Winter Wonderland Party This party was for my daughter's first birthday, which is in mid-january. i decided to do a Winter One-Derland party with Maddy as the snow princess and the party was all WHITE - white food, white and silver decorations, and all the guests in white.   To start - THE INVITATIONS. I had invitations printed on white paper with a pearly sheen to it. In very contemporary calligraphy, I had the poem I wrote printed. It read: In a majical kingdom 'neath a blanket of white; lives a tiny snow princess who's full of delight.  Her icicle castle is ready for fun; for this tiny snow princess is soon turning one. Hitch a ride on a snowflake and soar through the breeze past snowy topped mountains and frost covered trees. The snowmen will greet you the event will be grand; so join us in Madelena's winter ONE-derland."  The invitation was placed in a clear vellum envelope and addressed with a silver gel pen and stamped with a snowflake stamp.  The inside of the envelope was filled with silver confetti (snow). In the invitation the guests were instructed to wear white and wrap their gift in white or silver.   THE DECORATIONS: I got so many decorations at 80% off from the post-christmas sales!  I covered the house with white 'fake' snow floor and large furniture items and white ballons. I covered the sofas and chairs with white sheets and hung white sheets over my colored curtains. I sprayed the windows with the fake snow too. I borrowed my sister's fake white 6 foot christmas tree and placed that in the main room. i draped tule all down the banisters along with wide silver ribbons.  The fireplace displayed a nice warm fire and was also swaged with white tule and tinsel garland.  I found tall branches that were 'frosted' with silver fake snow and put them in tall vases on the mantle. I made a large "north pole" pole and had a wooden sled in the corner. All table tops had white table clothes.  On the main dining room table i laid a very very large mirror (left over from a bathroom renovation project) on top of a white table cloth.  The effect was a mirrored buffet table for all the food.  Silver candle sticks glass vases filled with small silver xmas balls or clear beads adorned different table tops in groupings. A cut out about 100 snowflakes out of white paper and hung them from the ceilings everywhere to appear as if it were snowing. I also used silver tinsel and white lights in strategic places.  I wore a white dress as the snow queen and of course all the guests came in white with their white and silver wrapped gifts which they put under the white xmas tree.   GAMES/ACTIVITIES:  We played snowsuit relay. The kids were divided into 2 teams.  Each team member had to run down and put on a hat scarf gloves coat boots and earmuffs and run back to their team mate take off all snowgear and then the next one got dressed. They had so much fun with this! Then we played cold snowball (basically hot potato). They also played "freeze dance". For a craft they got to decorate their own hot chocolate mug with ceramic paints.   MENU:  The food was all white. I made a white bean bruschetta (made with cannelli beans) assorted white cheeses with water crackers (whitish) white veggie plater with ranch dip which consisted of cauliflower mushrooms and cucumbers (peeled). I also had popcorn and white yogurt covered pretzels to snack on.  For the main dishes I made homemade potato and leek soup (which was the favorite!) white pizza white mac and cheese (homemade) and white corn.  For dessert I have been taking a wilton cake decorating class and tried out my hand at an elaborate cake.  It was a 3 tiered white cake with white frosting and pale blue accents of flowers stars etc in icing. It resembled a castle for the snow princess.  The kids also made their own white sundaes. They had vanilla icecream and a series of toppings placed in little glass bowls from which to choose:  white m&ms (get from party city or candy store or order online any color) mini marshmellows whipped cream silver jimmies white chocolate chips.  Of course white hot chocolate was in a big pot on the stove with whipped cream topping.  The drinks of course had to be white/clear as well.... sprite white grape juice punch and water.   GIFT BAGS: The gift bags were simple white bags from the dollar store and I wrote each of their names on the front with silver glitter glue.  Inside they had a small vellum bag of marshmellows a packet of hot chocolate a pair of gloves (from dollar store) a small vellum bag of snowcaps candy and a chapstick.  The also were able to take home their decorated mug.   Everyone raved about the party.  It was so much fun and not that expensive to decorate for if you get all the stuff after the holidays and are just 'creative' with what you already have. the white buffet really blew everyone away.  "