My last blog outlined invitations and possible activities for an Election Day (or Night) Party. This blog will help you prepare for the party.
Favors/Name Tags
Make name tags/favors in which the name is on a white circle of cardstock. Folded loops of ribbon be glued to the back of the cardstock around the edges of the circle. Leave two ribbons (hanging down. This resembles the rosette ribbons worn by members of political parties in England (hence the term, “showing your colors”).
If it’s just a family party, rather than names you could make ribbons of different countries and write the name of an imaginary political party focused on something each family member enjoys (The Basketball Party, The We Love Horses Party, The Scrapbooking Queens, The Forever Dancing Party…you get the idea.)
Decorations
Click here to see how you can make a patriotic wreath for your front door and garlands for your stair rails. You can also use crepe paper in red, white and blue. For table decorations, you can cover tables with plastic red, blue or white tablecloths available at party stores. You can also run red, white and blue bandannas down the center of a table as a runner, or cut a table runner out of red, white or blue felt if you have any.
For a centerpiece my choice would be the McCain and Obama paper dolls from Dover Publishing. Some craft stores and educational toy stores carry Dover products. (For more about Dover and the many topics they help kids learn about through coloring, cutting, pasting and more, see Valorie’s blog in Homeschooling.)
An alternate or additional centerpiece could be a “snow globe”-type thing where tint oil and water blue and red, take an empty clear bottle, and pour them in. Seal bottle tightly (reinforcing seal with tape if necessary) and let guests shake it and watch the oil and water try to come together but end up polarized nonetheless…don’t worry, I’ll have more optimistic symbolism when get to the food and drink.
If your kids have any stuffed donkeys and/or elephants, they could also serve as decorations.
Food and Drink
For a fun beverage that pleases adults and kids alike, begin with the ice cubes (for an extra touch, star-shaped ice trays are available at IKEA as well as craft stores such as Michael’s and JoAnn’s). Use either tinted water or juice (cranberry or raspberry, blueberry). Put one ice cube of each color in a clear glass. Pour sparkling water or lemon-lime soda over it. The kids enjoy the fizz and adults do too. When the cubes melt, there will be unity between red and blue factions and all will be a nice purple. (Okay, clearly I need to go to sleep now, but remember I said I’d have a more pleasant metaphor when we got to the food and drink?)
I suggest keeping the food simple, such as sandwiches and finger foods that people can eat while they watch the election returns on TV. If you want to go a more elaborate route, you could serve food representing the different regions of our country (Boston Baked Beans, Wisconsin cheese soup, southern pecan pie) or the states where the candidates come from. (Off the top of my head I can’t think of a favorite food for Obama’s or McCain’s home, but I sure would love some Alaskan salmon and Chesapeake Bay (Delaware) crab in honor of our vice presidential picks.
For a special treat, make sugar cookies with donkey and elephant cookie cutters. Here’s a great recipe from families.com. Note: if any of your guests might have nut allergies, substitute vanilla flavoring for the almond. (Side note: for a great blog on getting your kids to understand food allergies and have empathy for their peers who have them, click here.)
My elephant cookie cutter came in a great set of 100 Wilton cookie cutters which I got at Michael’s for about $14. The set includes all the letters and numbers, cookies for various holidays, and many other shapes. The donkey cookie was from my set of Nativity cookie cutters. Instead of frosting the cookies, sprinkle colored sugar on them before baking (red for the elephants, blue for the donkeys).
Michelle has written a blog on an 18th-century cake which was given to voters for sustenance after their long journey to a polling place. It would make a historic finale for your family’s new Election Night tradition.