After my daughter flew through the Harry Potter series - twice with the books and numerous times with the films - she switched gears from wizardry to the Gods and Goddesses of the Percy Jackson series. So for her 10th birthday, we planned out an entire water-themed party centered around the popular series by Rick Riordan.
Her birthday is in August, so it was natural to have the party outside (thank goodness the weather cooperated!). We started out with handing each girl a goddess sash upon her arrival. I made them from strips of inexpensive muslin, with some gold trim at the top, and a gold ribbon bow at the waist. The girls then each tied on a medallion with their goddess name for the day.
After donning their sashes, they started work on their goddess shields. Each girl received a plain silver pizza tray from the dollar store, and I provided decorative tape, jewel stickers, and permanent markers so they could decorate their shields. My husband created duct tape handles on the back of each shield before the party began.
Once the girls had their sashes and shields, it was time to play some games. We started with pin the eye on the cyclops. My husband painted this creepy guy with a removable eye painted on foam core. The girls were blindfolded, spun around a few times, and placed the eye on the cyclops face. We marked their eye placement with stickers.
Then it was time for a bow and arrow contest against the gods. We taped pictures of the gods on a table that we turned on its side. Then the girls used an inexpensive suction cup bow and arrow set to shoot at the different gods. Stickers were used again to mark their arrow locations and points were awarded based on the god or goddess that was hit.
All warriors get hungry, so we created a treat table full of all things blue to fit the aquatic theme and because Percy Jackson eats all blue foods! Our menu included:
- Blue gelatin jigglers
- Blue chocolate covered pretzels
- Blue tinted chocolate chip cookies
- Fruit kabobs
- Grapes for the God Dionysus
- Carrots for the Goddess Demeter
- Blue colored juice served in blue goblets from the dollar store
The birthday girl's sister made a blue themed funfetti cake that included the blue pretzels, blue cookies, and lots of blue water frosting!
After snacks, the girls cooled off with a water balloon fight - the shields came in handy for this game! And we ended the party with some wet and wild fun on the slip n slide in the yard.
Before the guests left we had each girl take a photo with the birthday girl by the photo opp backdrop pictured at the top of this article, and we used the pictures to make a personalized thank you card for each girl. As they left, the guests received a treat bag with a variety of blue candy and a bottle of blue nail polish.
The girls were having so much fun with the games along the way that we ran out of time for a few items we had planned including Medusa Freeze Dance, making aquatic themed bracelets, and a god and goddess scavenger hunt which involved looking for pictures around the yard and matching the Greek and Roman names of the gods.
The party was a hit with all of the girls, it was both fun and inexpensive to plan, and we were the parents of a very happy 10 year old. And at the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about?
