There comes a point in a girls’ life when everything is pink (or in shades thereof) and sparkling (despite what rumors say, there is such a thing as too much sparkle, but not at that particular point in life). Nickelodeon’s new show, Shimmer and Shine (it’s all there in the name) is like a girl’s dream come true – genies, pink, purple, blue and glittering things…oh, and fluffy cuddly pets.
At this moment in time, there is not a shortage of Shimmer and Shine party supplies and with a little searching you’ll find plenty of places online offering official supplies for the theme. We’ll feature some of these places below but more importantly we’ll offer plenty of Shimmer and Shine party ideas for every aspect of the party, to help you throw a great party for your child within a reasonable budget. If that sounds good, keep scrolling down to find ideas and supplies to put together a beautiful Shimmer and Shine themed party.
Shimmer and Shine Birthday Party Invitations & Ideas
*Free Printable Shimmer and Shine Birthday Invitations
Once you’ve set your mind to organize a Shimmer and Shine party, the first hurdle to overcome are the invitations. To tick this of your list, print off and send these free Shimmer and Shine party invitations to invite your guests to Zahramay Falls (your humble abode) for the birthday bash.
*Free Printable Thank you cards
Also as a sign of your appreciation for the guests that attended your party, utilize these free printable Shimmer and Shine thank you cards.
Shimmer and Shine Birthday Party Decorations & Ideas
Shimmer and Shine party balloons (pack of 6) available from Amazon.com
Once you have sent the message in a bottle, you need to get ready for a tiny hoard of genies to arrive. This calls for some Shimmer and Shine party decorations to add a little sparkle to the scene.
*DIY Arabian tent
The show has a distinctive Arabic theme which means you can look for Arabian tents and decor to achieve that look (just make sure the color theme matches, in this case: pink or light blue). Of course, you can try to make a tent yourself. It’s actually surprisingly simple, once you get how the hanging system works. Here’s an Arabian tent tutorial – it’s basically the king of all blanket forts.
*DIY Arabian style candle holders, lanterns and genie bottles
To add some more decorative elements, you can go for the classic Arabian glass candle holders or lanterns. They are also relatively easy to make, you need a candle holder, paint, brushes and some Arabic patterns. You can even make some simple flower vase ‘genie bottles’ and spread them around the house. They also work great on your party table.
*DIY Persian Rug
To complete the look, artfully drape Persian rugs throughout the house. If you don’t have a whole bunch of them just lying around, you can try to make your own Persian rug lookalike using this pattern template and this tutorial. Although I would be careful with that one, unless your goal in life is to clean up carpet die stains throughout the house.
*Free Printable Shimmer and Shine birthday banner
For an easy decoration that matches the theme, use this free printable shimmer and shine birthday banner template to make your own “Happy birthday” banner.
*DIY Cardboard treasure chest
Arabian parties are famous for their treasure chests – even Leah, Shimmer and Shine went on a treasure adventure in their first episode. You can make a very simple paper version. You might want to consider adding faux jewelry (glass/plastic cut in jewel shapes) the light will shine through and give it a great look.
No Shimmer and Shine party is complete without pillows – lots and lots of pillows (the more brightly colored, the better). Declare war on the chairs and remove them from the party area. Then make sure to stuff any nook and cranny with pillows (where there’s room for one, there’s room for two is your new life motto).
Shimmer and Shine Tableware/party table setup
Shimmer and Shine party plates, cups, napkins and supplies available from Amazon
With Zahramay Falls draped in fabrics, it’s time to turn your attention to the feasting table. Don’t be afraid to be bold – use plenty of purple, pink, blue and gold for the table decorations. Here is a beautiful example of a Shimmer and shine table setup. Highlights of this setup include a sparkly gold table runner, lanterns as table accents and gold plates and cups.
*Shimmer and Shine plates, cups, napkins etc
Official Shimmer and Shine party plates, napkins and cups are also available for order. We always find picking only the most important items like plates and combining it with plain colored extras that match the theme is the best way to keep expenses down while still having a beautiful layout.
*DIY drinks cooler treasure chest
You can also add a drinks cooler treasure chest – one can never have too many treasure chests, or pillows. The glass candle holders from the section above (with the tutorial link) would not be remiss.
*DIY Shimmer and Shine placemats
If you’re feeling crafty, add mini Shimmer and Shine magic carpets under the platters or you could keep kids busy. Another option is to use these free Shimmer and Shine printable placemats. Put one in front of each child’s spot and laminate to make it easy to clean off if there happens to be any spillages.
*Bedazzled tableware
If you decide to use solid colored gold plastic cups, you can glam them up by sticking pink, purple and blue fake gems to the sides to have them looking magical.
Shimmer and Shine Birthday outfits/Costume Ideas
Once you’re done filling your house with bling, pillows and fabric, it’s time to turn your attention to your child (who will gulp in terror).
