How To Rock A Unicorn Party

As I mentioned last week week, Laurel wanted a unicorn party for her sixth birthday. It suits me perfectly that she prefers small gatherings at home; we hosted a super fun unicorn party that was pretty low maintenance while still being utterly unicorn-tastic. Below is the how-to for pulling the party together. And thematically, you could swap elements to tailor the party to your child's interests (e.g., horses, dinosaurs, fairies, etc.). Enjoy!
Invitations

I'm a designer, which means I find it highly entertaining to whip up fun invitations. I designed this groovy rainbow unicorn invite really quickly and Laurel freaked out when she saw it. Of course, if you're not a designer, you could buy or make your own themed invitations. If you opt for DIY, you could use stamps, stickers, or web clip art to create cute theme-based invitations.

Timing

Over the years, I've come to learn that for older kids (i.e., those beyond the post-lunch nap window) I really like the 1-3pm party window. It's late enough in the day to not conflict with morning sports practices or church, gives you the morning to prep for the party, and you don't need to worry about preparing tons of food.

Food

Given the after lunch time window, I kept the food really simple: fruit salad, deviled eggs (Laurel's request), beverages, and the unicorn rainbow cake.

Activities

When the girls first arrived, they immediately wanted to play dress up (maybe because Laurel was dressed in a "unicorn princess gown" -- just a long white dress up gown she already owned). After that, I had a few activities for them, which they loved:

1. I was psyched to stumble upon these glittery unicorn tattoos at a local party store.

2. I bought an inexpensive pin the horn on the unicorn game several weeks ago (when I ordered the unicorn piñata and unicorn cake topper), and then despite turning the house upside down, I couldn't find it for the party. So the morning of the party I drew a unicorn on a large sheet of craft paper and Laurel colored it in (the rainbow striped legs, mane, and tail were here idea...isn't that cool?). I cut out horns, wrote the kids names on them, and before we played the game, put a piece of double sided tape on the back when it was a kid's turn to pin the horn on the unicorn. I used a bandana for the blindfold. It was super fun; the kids had a great time.

3. And of course the girls went crazy over the unicorn piñata. I don't know what it is with kids and piñatas but kids always go nuts over them. Laurel and I filled it up with organic treats (hard candies, lollipops, Annie's gummy bunnies) and the kids had a great time whacking at it. I timed things so the kids had cake before the piñata so they could get some of their sugar rush out on the piñata.

Favor Bags

When it comes to favors, I prefer to buy one or two more substantial things the kids can actually use rather than loading it with random little bits of tchotchke. I made cute name tags that matched the invites for the outside of the bag and included in each bag a unicorn suncatcher craft kit and a package of unicorn stickers. When it was time for the piñata I gave the girls their favor bags so they could use them to collect candy.

Thank You Cards

And now we're sending out our thank you cards. Laurel loved a fill in the blank thank you card she received from her friend Sawyer this summer so I designed one using the unicorn silhouette I created for the party invite for the fill in the blank unicorn thank you card. I must say that the fill in the blank style made it super easy to write all of our thank you's yesterday afternoon.

And that was it! It may look like a lot since everything is coordinated but thanks to online shopping and keeping the party small, it was pretty low maintenance and very festive!

Final Thoughts

Another idea I had for a unicorn party activity (or favor) was unicorn cookies, inspired by this adorable unicorn cookie cutter. However, though the kids would no doubt have loved a cookie decorating party, I didn't want to load them up with more sugar. And I decided against the cookie cutter favor because not all parents are into rolling out cookies. It's a cute idea though!

Another favor idea I had was giving each guest a unicorn paint by number kit. Though both the suncatcher and paint by number kits indicate being suitable for ages 8+, the canvas set definitely looks more complicated. But this would be a great favor for older kids, and I did buy one for Laurel as a birthday present since she is very good with meticulous, small detail art projects.