Pizza Party Ideas: Decorating and Menu

• Visit your local pizzeria and ask to purchase personal size pizza boxes in which to mail the invitations. Most pizza parlors will give you the limited number of boxes you need free of charge. Your child can get involved by decorating the pizza boxes with paint or markers. Once your child has them all decorated, place an invitation into each box and mail. Postage should not exceed $1.00 for this unique delivery method.
  
  
• Place a red and white checked table cloth on the dining table or cover your table cloth with pizza party placemats.
  
  
• Small, aluminum pizza pans can serve as plates.
  
  
• Make a centerpiece out of a chef's hat, oven mitt, wooden spoon and pizza pan.
  
  
• Place chef's hats (one for each guest) on helium-filled balloons. As the guests arrive give each one their own hat. Children can use markers to draw faces on their “balloon chefs.” Later in the party, the chef hats can be used for a craft activity.
  
  
• Using construction paper, cut out round pizza shapes and decorate with pieces of paper pepperoni, sausage, green pepper, olives, etc. Hang the paper pizzas throughout the party area.
  
  
• Place a sign in the front yard or on the door directing guests to “Robert’s Pizzeria” substituting your child’s name.
  Tip: Have as many of the ingredients prepared as possible. Cut vegetables and grate the cheese before the guests arrive. For parties of five or more, we suggest you prepare at least two containers of each ingredient for the guests to use.

Make Your Own Pizza Party
While there are a number of ready-made pizza dough varieties available on the market, for homemade dough that the guests can make themselves, try the following no-rise pizza dough recipe:

No Rise Pizza Dough

• 1 pkg. active dry yeast
• 1 cup of warm water
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 2 1/2 cups flour

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in remaining dough ingredients; beat vigorously, about 20 strokes. Allow dough to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Divide dough in fourths to make four 5 inch personal size pizzas. See instructions below. Add toppings and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is brown.

This dough can be patted out by hand. It does not need to be rolled with a rolling pin. Guests should lightly dust their freshly-washed hands with a little bit of flour to stop the dough from sticking. Pat dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet or into a round pan. Supervise this step closely to ensure no one is patting the dough out to thinly. It should be kept to about 3/8 inch thick to avoid burning. Guests may enjoy forming pizzas in shapes other than a traditional circle such as triangles, squares or in a shape of their own imagination! While baking, check the pizzas frequently to ensure they do not burn. Once the dough is ready, it’s time for the sauce. Again, many store-bought sauces are available, but if you would prefer to make your own, we suggest the following recipe:

Pizza Sauce

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup minced onion
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. dried oregano
• 2 (6 oz) cans of tomato paste
• 2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon of sugar

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Sauté onion, onion powder, garlic and oregano until clear. Stir in tomato paste, sugar, and tomato sauce. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Let sauce cool and spread over pizza crust.

Now that the sauce is on, the rest is up to the guests’ imagination!! Have each guest top his/her own pizza. Provide a variety of toppings such as pepperoni, ham, pineapple, mushrooms, sautéed onion, peppers, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. You can later award prizes for the most creative or, most unusual pizza.

Pizza Pass
If guests are making just one large pizza, place guests around a big table. Place the ingredients for a pizza in the middle of the table. Hand the first guest a pizza pan lined with dough. Begin playing music as guests pass the pizza slowly around the circle. When the music stops, the child holding the pizza pan adds the sauce. Begin the music again. When the music stops, the guest with the pizza adds the cheese. The pizza continues to be passed until all toppings are added.

Get more pizza party ideas from our sister site, BirthdayinaBox.com