Parent Trap Birthday Party Guide
We just celebrated my daughter’s birthday and for her party this year she chose Parent Trap as the theme. I love making my kids’ birthday parties special and I’ve pulled together tips to help you host a Parent Trap birthday party with ease.
Parent Trap Birthday Party Flow
Party Duration & Time: I typically like to keep my kids’ birthday parties to an hour and a half because the last 30 minutes of a 2 hour party always seem to be nuts haha. Because we’re watching the Parent Trap movie at Gracie’s party, I made her party 2 and a half hours to make sure there’s enough time to watch the movie (it’s a little over 2 hours). It’s fun to watch a movie at night, so I hosted Gracie’s birthday party from 5-7:30pm.
Dinner & Cupcakes (20 min): Since Gracie’s party was over dinner, I wanted to keep the menu simple. Gracie chose pizza which was perfect because it required no cooking. I had the pizza delivered a little before 5pm so the girls could eat right away before the movie. I served cupcakes for dessert, which is easier than cake because you don’t have to worry about cutting it!
Movie (2 hrs 8 min): After dinner, it was time for the movie! The girls watched the movie in our living room, which I turned into a cozy space with a fun tent that came with twinkle lights and lots blankets, pillows, and stuffies. I had a snack and activity table set up to keep the girls engaged during the movie.
Parent Trap Birthday Party Hosting Prep
Create Checklist (1 month out): To help me plan birthday parties, I like to make a checklist either on the notes app on my phone or in an excel doc. In my checklist I include: invite list, what I need to purchase for the party and the party details. I like to start ordering the party supplies about a month in advance to make sure everything arrives in time.
Send Invitations (1 month out): I found these adorable Parent Trap invitations on Etsy. I sent the invitations out about a month in advance.
Secure Extra Hands (1 month out): When you’re hosting a group of kids, it’s always important to secure an extra set of hands ahead of time to help during the party. My sister helped me with Gracie’s party, so between my sister, husband, and me we had it covered!
Order Cake (2 weeks out): Depending on where you’re ordering the cake from, you might need to order further in advance. For Gracie’s party, I ordered cupcakes from our local grocery store.
Order Balloons (2 weeks out): Balloons are a fun way to make the party festive. I ordered green and white balloons for Camp Walden colors and a gold foil 7 from a local shop.
Assemble Goodie Bags (1 week out): I like to tie the treats in the goodie bag to the theme of the birthday party. I recommend assembling the goodie bags about a week in advance so tasks don’t start piling up the days leading up to the party. I put together a Parent Trap goodie bag guide to take the guesswork out of what to include in your goodie bags.
Tablescape (week of): I like to set my table in advance so I can check something off my list birthday party set up list. I recommend setting your table a couple days in before to make the day of smooth. My Parent Trap birthday party tablescape guide has all my table setting details for Gracie’s party.
Movie Setup (week of): I wanted to make a special space for the girls to watch the movie. I recommend setting this up a couple days before so you don’t have to worry about it the day of the party. This also allows you time to make sure you have all the pieces if you need to assemble something (like the tent). Because we watched a movie at Gracie’s party, I also planned snacks and little activities to keep the girls engaged during the movie since 2 hours is a long time for them to sit. I have a mini polaroid camera I’ll set out to take pictures of the girls during the party. I also made a Camp Walden sign to hang above the snack and activity table to add some Parent Trap theme decor to the living room. To make the sign, I rolled out butcher paper, drew the letters and logo, and then used paint to fill them in. Checkout my Parent Trap birthday party movie setup guide for ideas.
Cake Pick Up (day of): I picked Gracie’s cupcakes up the morning of the party. Right before the girls arrived, I set the cupcakes out on the cake stand and added the cupcake toppers.
Balloon Pick Up (day of): Since the shop where I ordered the balloons is across the street from our local grocery store, it was easy to pick the balloons up after the cupcakes. I added green and white balloons to the living room to make the movie setup extra special. I put the number 7 balloon at the head of the dining room table where Gracie sat for a cute photo op during cake time.
Last Minute Details (day of): I got a green and white flag banner to tie to the camp theme. I hung these in my living room and dining room as a fun little touch. When it’s not too cold, I also like to set balloons by my front door so it’s easy for guests to know where the party is. I also got the movie snacks ready and filled the popcorn boxes right before the girls arrived.
Birthday Girl Outfit (day of): Gracie was Annie for Halloween and wore the camp outfit, so she’s wearing her costume to her party! I’ll do a post with her Parent Trap costume details when it gets closer to Halloween because it’s my favorite Halloween costume of hers so far. Of course we painted Gracie’s nails with Hallie’s signature blue nail polish the day of her party.
Order Pizza (day of): I ordered the pizza about an hour and a half before the party started so it would arrive right before the girls got to our house. We kept it simple and ordered cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza.
Have fun! Prepping for and hosting a birthday party is a lot of work, but it pays off because you’re able to enjoy the moment and make it special for your kids. My goal with Something to Host is to help you host with ease by sharing my birthday party details and hosting tips. If you’re looking for something custom or need help planning a birthday party, contact me. Don’t forget to have fun and take pictures!
