Zamboni party - got ideas?

[Alyssa]

Colin wants a zamboni cake for his birthday. So I guess I'll try to do a bit of a hockey/zamboni theme. Anyone have any brilliant ideas? I might print out some pictures of zambonis for decorations and I might be able to find hockey/zambonis for the kids to color. I found a cool online coloring site but not so good for the party. http://www.zamboni.com/kidszone/ColoringBook/

PS - if you like "what the hell is a zamboni" here is a picture of the machine that cleans the ice at hockey games
http://www.news.wisc.edu/wisweek/05-Apr-2000/images/Hoyt_Jim_zamboni_00.jpg

[EricaW]

Track down The Zamboni Song by the Gear Daddies and maybe play musical chairs with it.

[Lora]

Patrick wants a hockey theme for his Birthday party too! Believe it or not he wants a Bruins cake which is his latest favorite team. Of course you know that Ed is try to persuade him to go with another team though. A zamboni cake sounds so cool though! We got a cake at Walmart for Christopher's second Birthday that had a wind up zamboni on it. I will have dig up a picture of it for you!

Lora

[bunybomb]

Alyssa,

I found this description of a hockey/zamboni themed party. It's a little extravagant but it gives some good ideas: :lol: It sounds really fun.

All American Hockey Party For my son's 8th birthday we had a hockey party for him. Since it is so hard to find hockey party supplies and ideas, we had to be a little creative. We decided to incorporate an all american theme with hockey. We started out with the INVITATIONS. My husband took a picture of our son in his hockey gear for the front of the invitation that was made to look like a trading card. On the back of the card instead of the stats, it gave the party information. Along with the card, we sent each player (guest) a letter from the All American Hockey League saying that he had been drafted to the All American Hockey League and would need to join his teamates from all across the country on _______date. It was signed by the president of the league (my husband). After the invitations went out, my son said that all of the boys could hardly wait to come to the party. Decorations: Since we have a big back yard and live on a court, it was the perfect location for our hockey party. We made the dining room into a concession stand area with an actual concession stand made out of PVC pipe. We decorated it with red, white,and blue balloons, streamers, and bows that I got on clearance that was left over from 4th of July. We also had an archway of red, white, and blue balloons leading into the concession stand area. On our driveway leading up to the house, we had metallic flags leading the path to the entrance of the arena(house) and lockerroom (living room). IDEAS- When all of the players arrived, we had a meeting in the lockerroom and told them what they would be doing for their 1st day of practice. We started with tatoos that had an american theme (us flags, uncle sam, fireworks, etc.). Once all of the players had proudly displayed their tatoos, it was time to move on to the craft area where they would test their creative skills. We had them put together a foam star with red, white, and blue beads hanging from it. Again, it was a cheap project since it was a left over 4th of July item. After our craft, it was time to get out the uniforms. I had purchased 6 red and 6 blue jerseys from our local dollar store. I then took each child's last name and using my computer, I created tags that would be laminated and pinned to each player's jersey. As I called out names, each child was very excited to see their names on the back of the jerseys and put them on. Once we had outfitted the teams, it was time to play hockey. We had set up two hockey goals in our court and I borrowed the street hockey sticks which also happened to be red and blue from my son's elementary school. My niece and my sister dressed as referees complete with whistles, while my 4 year old daughter and her friend wore red, white, and blue cheerleading outfits to cheer both teams on. It was time for the game to begin. We went over all of the rules for the game including good sportsmanship and the boys had a blast. We let them play for about 45 minutes stopping off and on for drink breaks which were served in water bottles. I painted hockey sticks and pucks on each bottle and put each child's name on a bottle so they wouldn't get mixed up. FOOD- Although the boys didn't want to stop to eat, they set down their gear and headed for the concession stand which was being manned by friends of mine. The boys had a choice of hotdogs or nachos which were served in containers like you would find at a concession stand. We also served fruit in a puck (cup), and for the drink, gatorade in a sport top bottle. After everyone ate in the stands (outside on my deck), we had cake and cupcakes. The cake was bought at a local bakery and had a hockey rink on it complete with a wind-up zamboni that moved around the cake. (How cool!) The cupcakes were iced in red or blue with white stars on top to represent the All-American Team. When everyone was finished, my husband took individual pictures of each child in their hockey gear and also a group picture. Needless to say the boys were anxious to get back to the game. GOODY BAGS- I had ordered duffle bags from Oriental Trading and had each child's name put on using my computer. We filled each bag with their water bottles, King Dongs (hostess round chocolate cakes) that looked like hockey pucks, gummy mouth guards, a hockey trading card, and their name tags from the jerseys. THANK-YOUS- Jacob sent each boy their own trading card made from their individual picture and a group picture too. The parents had to drag their kids off the ice (street)to go home! The parents said "How are you going to top this next year?" "I have a year to decide". The party ran for 21/2 hours and cost a total of $100.00. Not bad for an All American Birthday Party today.

