Winter Wonderland Party Theme

Celebrate everything winter has to offer by hosting a winter-themed birthday party event filled with fluffy snowflakes, friendly snowmen, sparkling tinsel, kid-friendly snowglobes, and yummy hot chocolate to warm little tummies.

Yes, winter is cold and dreary outside. So as your family's focus turns indoors, it's a perfect time to introduce your child to the joys of the chilly season with a winter wonderland-themed party. Think about the magical aspects of winter - fluffy snowfakes melting on the tip of your tongue; cheerful snowmen smiling in the front yard; glowing white fairy lights; sparkling silver tinsel... Your little one and her friends will love getting into the spirit.

Winter Wonderland Birthday Party Food
Oh, the delights of winter food! Children especially love to be toasty warm and secure indoors, so we created a comforting menu (see below) with the season in mind. Individual portions of macaroni cheese, hot chocolate, snowman cupcakes and a few sweets set the scene and filled small bellies. Soup or warm sandwiches are another great choice for winter party food.

Winter wonderland menu

* Simple macaroni cheese ramekins (recipe below)
* Snowman cupcakes
* Snowflake marshmallow slice
* Birthday cake
* Hot chocolate with marshmallows

For party favours, we followed the theme of the food and created "takeaway fluffes" - personalised mugs filled with marshmallows and individual sachets of hot chocolate mix.  It's a great idea to have personalised mugs printed with a photo of the birthday girl and her friends, along with the words, "Thank you for celebrating my birthday!" A nice change from traditional loot bags that are quickly gobbled and discarded. 

With a winter wonderland theme, the colours silver, white, and soft blue really stood out for us, so all of the decorations, plates, cups, and accessories that we chose were in this colour palette. We sourced fluffy white material from Spotlight for the table covering, which created the illusion of snow without the chill! At under $10 a metre, it was an affordable choice. 

Traditional party games are always a hit with little ones. Try hiding marshmallows or snowflake decorations in layers of paper for Pass the Parcel. Children also love to get creative, and our snow globe craft is a great activity for them to do with adult supervision (obviously only grown-ups should handle the hot glue gun!). Find out how to make a snow globe here.

Invitations
We designed our winter wonderland-themed invitations with snowflakes in blue and white, colours that also echoed our theme colours of white, blue, and silver. Use a silver pen to write the details on the invitation for a shimmery touch, or dust with silver glitter. You can download our invitations and print them out yourself.

Simple macaroni cheese ramekins

Makes 12

Macaroni is perhaps not the first thing you think of for party food, but it is a simple, warm dish that children love. We made ours even more simple by using a packet sauce mix, cutting the cooking time down to around 10 minutes, not including browning time. Our young partygoers loved it, and the individual portions were a big hit.

You will need:
350g penne pasta
100g grated tasty cheese, 
1 packet of Maggi Tasty Cheese Sauce
breadcrumbs
How to make:
1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Cook pasta as directed until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Follow instructions on cheese sauce packet. Once mixed, add grated cheese and stir in (it's important that the sauce is hot in order for it to melt).
3. Place macaroni in ramekins and sprinkle bread crumbs over. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden.

STYLING: Angela Pedersen & Lucretia Kemp.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Fiona Tomlinson www.fionatomlinson.co.nz