Decorate for the Party

• Since the board game Candyland is set up in separate regions, why not decorate your party room that way too? Try the following ideas for your party, based on the characters from each region:
  
  Lolly: This is the little lady in charge of lollipops. Set up a section for her at your party. Use large circles of colored paper with white paper "sticks" to paste to your walls. Get Styrofoam shapes and stick real lollipops into them for decorative centerpieces.
  
  Gramma Nutt: This is the character in the land of peanut-flavored treats. Note: You might want to avoid this area at your party if you have guests who might have peanut allergies. Ask first, or skip her section. If you don't have any allergic guests, you can set up buckets of peanuts and even put out peanut-butter sandwiches or crackers. This might be a good area to get the littler guests away from all the sugar and put something solid in their tummies. Decorate this area with brown-paper peanuts or just use the buckets of peanuts on the tables.
  
  Mr. Mint: This is the candy cane man. If candy canes aren't in season, you can let kids make them out of red and white twisted pipe cleaners for a craft in Mr. Mint's area. Include round peppermints for refreshments or to decorate your tabletop.
  
  Lord Licorice: He's in charge of those red and black twisted treats. Try twisting red and black streamers for decorations in this area. Use licorice sticks as drinking straws for a beverage station, or ask guests to glue them onto paper for a creative and sweet-smelling craft.
  
  Jolly: This is the gumdrop man. Have a gumdrop-stacking game competition for your guests. Or ask them to create gumdrop decorations on gingerbread houses using icing and graham crackers or slabs of gingerbread.
  
  Gloppy: Mr. Chocolate has arrived. Chocolate fudge pops can be a cool treat for his area. You can also let children have a fondue station here and dip fruit, bread or marshmallows into melted chocolate.
  
  The birthday cake station: If your birthday honoree is a little lady, let Princess Frostine rule the cake station. If your birthday honoree is a boy, try letting King Kandy rule the fun. Put up a drawing of this character near the cake, or make a birthday crown for your guest of honor with the character's image.
  
  

Food and Drinks

• The centerpiece of any birthday spread is, of course, the cake. If you're feeling especially creative, you can try to decorate a rectangular sheet cake like the Candyland board. Use icing to create the multicolored path and characters, and you can get an old game set to put game pieces on top. If that sounds a little too complicated for you, try making a round cake in the shape of a gumdrop or a striped hard candy.
  
  For other snacks, candy is an obvious choice. You can also try circular sugar cookies--let kids decorate them like their favorite candy treats. Going with the multicolored theme of the board game, you can also set out a rainbow of healthier snacks like fruits, veggies and cheese.
  
  For beverages, try fizzy floats or fruit punches in rainbow colors to match the snack tables.
  
  

Gifts for Guests

• Give your guests a goodie bag that's more than just an assortment of candy. Try finding candy-flavored lip glosses or lotions for female guests. Consider school supplies, like pencils or decorative erasers, with a candy theme. Incorporate other fun rainbow-colored accessories like yo-yos or bendy straws that match your theme without overloading on the sugar.