My daughter would like to have a theme party for her next birthday. She’d like to have her friends over for cheese fondue, so that’s the centerpoint, but beyond that we’re flexible. I thought we might go with a French or Swiss motif, but assume we’re flexible. Ideas should be simple enough; weird is generally fine with her.
She’ll be 14 so let’s keep the ideas PG, please. Her birthday is still several months off, but thought I’d post this here before I forget.
Thanks for the help!
French is a lot easier than Swiss. Unless you want to do a yodeling activity and an alpenhorn recital.
You could do stuff to make it look like a stereotypical Parisian sidewalk cafe. Like flowers in Perrier bottles. Are you going to be the waiter? Then you need a fake moustache, a towel folded over your arm, and a bad French accent. Study up on stock French phrases like “Oui oui! C’est ce bon!” (pardon the jacked-up spelling)
Mind you, I’ve never been to Paris, so I don’t know what actual Parisian sidewalk cafes or waiters are like, but I don’t suppose accuracy really matters.
Oh, and you should definitely put a big Eiffel Tower on the wall. Draw it on butcher paper or something.
Strange that the fondue fad is back. But that may have just solved my dilemma about what to do for dinner tonight. Hmm…
I always associate fondue with the 70s. Maybe that could be the theme of the party. It shouldn’t be too hard to find some macrame vests and platform shoes, should it?
When I saw the thread title, I was prepared to type in “Wild Turkey 101” then walk away. But now that I see she’s 14, that may not be the best idea in the world. You’d better go with the WT 80 proof.
I did a party for my niece, I think around age 12 or so - fondue was a major hit. We did chocolate, of course. Someone introduced a fun fact (?) that was real squeal fodder: if you drop your fruit, bread or cake in the fondue, you have to kiss the person next to you. Are boys invited??? OMG!!!
The best game at that party was a low budget version of “The Price is Right”. I went to Ocean State Job Lots (i.e. local odd lots or dollar store) and bought a selection of items, all under $5.00 - a tacky serving tray, swimming pool toys, art supplies, cosmetics, Backstreet Boys notebook, a semi slutty bra - you know, stuff adolescent girls would think is AWeSOEM!!1!! lolz!
I’d display the item in my best Carol Merrill (sp?) style, and the girls would take a guess at the price. Whoever was closest to the actual price wins that item, so make sure the items aren’t too lame.
The bra caused no end of fits & guffaws - no doubt your sophisticated 14 y.o.'s won’t get so goofy over such a thing, but you could always adjust your price point so that there are more desireable items for your age group.
I didn’t know that fondue was back. We lived in Switzerland for a while so it never really went away for us. And I understand about the idea of “forfeits” but I don’t think that there will be any boys there and if there are then it’s not exactly what I want to encourage. I’m the strict, grouchy dad not the cool hippy dad. At least for now.
I do like the “Price is Right” idea although I’m not sure any of them would have ever seen that show. Cable TV has killed off the need to watch cheesy afternoon game shows when there are choices of myriad cheesy afternoon kids shows, like Sponge Bob, Phineas & Ferb, Ned’s Declassified, iCarly, etc, that seem to run non-stop. Lately they’ve discovered reruns of Malcolm in the Middle on Nick, which I’m not thrilled about but they seem to take the humor without taking too many life lessons from it, so I guess it’s okay.
You can do the full meal with different fondues – bread and cheese for the appetizer, meat for the entree, chocolate for dessert.
Do a volcano theme, to go along with the hot molten substances. I’m not sure what a volcano theme would involve – I gather virgin sacrifices are right out? You could watch “Joe vs. the Volcano,” do a jungle/tiki-torch kinda thing. Soundtracks of jungle birds, etc.
actually our traditional new years eve fest is a fondue thing. We have cheese fondue and hot broth, with cubes of beef, chicken and lamb, mostly cooked small potatoes and pearl onions, broccoli and cauliflower florettes and asparagus tips, then a chocolate fondue with strawberries, commercial angelfood cake chunks, pretzel sticks and potato chips. Usually we alternate between tv coverage of the new year on the hours, and cheesy horror movies and lots of conversation.
My favorite fondue recipe
1 lb brie, half pound of cream cheese, 1 stick of butter. Melt the butter in a sauce pan, cut both kinds of cheese into 1 inch cubes, remove the rind of the brie and either eat or feed to the dog. Add a cube of each kind of cheese to the hot butter and stir until melted in, repeat until all the cheese is melted in. Add a dash of freshly ground white pepper and a dash of nutmeg.