Venue Options

• Rent a party room at an indoor rink.
• Skate at a local outdoor rink and take the party home afterward.
• For a season full of fun, build your own backyard rink.

tip: remember to rent skates – reserve sizes beforehand – and ask for parent volunteers to help keep everyone on their feet.

Great Ways to Decorate

At an arena

• Make a large sign accented with skating-theme stickers for the party-room door.
• Choose an “icy” palette, like light blue, silver and white for plastic tableware, tablecloth, streamers and balloons.
  Or, hockey fans will love their favourite team’s colours.

For a backyard party

• Hang holiday lights for a festive feel.
• Put out plastic lawn chairs for a place to rest.
• Set up a hot chocolate stand.
• Anchor helium balloons at intervals around the rink by tying the string around snowballs.

Fun for all

At an arena

• Hire an instructor to wow kids with skating tricks, to lead skating games and to help beginners.
• Structure the party by separating two 1/2 hour or hour long time-slots on the ice with a 1/2 an hour for opening presents, eating snacks and cutting the cake.
• Play Ice Tag; teach kids to skate backwards; or have a super-cool dance party.

Backyard or outdoor rink

• Play Cold Snowball (just like hot potato only with a snowball).
• Play Keep the Balloon Up – on ice skates!
• Play Ice Tag; teach kids to skate backwards; or have a super-cool dance party.

Fab Favours

• colourful mitts
  tip: give the mitts out early to help identify party goers at the rink.
• a skating badge or ribbon or hockey cards
• stickers or stamps with a skating or winter theme
• kids’ fun-flavour lip balm
• small plastic hockey stick
• inexpensive mug with skating or winter motif stuffed with a single serving pack of hot chocolate