Invitations:
The
invitation is a modified draft letter. I
started to make it as authentic as possible, but lightened it up and trimmed it
down after reading the last few paragraphs of an actual draft letter, which
summarizes how soon-to-be soldiers should take care of their personal affairs,
get a will, etc. in case they die in battle.
There was also the fact that using the actual seal of the U.S. would be
illegal. The final product is something
more colorful and fun than an actual draft letter, but still has some of the
World War II flavor. It can be easily
edited for your party needs.
Decorations:
·
Balloons
and/or crepe paper in red, white, and blue (many of the Axis and Allies had
these colors, not just the USA) or camouflage.
·
Flags
from the Axis and Allies countries - http://www.flagco.com/ is a pretty good site for historical
flags. It also has a variety of sizes,
including toothpick flags, which are fun for cakes/cupcakes.
·
World
War II posters – you can buy actual posters or get Public Domain pictures from
the Internet and print them. Be advised
that some of the propaganda posters are not very PC, so you will want to
consider your audience (Some propaganda posters have racial slurs and negative
racial/gender stereotypes). However, there
are plenty of posters that are patriotic, upbeat and even humorous. I was able
to find enough that were kid appropriate that I peppered our walls with them
for the party. Some sites where you can
order posters are:
Party
favors:
·
Axis
and Allies miniatures
·
World
War II plastic soldiers – (Hobby Lobby sometimes carries them in store for a
reasonable price, but does not always carry them online)
·
Dog
tags
·
World
War II posters sticker book by Dover
·
Parachute
men (variety of styles - usually
available at party stores and the toy section of stores like Walmart and
Target)
·
World
War II gliders (these were a huge hit with my son and his friends)
The
Cake:
Make
a basic white cake – any shape is fine.
After pouring the batter into the pan, put a few drops of red and blue
food coloring on the batter. Use a
butter knife to swirl the food coloring into the batter. Do not mix the food coloring in
completely. The less you mix it in, the
brighter the color will be, and the swirls will be more distinct. Also, mixing the two colors together will
turn the batter purple J.
Another
option is to use a chocolate cake, because it works well as the “dirt” under
the army figurines.
Put
one or more small cakes or cupcakes (upside down) on the top of the main cake
for the hills in your army landscape.
The
“dirt” is chocolate frosting with Oreo cookie crumbs sprinkled on top. Coconut dyed with green food coloring works well
for grass; however, if your birthday boy or girl hates coconut (like mine did),
you can use green sprinkles or green frosting instead.
Decorate
the top of the cake with toothpick flags (purchased or made by printing small
pictures of flags and cutting them out), plastic army men, tanks, etc.
Games/Activities:
Military Ranks
There
are many internet sites that have information about WWII military ranks, and
you can choose to keep the game relatively simple, or, depending on the age of
the party-goers and the branch(es) of the military you want to focus on, you
can make the game more challenging. Because my son wanted his party to be
themed around ‘Axis and Allies-War at Sea,” we chose the Navy. If you search
for “WWII military ranks” on the web, you will find options for other military
branches, as well as other countries beside the U.S.
At
the very beginning of the party, we gave the kids their dog tags, and explained
that they were enlisted as “ensigns.” The dog tags we bought had a place to
write the boys’ names and their rank. We
wrote their names in, but told them that we would fill in the rank at the end
of the party.
We
assigned each of the other games we played a certain number of ranks for
winning. For example, if you flew your
glider the farthest, you might go up a rank.
For more challenging games, like ‘Sink the Ship,’ we had the 1st
place winner go up three ranks, the 2nd place winner go up 2 ranks,
and the 3rd place winner go up 1 rank. We had certain activities where all the
children went up a rank, so that everyone got a chance to advance.
At
the end of the party, the kid(s) with the highest rank won a special prize, but
I found they were just as excited to have us write Vice Admiral or Admiral on
the rank on their dog tags. Even the
kids that only advanced part way up the ranks were excited to see what their
final officer rank was.
Sink the Ship
You
will need:
·
Flat
‘decorator’ marbles or poker chips – different colors for each team (red,
white, and blue) work well
·
Blocks
of wood (painted/decorated with WWII ship names is a fun extra)
·
A
tub or kiddie pool full of water
Fill
the tub/pool with water and float the wooden ships in it. Have the kids throw the flat marbles/poker
chips and try to get them to land on the ships.
This is harder than it looks, so make it age appropriate. I had a bunch of very competitive 9-10
year-olds who found hitting the small (abt 6”x 2”), moving targets
difficult. In hindsight, larger blocks
of wood might have been more appropriate.
That said, the kids still loved it, and they didn’t give up until they finally
‘hit’ the ships.
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