Larcie Bird: Map Mania... going global {parties}

Friday, August 23, 2013

Map Mania... going global {parties}

I love maps... it's kind of the "in" thing right now.... or at least one of the "in" things. I decorated my classroom with globes and map paper and I am always finding ways to use my maps.

Well, I saw this adorable Airplane party on Pinterest awhile back. My cousin, Libby, was applying for flight attendant jobs... and I wanted to do a party like this for her when she got her job. Well, she got the job! So I got to plan a party... However, in the mean time, I also wanted to have a dinner for all of the people who had helped babysit, drive carpool, etc. for my preschooler while I worked. I loved the map stuff so much that I thought I'd find a way to incorporate it for both parties.

I came up with the "extra mile" idea. This is the invitation I designed.

For the party we had foods that were from different countries around the world. I used my super cute Pick Your Plum chalk board labels to label the country the food was from. We put the (American) hot dog and hamburger buns in a vintage suit case.

I cut map paper into 12x12 squares and laminated them for placemats. I used my cute paper bags from Pick Your Plum to hold the utensils. The center pieces were either suitcases, globes or brown paper packages wrapped with twine.

For games, I found games from around the world. I have included printables of the games HERE. The favorite was "pass the parcel." In the parcel, I wrapped tiny squirt guns from the dollar store for each kid. They had a blast!

Then it was time for Libby's party. We love to have family bbq's in Kanarraville. In fact, we are renting our grandma's home as a vacation rental. If interested, visit this site.

Libby found out she was going to be stationed in Chicago and would be moving there. So, instead of doing a "global" theme, we had Chicago style hot dogs and potluck.