Make Over

Invitations

• Your makeover party invites could go something like this:
  Do you dream of glitz and glamour?
  Do you want to ditch the old hairstyle and be pampered and styled?
  Well this is going to be your big day
  Grab your hairbrush and your favourite accessories and meet at the beauty salon (address),
  at (time),on (date) for a mega makeover party
  
• Dig out a less than flattering photo of the party kid ( don't worry, she'll thank you later!) plus a very nice one. Make enough copies for the party guests, using a scanner or get some reprinted. Make invites using coloured craft paper and paste the unflattering photo on the front with the words BEFORE underneath. Place the nicer photo inside with the word AFTER written below.
  
• Cut out lots of pictures from beauty magazines and make a collage on the front of plain invitation cards.
  
• Be sneaky and get parents of the guests to give you a photo of the guest not looking their best. Glue to the front of the invite with the word BEFORE written below and on the inside, place a blank oval paper shape for the guests to design their own AFTER image. You can use these as a guide for the makeover event.
  Place the invites in cheap makeup purses picked up from bargain stores.
  

Costume
Ask the kids to come dressed causal and without makeup but they could bring a special costume if the want for the 'after photo' shoot.
Scour the thrift and charity shops for cheap clothing and accessories. You'll be amazed at what you can find. Make a wardrobe area and have the clothes hung up, washed and ironed. NB take into account the different sizes of the guests.
PJ's and robes

Party Decorations

• Have a big sign on your door or gate saying "Welcome to X’s Beauty Salon"
  
• Decide on a colour theme.
  
• Set up different beauty stations in the party room(s) such as hair, nails, makeup, wardrobe, accessories. Make a big sign to put over each area. Don't forget the accessories such as lots of hair spray, hair ties, tissues and all important makeup remover and wet wipes.
  
• Cut out lots of beauty and hair pictures from magazines and stick to large craft card and place on the walls around the room. If your pictures are small, no problem as you can make a collage.
  
• Have lots of mirrors around the room. All makeover beauties want to admire themselves!
  
• If using balloons, put a small accessory inside such as hair ties, stick on jewels, earrings etc and them blow up. The kids can pop them later to get their balloon surprise
  
• Think about the lighting.
  
• Have lots of hair styling and beauty magazines on a table so that the kids can browse for ideas.
  
• Make a cat walk for the fashion show. Place a floor length curtain over a doorway or create a dazzling entrance with this dazzling metallic foil curtain and then place a sheet or carpet runner on the floor as the walkway. The beauties can emerge from behind the curtain and strut their stuff! Have some suitable music going on in the background.
  

Food

• Cosmetic Canapés The kids might be more interested in the makeover and not smudging their lipstick so bit sized finger food is perfect. Top small crackers or bread rounds with cheese, spreads and pate. Make it look grown up using decorative garnishes.
  
• Blushing bagels Top or fill bagels with their favourite fillings
  
• Jewel cookies Make biscuit dough using a packet mix. Roll out and cut into rounds with a cookie cutter and place on a baking sheet. Using a smaller cookie cutter, remove the centre of each cookie and replace with a hard boiled sweet. Bake in the oven and when cool remove carefully from the tray. The sweet will have melted to form a lovely jewel center.
  
• Ruby tomatoes Dig out the centre of small cherry tomatoes. Using an icing bag, fill with cream cheese flavoured with chopped chives.
  
• Pink fizz Buy ready made or make your own addling a dash of pink food colouring. Top with paper umbrellas and coloured bendy straws.
  
• Star studded fruit platter Make a large fruit salad using lots of bright coloured fruits such as strawberries, cherries, oranges and grapes. Top with slices of star fruit.
  
• Mirror cake Prepare a basic chocolate cake using a packet cake mix. Make a round cake the size that you want and when cool place a round mirror in the centre of the cake. Decorate the cake with frosting and then place candles around the mirror. When lit they will reflect in the mirror and it will look truly dazzling.
  

Activities

• Picture frames This is a good makeover party activity for when the kids first arrive and the frames can be used later for their 'after makeover' photos. Buy inexpensive plain wooden photo frames. Provide the kids with lots of glue, glitter and paint and let their imaginations run wild.
  
• BEFOR/AFTERE photo shoot Sit the kids on a chair holding a placard which says "Before" on it. Take Polaroid (or digital) photos to put on a wall chart so that they can have a giggle. Get them to look as scruffy as possible! Repeat at the end of the makeover session with an "After" photo.
  
• Fashion designer In advance, prepare some large templates of a body using strong white card – about 12" in length should be enough. Give the kids lots of fashion magazines that they can cut up, sequins, stickers, fabric scraps, braids and ribbons and lots of glue. They then need to make a fashion outfit to glue onto their template plus add hair and facial features. This can be followed by a judging competition to see who has created the best outfit.
  
• Jewellery trees In advance find some strong twigs that have several smaller twigs coming off the main stem. Spray with gold or silver paint. Put a ball of modelling clay in the bottom of a small clay flower pot and secure the tree into the clay. When the kids arrive they can decorate the tree with glitter glue and paint the pots in lots of snazzy patterns. These make great party favors.
  
• Tattoos You can buy stick-on and washable tattoos on-line (US supplier) or you could use slightly more permanent, henna tattoos. Henna kits can be bought from many beauty shops but it does require adult supervision as it can be very messy and the results take a few weeks to fade. I have had my feet and hands done in the past and if done properly it can look really stunning.
  
• Professional hair and beauty advice Think about asking at a local salon if they would come to your house for the party to give the kids beauty and hair advice. If not enlist the help of several adult or older teenagers to act as beauty therapists. Wear white coats or buy long white shirts from a thrift or charity shop and put on name badges with their chosen area of expertise.
  
• Of course - your makeover stations
  

Party Games

• Lipstick mania Blindfold all the guests and issue each with a cheap brightly coloured lipstick. Make everyone turn around on the spot 3 times and then they have to go in search of a partner. Once everyone is paired up, they have to attempt to apply the lipstick to their partner still with the blindfolds on. Set a time limit and then everyone can remove their blindfolds to see how gorgeous their lips are! Definitely have your camera ready for this one!
  
• Makeup memory Prepare a tray with a variety of makeup items on it – about fifteen to twenty items is plenty. Don’t let the kids see it till the game starts. Issue each child with a pen and paper and then place the tray down in front of them. Give them three minutes to memorise what is on the tray and then remove the tray from the room. Each child has to write down as many makeup items as they can remember within a time limit. The person who memorises the most is the winner.
  
• Pass the blusher I know that 'Pass the parcel' is more a younger child’s game but this is a slightly more grown up version which for some reason always goes down well and is really hilarious. In advance collect a variety of whacky and funny clothes such as over the top hats, scarves, nappies!, whacky glasses and accessories and so on. Sit the kids in a large circle with the clothes in a large sack in the middle. Start the music and the kids have to pass round a blusher compact. When the music stops, the person left holding the blusher has to put her hand in the bag and draw out an item of clothing and put it on. Once all the clothes have been used the results can be pretty hilarious. Check out who is the ultimate 'blusher'!
  

Party Favours and Prizes

• Makeup bags filled with lots of small makeup items such as lipstick, blusher, eye shadow, mirror.
  
• Photo frame with their 'before' and 'after' makeover photos.
  
• Mirrors
  
• Hairbrushes
  
• Hair accessories.
  
• Little books on makeup ideas.
  
• Teen fashion magazine