http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/sports_parties_16.html

[marcy]

Wow, that party description seems very involved.

My lowly thought is make either little cakes in the shape of pucks (get a sheet cake, and use a cookie cutter to cut out puck sizes) or make Jello jigglers shaped like pucks.

[TtownAnne]

I think you could make a Zamboni cake pretty easily, just a rectangle cake cut down a bit and all the details done in icing? Some of the other ideas from Becky's email (holy Martha Stewart friend, Becky! :woa: ) could probably be toned down a bit and still have an awesome party. I love the idea of Jello pucks! Maybe in the colors of his favorite team?

[Melissa]

How in the world did she do all of that for $100????

[~Andrea~]

this site (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cubpack301.com/cake_zamboni.jpe&imgrefurl=http://cubpack301.com/cake%2520samples.htm&h=100&w=150&sz=14&tbnid=0u-CYqRUhZFyaM:&tbnh=60&tbnw=90&hl=en&start=3&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dzamboni%2Bcake%2B%26svnum%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG) has a picture of a zamboni cake at the bottom of the page, but it's a small pic and hard to see. Maybe it will give you an idea though :dunno:

http://cubpack301.com/cake_zamboni.jpe

[stass]

I found this. (http://cgi.ebay.com/DETROIT-RED-WINGS-REMOTE-CONTROL-ZAMBONI_W0QQitemZ8749937835QQcategoryZ25229QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Though he's probably not a Detroit fan.

[~Andrea~]

this site (http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/novelties/sports/hockey.htm) has hockey cake kits that include a wind up zamboni on a track

http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/novelties/sports/hockeykits.jpg

[Cami]

Do they ever let kids ride on the zamboni? Can you have the party at the rink?

That birthdaypartyideas website is the best place to find party ideas. Everything is on there.

[Lora]

this site (http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/novelties/sports/hockey.htm) has hockey cake kits that include a wind up zamboni on a track

http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/novelties/sports/hockeykits.jpg

That's the one that we had for Christopher's party. We got it at Walmart. We saved the zamboni so we may use it again. My Mom's friend makes our cakes for us now and does a fabulous job with the decorating. I think I will give her the zamboni and see what she can come up with for Patrick's party.

Lora

[Clare]

That's for the picture and explanation - I was like WTH is a Zamboni :scratch: :lol: My first thought was one of those Italian Christmas cake thingys and I was wondering why Colin would want one of those :lol2:

I second the birthdaypartyideas.com suggestion. I get a lot of ideas from that site.

[Alyssa]

I knew posting here would give me lots of ideas. :aok: I still need to go back and read more on what you all posted though. We went to the Bruins game today so I'm a little hockey-d out. :crazy: I'll come back tomorrow to let it sink in and plan. I can't decide if I want to try to make a cake or buy one though. :dunno:

[Alyssa]

So the party is Saturday. We couldn't find that zamboni cake locally, so I am doing a regular hockey cake (with goals/players) and throwing a zamboni on top of it. I may put out chocolate covered Oreos because a.) they look like pucks and b.) they're chocolate covered Oreos. :lick:

We are going to play Pin Colin's Face on the Zamboni Driver. My co-worker blew up a big picture of a Zamboni and we've printed out Colin's face wearing a helmet. My sister is going to do some face/arm painting with sticks & pucks...a Zamboni if she can swing it. I thought of musical chairs but I don't think the kids will have the attention span to get it...they're all pretty little. I am going to put Mighty Ducks on TV for background and/or play Colin's favorite "Jock Jams" CD for a good old dance party. I have printed a bunch of hockey coloring pages and am giving those with crayons as favors.

