I like to pick a theme for my kids birthday parties that celebrates the things that they love the best! Which in the case of my daughter Charlotte, is ponies (she just started taking riding lessons) and puppies (she adores our dog, Bentley)! Which is why we thought a Puppies and Ponies Party would be the perfect 8 year old girls birthday party idea!
It's right about the time that the kids turn 8 years old that birthday parties become a bit tricky. An over-themed party involving lots of structured activities and crafts may seem too young for your budding tween. Yet, for some kids, a full-blown sleepover party complete with staying up super-late and watching tons of movies may be more than a tender heart (used to being close to home) is ready for. So coming up with an 8 year old girls birthday party idea can be a challenge.
Enter the half-sleepover party! Guests come wearing their jammies and participate in all of the traditional sleepover party activities, but get picked up later in the evening so everyone gets to sleep at home!
The Puppies and Ponies Party Invitation:
Nathalia, from Firefly Creative Design, created this artwork that I used in our invitation and thank you notes. You can download a blank version of each at the bottom of this post!
The Thank You Notes:
The Party Decorations:
We decided that the girls would eat dinner in our dining room, so to make it festive we decorated with tissue paper pom-poms This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and little cards with the pony and puppy art. We placed a few beanie baby ponies This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and puppies This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. in hurricane glass holders and sprinkled the table with jellybeans This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. to be edible confetti!
Planning a party or get together for tweens?
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The Goodie Bags, Cake, Party Punch, and Popcorn Bags:
Our final prep for the party included baking this multi-layered rainbow cake, preparing our family-favorite “party punch,” assembling popcorn bags to be passed out during the movie, and putting together goodie bags for the guests to take home.
The Order of Events for our Puppies and Ponies Party:
I always say that party decor is nice, but the heart of the party is how you entertain the guests and make the birthday child feel special. So here is how our puppies and ponies party unfolded:
6 pm: Our guests arrived
As we waited for our nine guests to show up, the girls enjoyed playing Just Dance This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. on the Wii. And let me tell you- this could have been the event to carry the entire party! The girls loved playing this as a group- no one cares who gets to hold the Wii remote, they just want to DANCE!
6:15 pm: Dinnertime!
Instead of the typical party meal of pizza, we decided to offer a make-your-own salad and pasta bar. This was a HUGE hit- and certainly much less expensive than ordering in pizza!
We served two different kinds of pasta (linguine and penne) with their choice of butter, tomato sauce, or tomato sauce with meatballs. We toasted garlic bread, served up a big bowl of romaine, and the girls could top their salad with carrots, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, croutons, and three kinds of dressing.
7:00 pm Shrinky-Dink Necklace Craft
Everyone loves to make shrinky-dinks!
I purchased sheets of the ruff ‘n ready plastic This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and used my heart paper punch This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. to cut out hearts, and then used a regular hole punch This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. to make a hole in each heart.
The girl colored their hearts using colored pencils This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and then watched as we shrunk them into tiny charms in the toaster oven. We then threaded the hearts onto ribbon necklaces This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. .
7:30 pm- Birthday Cake
The cool thing about our multi-layered white cake was that it was actually a rainbow cake! (After all, Charlotte's birthday is shared with St. Patrick's Day!)
7:50 pm: Movie
The girls gathered onto sleeping bags that were spread out in the family room to watch “
Moondance Alexander
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8:30 pm: Time for a Little More Dancing
The movie wrapped up, the girls put on their necklaces and headed back for a little more Just Dance before the party ended up at 9 pm.
The Puppies and Ponies Goodie Bags
Inside each of the goodie bags was a beanie baby puppy This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and homemade sugar cookies cut into pony shapes This is an affiliate link: MomOf6 earns a commission if you purchase, at no additional cost to you. and individually decorated by my ever-so-patient and talented husband!
This was truly one of the easiest and least expensive parties we have ever hosted, and Charlotte loved every minute of it. And that was the very best part!
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Lisa Lee says
Hi Sharon, thanks so much for the great suggestions. I think I will try some of these for my nine-year-old birthday girl in a few weeks. Can I ask, what is your favorite punch recipe? They would probably love that and so pretty too.
Cheta Balizer says
Hi! Well my daughter just turned 7 and recently fell in love with horses, which is how I came across your site, looking for horse party ideas. I loved all of yours, so mostly copied your party. Thank you for sharing. I created an earlier time line since my daughter is usually asleep by 8. My party was 4:30 to 8pm. I tried my hardest to stay on schedule in order to fit everything in, and that didn’t work so well. The shrinky dinks… well we forgot to punch holes. I didn’t have a toaster oven, so used my regular oven, and the plastic curled up like leaves in some of them. I couldn’t get ribbon through the clasps. And the pics of the girls..well ink didn’t run but they came out too small to tell who they were. Total flop. Lol tear tear. So Im making necklaces for all the girls just with the photo printed onto the plastic and a birthstone charm I got. The movie for 7 yo… Well only 3 out of the 11, had any interest. My daughter wanted to open gifts so ran out with her friends and just started opening them. I let her..it was her Bday. My daughter said the hilight was dancing! Thank you again, for the inspiration! I wish you all the best!
Love, Cheta
Sharon says
You know- parties don’t always go exactly as we plan…. but that’s okay as long as the kids are having fun, and your daughter felt her day was special! It sounds to me like you had a great party overall!
gail Jones says
Hi I’m holding a sleepover for my 8 yr old little girl looking for some ideas please
Reyna Vega says
My little sisters birthday is coming and thanks to this website I am already ready for her birthday.I don’t even know how I got on this website.
