Recipe: Pizza party (re: 7 year old birthday party)

The thing with kids is that we want to give them guidance without squashing their original ideas. If she wants a pizza party, no other party will make her quite as happy. Unless of course she has changed her mind completely by now, which would be typical of a 7-yr-old. Maybe check on that before you proceed!

If she still wants a pizza party and you don't want to just call the local delivery joint, try doing a make-your-own pizza party. You can buy small pre-baked crusts, or buy the crust dough in cans (the Pillsbury brand is pretty reliable)and use it to make smaller square crusts. Have pizza sauce and a variety of toppings ready to go, and let the kids assemble their own pizzas. This doubles as an activity, and kids usually enjoy it. The little pizzas bake up fairly quickly.

Another option is to let them make dessert pizzas, or one big group dessert pizza to stand in for the bday cake. There are lots of dessert pizza recipes on TRL, just do a search.

And you can use the pizza theme to update traditional party games. Pin the Tail on the Donkey becomes Pin the Pepperoni on the Pizza, maybe trying to hit closest to the center (using paper "pizza" and "pepperoni", of course). Or if you want it to be a party to remember forever, give each kid a lump of dough and teach them how to spin it over their heads! What a fun mess that would be! Okay, maybe we're getting out of hand here, but you see the point. You can have a pizza party that's more than just calling the local joint. And remember to ask the bday girl what she wants to do!