If you have any other brilliant ideas, I'd love to hear them. :)

[bunybomb]

Personally, Alyssa you have all the makings of a great zamboni party! :ura1: I might have to steal your ideas for Alex's bday this year. Any party with chocolate covered oreos is a great party!!! :lick:


I love your "party bag" idea with coloring pages and crayons. Throw in a ho-ho for a fun puck effect. :lol: Edited to add: Ho-ho is not what I meant, what is it....oh a Ding-dong! (sorry, my glass of wine after work was a big one tonight)

[Alyssa]

Personally, Alyssa you have all the makings of a great zamboni party! :ura1: I might have to steal your ideas for Alex's bday this year. Any party with chocolate covered oreos is a great party!!! :lick:


I love your "party bag" idea with coloring pages and crayons. Throw in a ho-ho for a fun puck effect. :lol: Edited to add: Ho-ho is not what I meant, what is it....oh a Ding-dong! (sorry, my glass of wine after work was a big one tonight)Good thought on the Ding Dong or Ring Ding or whatever they are. Processed and yummy. :lol: I can email you the file of the coloring pages if you decide to do this for Alex. :nod:

[LeeCeeNQ]

Sounds like a great party! :up:

[bunybomb]

Send it girlie! Alex keeps talking about a robot party which sounds more difficult than a zamboni/hockey party and not nearly as fun as your ideas! (we have over 8 months, but you know how 3 yos are. I love the "pin the face on the zamboni" game. :lol: I'm sending you a PM!

[Brandi Jo]

Wow, Alyssa, I'm sure that Colin would LOVE some PartyLite candles for his birthday!

Gotta love spammers!

[Brandi Jo]

I'm avidly watching this thread because Riley informed me that he wanted a "Blues Hockey Birthday" (never mind that his birthday isn't until November. You've got some great ideas so far!

[Alyssa]

Wow, Alyssa, I'm sure that Colin would LOVE some PartyLite candles for his birthday!

Gotta love spammers!The post must have been removed, but OMG - nice! :rolleyes:

Becky - I have the packet to send you. Brandi, let me know if you want it too. (Anyone else? It's just hockey coloring pages.)

Here is the recap, largely copied from my journal:

Everyone arrived at 11:30am, and I had light snacks out before the pizza arrived at 12:15pm. I also made a Caesar salad.

Everyone finished eating around 1pm, and I then ran "Pin Colin on the Zamboni" game. Colin totally cheated, pulling down the hockey tie from his eyes and pinning his own picture dead-on the zamboni driver. Only we didn't realize at first so we were very proud of him for like 6 seconds. :lol: Some of the kids wanted nothing to do with it though. But Colin kept trying to spin them around.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc25b3127cce975e16f2735a00000017108AbsWLFk0YtR

Presents came next...http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc25b3127cce975e17ffb2ff00000017108AbsWLFk0YtR
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc25b3127cce975e1691f20900000017108AbsWLFk0YtR
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc25b3127cce975e16aa730200000017108AbsWLFk0YtR

Then we had cake. He was very pleased with his cake and loved having everyone sing to him.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc25b3127cce975e1721b22100000017108AbsWLFk0YtR
http://www.onceuponalife.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7101&stc=1

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc25b3127cce975e11ecb2ef00000017108AbsWLFk0YtR
People seemed to like the crayons and hockey-themed activity boolets I made up with zamboni facts and coloring pages.

I put up balloons with hockey words for decorations, since it's so tough to find any out there.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc25b3127cce975e11e4b2e700000017108AbsWLFk0YtR
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc25b3127cce975e173a330a00000017108AbsWLFk0YtR

[Lora]

Looks like Colin had a great party! I'm looking forward to Patrick's hockey party next month. Ed is going to draw what we want on his cake for my Mom's friend who is making it. Patrick is still trying to decide what team he wants. One day it's the Bruins and the next day it's something else. We told him he has to make a decision soon. Would you mind sending me the packet of hockey coloring pages? Christopher and Patrick would love them!

Lora

[Brandi Jo]

Okay, I'm looking back through this thread because Riley is still adament about having a hockey party. Alyssa, do you still have the stuff you put in the goody bags?