Karaoke for 8 Year Olds

This past weekend, I held my daughter's 8th birthday party at my house.  There were ten children in attendance, both boys and girls, so I knew that I needed to have structured activities for them to do while at my home for two hours.  As part of the festivities, the children had a chance to sing karaoke and dance to the latest hits. 

When the children arrived, I had them sit down to decorate wooden frames with their names prewritten at the bottom with puffy paint.  They bedazzled them using foam stickers since glue tends to get messy and needs time to dry.  During the party, I took a photo of each child holding a large, blow-up microphone.  This will be sent home with the thank you note and they can place it in their frame to remember the day.   

 

In addition to the frames, each child took home a plastic maraca because after all, it was a music party...

Food was set out on my dining room table, buffet style.  No matter the party genre, I always have fresh flowers on my table...like these alstroemeria.  They are a type of lily that is rather inexpensive, lasts forever, and are readily available in any grocery store.  Disposable utensils make clean-up easier, however they look nicer displayed in clear glasses of varying heights. 

Since it was a child's party, I decided to have a children-friendly menu complete with mac and cheese, meatballs {courtesy of my mom}, veggies, fruit, and chips {which I never buy except for special occasions}.  For the mac and cheese, I used my mother-in-law's special family recipe.  The best part? You don't have to cook the noodles prior to baking.  Plus, I use half the amount of butter called for in the recipe.  It's always a hit with everyone, young and old. 

     
Yep...that's all of the ingredients you need for that recipe!

A friend at school let me borrow her karaoke machine so that, plus all of the songs I had on CD and on the iPod worked well for a good hour of singing and dancing.  At one point, I lost count of how many times we heard the 8 year old favorite, "Call Me Maybe."  To designate a performance area, I set up a mini stage complete with a black backdrop and surrounding balloons.    

Rather than a cake for dessert, I ordered chocolate and vanilla cupcakes without sprinkles and the children decorated them using a variety of candy picked up from the bulk candy isle.  

Payton's masterpiece!

Plus a few others as well...
 

A few of my girlfriends hung around while the party was in full force.  The moms had fun, along with the kids!

To me, all that mattered was that Payton had a fun time.  After the dust settled, she told me that it was the best party and that made my day.  Mission, accomplished.