Reyna Vega says
I love this alot=)!!!!!!!!!!!!
deb says
Oh- I forgot to add something. Sometimes the parties get mis-timed and you are left with time to kill… make sure you have a few huge garbage bags full of dollar store balloons…the kids wont care if they say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY or whatever weird thing the store usually has. Try to get some long, thin ones too. When there is a lull, just dump them onto the floor, tell the kids not to break a lamp and to have fun..they will come up with all sorts of games on their own. When they then get a bit tired of them, then tell them they now have to break AND PICK UP ALL THE PIECES of each balloon..but the key is- they cannot break the balloon with anything other than their rear ends. This one activity can take up a half an hour! Happy partying!
deb says
*already INFLATED balloons that you have blown up previously..sorry..
deb says
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this..I was starting to think I was the last sane mom who can’t afford (or refuses to pay for) custom made decorations and cakes….I do these same type of parties each year, but was brain dead and could NOT think of what to do this year that would be new. I LOVE the Wii & 1/2 sleepover idea. B day is in 2 weeks- you just saved me so much stress! Thanks!
Reyna Vega says
Now I can agree with that.
Fiona says
Thank you for the wonderful idea. That cake follows the correct scientific order of the colors of the spectrum. Another fun idea my kids loved is the TickleMe Plant Party. Kids plant, paint and take home their very own Pet TickleMe Plants. TickleMe Plants will close their leaves and lower their branchs when tickled. Just search TickleMe Plant to find Party Favors and to show the kids the TicklMe Plant videos of this live plant in action.
Ellie {Musing Momma} says
Looks like a blast and wow you did an amazing job planning and decorating! I love that the girls had so much fun playing Just Dance as a group. My 5 year old wanted a sleepover a few months ago but I knew he was too young, so we did the “half-sleep-over” too and he loved it. Much easier on the parents, too. 🙂
Sharon says
Thanks Ellie! It was so much fun… and my 6 year old wants to have a half-sleepover party too when her birthday rolls around in August! I’m all for it!
Val says
Hi! Thought I should let you know you saved my life this week! I had booked a Party at our sports centre for my daughter (also called Charlotte!) and they had to cancel, leaving me just 8 days to organise an alternative! Desperate for ideas, I turned to the web (as you do!) and I came across your post. Thought all your suggestions were great and, best of all, so did my daughter! Our party is on Saturday. The kids are really excited about having a party in the evening – I can see the half-sleepover catching on!
Thanks for taking the time to share!!
Val.
Sharon says
Val- you just totally made my day! I can imagine the panic you felt when you realized that your party was cancelled, and I am SO glad that I had some small part in helping you to dave the day! Happy birthday Charlotte!
Anne VanBuren says
Hi! What a great idea. I think I will try something similar for my eight year old. One question about the timing. I thin most movies are at least 90 minutes. How did you fit all of those activities in at the end of the evening? Thanks for sharing your super idea! Anne
Sharon says
Hi Anne! The only thing that we did after the movie was go back to a little more Just Dance 3 while we waited for the parents to arrive for pick up. I write out all of the timing for my parties, so I can gauge when I need to move things along, or stretch out in activity…. and I always look up the time for the length of the movie and add that in.
Krista says
What a cute idea for a party!
Sharon says
Thanks Krista! It was so much fun!
Dawn Herring says
Sharon,
I love the various activities you provided for the girls to enjoy, the rainbow cake, and food options they could choose from. The Ponies and Puppies theme was creative and fun; I thought the personally decorated cookies were fab. I love your whole approach to providing your daughter with a fun, inexpensive party that she really enjoyed.
I will provide a link to your post, 8 Year-Old Girl’s Birthday Party Idea: Ponies and Puppies, on my blog, The Birthday Wall, in connection with my new e-book, The Birthday Wall: Create a Collage to Celebrate Your Child, a how-to on creating a colorful visual collage to celebrate your child’s birthday. I’m always on the look out for fabulous themes and inspiring birthday stories to share with my readers, and yours definitely inspired me. 🙂
Thanks for giving us an inside view into your daughter’s creatively themed birthday party celebration. I’m so glad she enjoyed it.
Be refreshed,
Dawn Herring
Author of The Birthday Wall: Create a Collage to Celebrate Your Child
Host of #JournalChat Live and Links Edition on Twitter
Sharon says
Thanks Dawn! I think that hosting fun, low cost themed parties for your kids that make your child’s birthday magical is something that many parents can really do if they just had someone help them to figure out how! I will definitely check out your blog!
Jeannette says
Love the Half Sleep over Idea – that is great!! Do you have ideas hidden in your blog about boy parties – I have a 6yr old bday to start planning….
Great blog as always 😉
Sharon says
Hi Jeannette- I have lots of ideas for birthday parties for boys…. having four boys! Just click on the “how to host an at-home birthday party” on the right side under “Momof6 How Tos”. Most recently our youngest son turned 6 and we had a lego party for him that was so much fun!
Christine@TheAums says
Adorable! Love that they hung out in jammies- my kind of party. My upcoming challenge is a combined party for my 3 year old girl and 8 year old boy.
Sharon says
I don’t envy you that challenge! That’s a big age range of kids to entertain! Jammies might need to be involved!