If you’re looking to add a theme to your child’s birthday party, try using a Candy Land theme! Even if your child isn’t familiar with Candy Land, they’ll love the bright colors and sweet treats. Transform your home, or party area, into Candy Land while the kids try to make their way to the Candy Castle as a fun party game. This is a great party theme to add to any child’s birthday party, and is acceptable at any time of the year. During the winter, it will keep kids entertained indoors, while during the warmer months, you can take your Candy Land party out to the backyard for a bit more space for some exciting Candy Land games! Here are some party ideas for throwing a Candy Land party.

Convert your home into Candy Land with brightly colored decorations and have the children partake in a life-size game of Candy Land!

If you’ve ever played the Candy Land board game, you know that the objective of the game is to make it to the Candy Castle while going through a series of obstacles. There are many regions, as well as characters, of Candy Land that one must encounter in order to ultimately reach the Candy Castle. The game is based on luck and players do not require any special skill set (other than color recognition) in order to complete the game. For your Candy Land party, you can create several regions of Candy Land and have the kids participate in a life-size game of Candy Land! There are a total of nine different regions of Candy Land, which may be a little time and space consuming, as well as expensive, to set up, so narrow it down to four or five areas. Choose the areas that are the most colorful, such as the Peppermint Forest, the Gumdrop Mountains, the Lollipop Woods, and the Ice Cream Sea. If you don’t have enough space to create four separate sections, mesh these regions all together to create one giant Candy Land.

Begin by decorating the entranceway to your Candy Land party. Find Candy Land letter printouts on the Internet and create a "Candy Land" banner to hang above your party entrance. If you’re feeling crafty, you can also cut and color your own letters using cardboard paper. Color each letter like a peppermint stick using pink and white colors. Punch holes in each letter and string them together with string, spelling out C-A-N-D-Y L-A-N-D. Drape it in the entranceway of your party space and add candy decorations to each side of the entrance. Make two candy canes from two red pool noodles. Use fishing wire, or another type of thin, strong rope or string, to create and secure the arch in the top of the candy canes. Wrap thick white ribbon around the entire noodle. Place one on each side of the party entrance. Also add a few giant lollipops to place around the bottom of each candy cane. Purchase an assortment of brightly colored paper plates, such as orange paper plates, purple, pink, red, green or yellow. Glue each plate (front side) to a thin stick of wood, covering it with clear plastic wrap or cellophane and tying it with a ribbon at the bottom of the plate to make it look like a lollipop.

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To build life-size versions of the colored squares on the game board, use pieces of colored construction paper and tape them down to your floor—use blue paint tape so it will easily come off. Be sure that the colors stick to a pattern while placing them throughout the party space so that the game will play out smoothly.

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Choose one section of your party area to be the Peppermint Forest. Construct one or two more of the pool noodle candy canes you made for the entranceway and place them in the Peppermint Forest area. You can create an “entrance” to the Peppermint Forest using the candy canes, as well as hanging white and red paper streamer from the ceiling or overhang to form a curtain. You can also stick candy cane glitter cutouts onto the walls, or punch holes in them, attach string and hang them from the ceiling. Once the kids have reached this station, you can award them with peppermint candies or mini candy canes!

The next region you can decorate for is the Gumdrop Mountains. Purchase or build three small, round wooden tables—all differing in size. Simply cover them with round table covers, in three separate bright colors. Paint some glue onto the tops of the table covers with a paint brush and sprinkle clear glitter over the glue. Once the glue dries, you’ll have yourself a few life-size gumdrops! Get a couple Styrofoam trees and glue gumdrops onto them to make little gumdrop trees to place on top of the gumdrop tables. When the kids reach this station, you can serve them a handful of gumdrops.

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Remember to make sure your game squares are going through all of your candy regions! The next region you can put together is the Lollipop Woods. Construct lollipops in the same manner as the ones that are placed in the entranceway, using the paper plates, or form a different type of lollipop using balloons. Depending on the space, you can make these lollipops 3D and place them on the floor, or you can make them 2D and stick them to the walls as decorations. Once the kids reach this station, give them a little break from the candy and award them with a giant inflatable lollipop!

Next, form the Ice Cream Sea using ice cream cone decorations. Place ice cream table decorations on the floor, or set up a small table to place them on. Hang ice cream cone tissue decorations from the ceiling. If you feel you need more decorations in this area, you can use pink and white streamers to make the area more secluded. Toss a few red balloons in the ice cream region to act as giant cherries.

Create a dining area as the ending point of the game. Use colorful table decorations and tableware to serve cake and other snacks.

As previously mentioned, the objective of the Candy Land game is to reach the Candy Castle. Instead of creating a castle, you can use your eating area as the final destination of your Candy Land game. Set up a table to hold the birthday cake, and any other snacks you may want to offer the children. Use a light pink table cover, adding a mixture of the decorations you used for decorating the different Candy Land regions. Place some of the decorations on the table, and stick the others to the wall behind the table to create a backdrop. Hang another hand-made banner above, or directly on, the table that reads “Candy Castle.”

Serve your snacks on a variety of colorful paper plates (perhaps the ones that were left over from making the lollipops) and napkins. Add a few table centerpieces to the table that the kids will be eating at—such as small bouquets of real lollipops and cotton candy. The kids can take some of these items home with them as party favors.  

image via catchmyparty.com