The weekend of May 8th-10th is the weekend to commemorate and celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, marking the end of the war in Europe.
Why not throw a “LOCKDOWN” VE Day Party at home!
Our sister site Wharfedale & Craven Mumbler have put together some great ideas to get the kids involved!
Create your own red white & blue bunting
Give your party a British theme with your own designs of red, white & blue bunting! There is a great free bunting template which you can download here. Grab your paints, crayons, pens and crafting materials and get busy! Once the designs are complete simple cut the flags and attach together with ribbon or string!
Design your own VE DAY party hat and have a competition for the best design!
This one will have to be done in advance.
Grab some old newspaper, PVA glue, some balloons and some paint and create your own party hat from Papier-mache!! For a top hat try using a flower pot covered in cling film for your mould!
- blow up the balloons to slightly bigger than head size
- cover the top of the balloon in the newspaper and PVA glue. Add 2 -3 layers. This will take around 2 days to dry.
- Once the hat is dry pop the balloon or remove it from the cling film.
- To add a brim to your hat simple take your dry moulded hat and place on a surface covered in cling film. Set the hat at the centre so you can papier mache around it. First, add long paper strips around the hat to fix it in place on the brim. Build the brim with 3 layers of papier-mache.
- The brim doesn’t need to be flat, it can be moulded into any shape you wish!
Make a bonnet brim by placing 4 cans underneath the rim.
Make a Cowboy hat brim by using something to hold up the edges as the papier-mache dries.
Use a tray covered in cling film as your surface to and papier-mache up the rims of the tray to create a lip around your brim.
- Paint your hat or you could use crepe paper or wrapping paper to cover it!
- Add feathers, ribbons, flowers or even stickers to your hat!
Have a Picnic
Set out the picnic blanket in the garden (if the sun is shining!!) or in front of the telly and enjoy some best of British favourites!
Otherwise you could have an afternoon tea…what better way to celebrate! See everything you need for throwing the perfect afternoon tea at home with the kids here
You could even add some of our…
Red, White & Blue Baking Idea’s
Get the aprons out and whip up a storm (or a flour cloud!) in the kitchen with the kids!
These are our favourite recipes for Royal Wedding themed goodies.
Blush Meringues try using food colouring to make red and blue meringues!
Red, White & Blue Strawberries are perfect to make with your littlest ones.
Red, White & Blue Swirl Cookies
Or for the quintessentially English try adding blueberries to your traditional Strawberries & cream.
Don’t fancy R,W&B then try your hand at 1940’s baking!
There are lots of recipe ideas online to take you back to the 1940s. Here are a few of our favourites!
- Apple Crumble
- Bread & Butter pudding
- Oaty Biscuits
Fancy Dress Theme
We all know how kids love to dress up at any occasion so why not have the kids find out about what children wore during WW2 and recreate their best WW2 outfits or they could come in their military uniforms, as knights or their Sunday best!
See some VE Fancy Dress ideas here
Party Games
Put a spin on the traditional party games with these 5 fun ideas!
- Pin the gas mask on the child – a take on pin the tail on the donkey
- Pass the parcel – have the parcel wrapped in newspaper or parcel paper for an authentic take
- 1940’s Bingo: Rather than using numbers have 1940s films, icons or events there is a great guide here
- The Soldier Says… a VE Day themed take on Simon says
- Air Raid Statues. Like Musical statues but instead of pausing the music play air raid sounds instead. Use Air Raid sounds on YouTube and gets the kids to dance around, freezing when the air raid plays