Hannah Montana has taken the tween world by storm. Billy Ray Cyrus’s daughter, Miley Cyrus has managed to work her magic on the hearts of millions. The lyrics to her popular songs have made there way into the homes of tweens across the world. Don’t be surprised when the tween in your life comes home begging to have a Hannah Montana birthday party this year.
So, where can you find the supplies you will need to make sure your Hannah Montana birthday party goes off with a hitch? Well the answer is really simple. All the supplies needed to have the perfect Hannah Montana Birthday party can be found at http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/party_hannah_montana.htm. It is a one stop shop for everything you can think of to make your Hannah Montana birthday party a huge success.
For starters you need invitations. You can buy pre-printed Hannah Montana birthday party invitations or you can choose to create your own. If you go with making your own invitations consider making the invitations in the shape of a microphone or guitar. Either of these keeps with the rock-n-roll theme. You can use any unique personalized idea such as:
Break out the shoes in every color; you are invited to a Hannah Montana Birthday Party for Child’s Name.
Decorate the invitation with plenty of sparkling glitter using a variety of colors.
Next thing you need will be decorations. Hannah Montana is a teenager, so basically you need to turn your party room into your above average teenage hangout. Think bright and colorful! Use streamers and confetti to decorate the table. You can even use nail polish and make-up compacts as table decorations and party favors, the more outrageous the better. Consider having Hannah Montana’s music playing in the background. What better way to represent the super star. All the Hannah Montana cups, plates and napkins can be purchased through the above mentioned site.
What is a birthday party without party games? You must have games to keep your tween guests entertained. A great game idea is to take the time before the party to look up the lyrics to Hannah Montana’s music. Make sure you look up a variety of songs. Take bits and pieces of the lyrics and put them on index cards. Make sure you only put the beginning words on the index cards and just a big blank space afterwards so the guests can guess the next lyric. Separate the party guests into teams and let each team have a turn to guess the rest of the lyric. This will be a fun game since most tweens know all Hannah Montana’s songs by heart. Using teamwork they should be able to guess with no trouble. Give the winning team a prize.
Another game or activity that is fun for tweens is letting them do makeovers on each other. Provide a variety of colorful makeup options for the tweens to choose from. Let them use wild color nail polishes to do finger and toe nails. You can even break out colorful scarves, socks, jewelry, hats and clothing to let them totally dress up. Another neat idea is letting them add wash out color to their hair. Take plenty of pictures of how outrageous and fun each makeover ends up!
There are plenty of other party ideas to choose from. Come up with your own or search online for ideas that others have come up with.
If you are searching for other Hannah Montana activities that your party guest may enjoy, you can try searching the Disney Hannah Montana website http://tv.disney.go.com/disneychannel/hannahmontana/. Here you may find other interesting facts or color sheets as well as ideas that may help make your party a success! Wal-Mart also has become a big supporter of Hannah Montana memorabilia if you are looking for the perfect birthday party gift for your Hannah Montana fan.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The History of the Easter Egg
Brilliantly colored pastel Easter Eggs, safely tucked in tidy little hiding places, await herds of scrambling children who will pluck them from their cozy nests. Easter egg hunting is an event that has become a widespread tradition for children on Easter day. As all traditions have a beginning, this is true for the hunting of Easter Eggs as well.
The traditional “Easter Egg” has several different layers of meaning and symbolism. The “egg” represents fertility, thus new life or new beginnings. It was long thought that the Earth itself “hatched” from an egg. Stories of this nature can be traced back from Ireland to Asia.
In Northern Europe, “eggs” were a sign of fertility. Rituals revolved around the egg and were performed on women to guarantee their ability to bear children. A practice still in use today by lay midwives (healers in the Appalachian Mountains) can mysteriously predict the sex of an unborn infant by watching how an egg suspended by a string, rotates over the pregnant woman’s belly. Predictions of this sort have been just about as accurate as doctors using the ever-so-popular ultra sound.
Pastel colored eggs, chicks and bunnies all have their place in the spring festivals of Ostara. These festivals commemorate the Saxxon goddess Oestre or Eastre for whom Easter is named. In German history Oestre or Eastre is known as Ostara. Ostara is the goddess of dawn and spring. The word we use for the female hormone estrogen developed from her name. Ostara is also a goddess of fertility, and her sacred animal, the rabbit, is known for its rapid ability to procreate.
