. In fact, having a sea-themed room is great for fun games, like Pin The Eyepatch On The Pirate or Walk The Plank. Look here for more inspiration. 4. Every pirate needs a good telescope to look for treasure and ships to plunder, so set up a table with everything your guests need to create one. It can be as simple as supplying thin cardboard sheets to roll up and lots of sticky tape to hold them together. Or create ones that really look fabulous and are perfect to take home as a keepsake. Check out this simple step-by-step. 5. A pirate hat is an essential! For guests who haven’t come with one you can very simply rectify this. Either buy some brilliant pirate party hats or get your guests to make some (just don’t leave behind any glitter and paint as your party tidy up time will increase tenfold!). Here’s a brilliant step-by-step that will look amazing. 6. Hang on, don’t forget a pirate patch! No self-respecting pirate should be looking at the world with two eyes! Buy some eyepatches for your guests to put on or print some out beforehand and pop them on the craft table, along with some thin elastic and colored pencils, to help them create their own. This is a good template. 7. Every pirate needs a trusty sword for protection. You don’t want any of your guests to get hurt when spirits run high, so making lightweight paper swords is definitely the way to go. Once again add everything they need on to your craft table. Try this step-by-step idea that only takes five minutes. 8. Set the scene with some pirate themed music for the little sailors to listen, or dance to, whilst playing games or partying. Create a playlist, songs like What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor, Banana Boat Song, the theme from the Pirates of the Caribbean and many more…Or you can play The Ultimate Pirate Kids Party cd. 9. The party table is where you can really let the theme come to life, after all pirating is very hungry work! Transform the table with themed plates, napkins and cups, and lots of yummy cupcakes.  Check out our brilliant range.  You can get really creative with the food you serve, giving it a real ocean and pirate touch. All hands on deck for treasure map pizza! Check this out for some more yummy ideas. Don’t forget to top the pirate cake with some fabulous candles, like our sensational skull & crossbones candle. 10. Last, but not least, send the tired, but happy, little pirates home with a party bag brimming with amazing pirate-themed party favors like temporary tattoos and decorated pins to wear for days to come. Here is a selection of our favourite Pirate Party Products.

Does your kiddo love playing dress-up? Maybe they never miss an opportunity to don their crime-busting gear and play their favorite superhero, especially when it’s time for a knockout birthday party. Here are some ideas to channel your very own superpowers and transform a standard shindig into a party fit for a hero.