Girls' 8Th Birthday Party Ideas

Sack race and apple bobbing are fun piñata is a delight

Food - I wouldn't prepare anything from scratch for a birthday party too much other stuff to do but I agree pizza gets old. Chick Fila nuggets / sub sandwiches. / skewers / wraps / or go party appetizers finger foods - Costco or sams is great for these things

What does your 7yr old want to do?
What type of games does she like?

I know you want a successful party but it sounds like this is your party, not hers. Get some input from her and let her help plan and be excited about it!

As for food, don't overdo it. Keep things simple.

Sub sandwiches or finger sandwiches, fruit and/or veggie tray.

Keep in mind if you are outdoors, be aware to keep food at proper temps so people don't get sick!

I rarely did full meals for birthday parties as the kids were too busy having fun to sit down and eat, it was usually after lunch before dinner, like from 2 to 4. We had cake, punch and ice cream of course, and I put out things like cheese and crackers, grapes, apple slices, and water bottles in case anyone was hungry.
Almost every party we had a pinata (by FAR my kids' favorite activity) and usually did some kind of treasure or scavenger hunt, depending on the theme.
I also usually had some kind of craft set up for the kids who either weren't into the games or just needed to take a break from all the running around.
As far as recipes, just go on Pinterest you will find TONS of them, and party games too.

If you don't want to do burgers and hot dogs I would say stick with cheese, crackers, salami, veggie platter, fruit platter and chips and dip. These are things everyone likes. Don't do coconut cake. Too many people dislike coconut. A piñata usually creates lol moments for kids.

How about a tray of chicken from chick fil a.

Fruit salad is always popular with kids and adult.

What does your daughter want on the menu?

Best strawberry cake in the world. If you make a layer cake with it then you cannot use one with pudding. It won't stay together and will crack apart and slide apart.

Walmart brand white cake mix doesn't have pudding and there's one other but I can't remember for sure.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/19086/strawberry-cake-iv/

The ONLY chocolate cake I make at all. This cake is light and fluffy and is just wonderful if you want to put Cool Whip as the frosting then sprinkle it with seasonal M&Ms and maybe Pecan halves.

https://www.hersheys.com/recipes/en_US/recipes/4608/hersh...

As for coconut? Nope, don't have any recipes for one of those.

I do have to mention though, most kids don't eat salads and stuff. If your party is for the kids you might want to rethink about your menu. If my kids were there they'd be hungry and eat piece after piece of cake to fill up. I don't like cheap hot dogs and stuff but there are better options for kid food. Pizza isn't all that unhealthy. It's what is put on it that makes up the problem.

Kids (and their parents) expect cake and maybe ice cream.
If a meal was being had - it was pizza - for us anyway - and most parties we went to.
Delivery is as simple as it gets - there's no prepping or cooking or storage, cleanup is easy and there's very few leftovers.
Kids don't have gourmet palettes.

Create laugh out loud moments?
We went to one party that had a pinata - the kids loved that (especially the candy).
But then beating something with a stick while blind folded was never my style.

For our son we did Chuck E Cheese and bowling, but we went to craft parties, movie parties (at the theater), taekwondo parties, stuff a bear parties, picnic at the park parties, one skating party and laser tag parties - the kids always had a great time.
For games, they might like playing corn hole.
Basically it's a bean bag (ok, corn) toss game that even adults enjoy.

We have always cooked for my son's birthday party which is always a pool party. We always have a fruit salad - you can do it in a watermelon if you want it to look festive. Homemade pita or tortilla chips (use pizza cutter to cut into wedges, toast in oven until crisp) with hummus and/or baba ganouj is easy and healthy. If you don't mind grilling, chicken and/or veggie skewers can be made in advance and grilled at party time. Little tea sandwiches are also fun finger food (cut the crusts off bread, spread with butter, flavored butter, cream cheese or other spread and top with thin slices of cucumber, radish or really whatever little topping you want - then use fancy cookie cutters to cut into shapes - or just cut each slice into 4 triangles).

LOTS of kids eat salad, fruit and a variety of other foods. You should not feel pressured into providing the 'usual suspects' found on all children's menus. They are there because they are cheap and easy for restaurants, not because they are nutritious foods children should learn to eat.

I don't believe there is any such thing as a homemade cake mix. You either bake a cake (really not a terribly complex thing), buy a mix or buy a cake from a bakery (or ice cream cake from an ice cream place).

Pinatas are fun but do require supervision. You do not want blindfolded children swinging sticks in crowded areas (especially indoors). Also - many pinatas nowadays have strings to pull, not so much the bashing until they break. It is lots of fun to watch little kids play either croquet or badminton. We have set up both on the lawn and just let people play as they wish.

We will be having my daughter's party in June (born in March and too cold to do anything). She is looking forward to some balloon games and a version of musical chairs more grown up since it is "such a baby game , Mom". Not sure how, but we will make it fun. For my older kids one year, they had to pop a balloon that was blown up but had a little bit of helium in it. The balloon had a piece of paper with an animal or character or just an instruction to do something. The kids has to pop the balloon using no tools, squeeze it, jump on it, sit on it, whatever. Even the shy kids had a blast doing it.

As for a piñata, I have found that the parents have just as much fun watching the kids break it as the kids have themselves so no problem having them unsupervised.
I would caution one thing though with food, make sure any chicken or other items you order are not cooked in peanut oil. Chik Fil A cooks in peanut oil.

We will have pizza (total cop-out on my part) along with a salad and veggie trays and mixed fruit tray.

Very helpful ladies. Thank you so much. I've grabbed 4-5 ideas to implement :-)

Caribbean limbo activity?