Ostara’s arrival brought about the end of the winter months. Her arrival meant prosperity and new beginnings among plant and animal life alike. As the story goes, Ostara arrived late one year. To her dismay she encountered a bird whose wings had frozen from the severe cold. She had compassion for the animal since he could no longer fly and made him her lover or pet depending on the story version. She turned the bird into a snow hare and gave him two unique abilities. First, he had the ability to run extremely fast and outrun hunters. Second, he was given the ability to lay beautiful, pastel eggs keeping with his original birdlike creation.
At some point the snow hare angered the goddess Ostara. In her rage she turned him into a constellation (Lepus) and banished him to the sky. He would be allowed to return to the Earth only once a year. During his time on Earth, he would have to give his colorful eggs to children attending the Ostara festival. Thus, the Easter Bunny!
A vast amount of cultures give the pastel colored eggs as presents. A gift of a hand painted or decorated egg symbolizes prosperity and abundance throughout the coming year.
During “the Burning Times” in Europe, Folklore suggests the actual hiding of the Easter Eggs originated. During this time believers and followers of the Christian faith were persecuted and shunned. The adults would come together and in lieu of gifting the eggs to people they would hide them. After they were hidden the children would then be encouraged to search for the hidden eggs. It is even believed that the authorities would bribe the children into revealing where the eggs had been hidden. The purpose behind the bribes was to bring the property owner to justice.
Easter and Easter Eggs are a symbol of the resurrection of new life. So the tradition continues as here comes Peter Cottontail, hoping down the Bunny Trail, hiding eggs for the children on Easter Day. The stories of the Easter Egg and the Easter Bunny live on in the hearts of people around the world.
The traditional “Easter Egg” has several different layers of meaning and symbolism. The “egg” represents fertility, thus new life or new beginnings. It was long thought that the Earth itself “hatched” from an egg. Stories of this nature can be traced back from Ireland to Asia.
In Northern Europe, “eggs” were a sign of fertility. Rituals revolved around the egg and were performed on women to guarantee their ability to bear children. A practice still in use today by lay midwives (healers in the Appalachian Mountains) can mysteriously predict the sex of an unborn infant by watching how an egg suspended by a string, rotates over the pregnant woman’s belly. Predictions of this sort have been just about as accurate as doctors using the ever-so-popular ultra sound.
Pastel colored eggs, chicks and bunnies all have their place in the spring festivals of Ostara. These festivals commemorate the Saxxon goddess Oestre or Eastre for whom Easter is named. In German history Oestre or Eastre is known as Ostara. Ostara is the goddess of dawn and spring. The word we use for the female hormone estrogen developed from her name. Ostara is also a goddess of fertility, and her sacred animal, the rabbit, is known for its rapid ability to procreate.
Ostara’s arrival brought about the end of the winter months. Her arrival meant prosperity and new beginnings among plant and animal life alike. As the story goes, Ostara arrived late one year. To her dismay she encountered a bird whose wings had frozen from the severe cold. She had compassion for the animal since he could no longer fly and made him her lover or pet depending on the story version. She turned the bird into a snow hare and gave him two unique abilities. First, he had the ability to run extremely fast and outrun hunters. Second, he was given the ability to lay beautiful, pastel eggs keeping with his original birdlike creation.
At some point the snow hare angered the goddess Ostara. In her rage she turned him into a constellation (Lepus) and banished him to the sky. He would be allowed to return to the Earth only once a year. During his time on Earth, he would have to give his colorful eggs to children attending the Ostara festival. Thus, the Easter Bunny!
A vast amount of cultures give the pastel colored eggs as presents. A gift of a hand painted or decorated egg symbolizes prosperity and abundance throughout the coming year.
During “the Burning Times” in Europe, Folklore suggests the actual hiding of the Easter Eggs originated. During this time believers and followers of the Christian faith were persecuted and shunned. The adults would come together and in lieu of gifting the eggs to people they would hide them. After they were hidden the children would then be encouraged to search for the hidden eggs. It is even believed that the authorities would bribe the children into revealing where the eggs had been hidden. The purpose behind the bribes was to bring the property owner to justice.
Easter and Easter Eggs are a symbol of the resurrection of new life. So the tradition continues as here comes Peter Cottontail, hoping down the Bunny Trail, hiding eggs for the children on Easter Day. The stories of the Easter Egg and the Easter Bunny live on in the hearts of people around the world.
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