For the ready made costume you can find quite a few cute Shimmer and Shine kids costumes in stores right now. As an alternative to wearing a full costume there are Shimmer and Shine t-shirts and hoodies too.
For the DIYers out there, the first step in making your own Shimmer and Shine birthday outfit is the hair (yes, ladies, it’s always the hair). This is the easy part – you just need a pink ponytail wig for Shimmer and a light blue one for Shine. Next up are the headpieces – you can find very pretty Arabian headpieces for sale, or you can make your own. Here’s the link from the beginning of the article, detailing how to make your own genie headpiece. You can also accessorize with a veil or headdress. Here’s a tutorial on how to make them.
For an added bit of fun, you can hand out veils at the start of the party.
In terms of the costume itself, you can find plenty of genie or Jasmine costumes on Amazon (if you go for the Jasmine blue one, then you’re picking Shine as a character). For the people that are not shine, with a little thread and needle, they can try to make their own genie costume. Here is a tutorial for the pants. There are also tutorials for the entire costume, like the one found here.
If your children like it (which they probably do) and you have the patience and the skills, you can also add genie makeup to the look. You can round off the look with a pair of pointy genie shoes.
Shimmer and Shine Birthday Party Food & Drink Ideas
Regardless of what our favorite genies Shimmer and Shine eat (which is not much although they did ‘help’ Leah make cupcakes once), your tiny horde can’t survive on air.
*Tala, Nahal and Genie Cookies
For more theme specific yummy treats, you can make “Pillow Cookies” with an Arabian design. In the same line of thought, you have Tala cookies (Shimmer’s pet golden monkey). Use the tutorial below and replace the brown icing with a yellow one. Also here is an image of Tala that you can use as a tracer.
*Pigs in a blanket
Another Shimmer and Shine food idea is to make pigs in a blanket, following one episode in the show where Leah’s wish goes awry (as always) and she gets to chase actual pigs wrapped in blankets (which is pretty much the job of every pet owner or parent after a particularly rainy and muddy day).
*Magic Carpet pancakes
For some more tasty magic, you can serve pancakes as magic carpet roll. Provide a bowl of chopped fruit such as strawberries, bananas, blueberries and more for kids to decorate their edible carpets before flying them into the cave named mouth.
*Shimmer and Shine Chip and Dips
Shimmer and Shine chips… with, you got it, blue and pink dip. You can easily turn dip into these colors with food colorant.
*Free Printable Shimmer and Shine Food Labels
Once you’ve wished some delicious food into existence, a few labels with catchy food names to accommodate the dishes will add to the party fun. Use these free printable Shimmer and Shine food labels to make food tents.
*Genie juice
To quench the children’s thirst, provide pink or bright blue sodas in “genie bottles”. You could also use lemonade with food coloring in an easy to serve jug labelled “genie juice”. You could also provide simple water bottles and wrap them up with these free Shimmer and Shine printable water bottle label templates.
Shimmer and Shine Birthday cake/Cupcake Decorations & Ideas
The sultan of the land is the birthday cake – it needs to shine…and shimmer (pun intended. If you’re looking for a Shimmer and Shine birthday cake idea, you can start easy, with Nahal – and make a white Bengal tiger cake (essentially, a cake that is stripped inside). It looks very pretty and it’s very delicious.
If you really want to unleash the master baker/cake decorator within and reach your ultimate potential then you can try to make your own Zahramay Falls castle cake. You can use the tutorials below and replace the pointed roofs on the turrets with domes. Here is the easier version, complete with cake recipe, then somewhat more complicated version– for the one that loves a challenge. The last one is for the ones with godly patience, mainly since it has a lot of spires.
Cushion cake by Najat Ahmad via Flickr
Another Shimmer and Shine cake idea is to make a princess pillow/cushion cake. You can use the tutorial to give shape/texture (make the cake pillow shape) and then you decorate it. There are a lot of Arabic templates on the internet – though since most of them are highly intricate, here are a few ‘simpler’ ones: here and here.
If cupcakes are more your thing, you can make them just like in the show, Shimmer and Shine the sweetest cupcake, by baking a cupcake with pink frosting, and adding this label. You can enrich your design by adding a genie lamp fondant topper.
*Free Shimmer and Shine cupcake Toppers and Wrappers
To decorate Shimmer and Shine cupcakes use these free Shimmer and Shine cupcake toppers and wrappers to match cupcakes to the theme.
Shimmer and Shine Games & Activities
Restless genies (just like restless children, really) make a lot of mischief – if you want to save your kingdom, you need to keep them busy – just don’t have them granting any wishes.
*Genie muscal statues
You can repurpose an old classic into a genie dancing musical statues game. Here is a nice Shimmer and Shine dance moves video for the kids.
*Pin the tail on Tala or Nahal
Speaking of old classics, how about pin the tail on Tala or Nahal?
*Shimmer and Shine treasure hunt
make your own treasure hunt – hide bits of jewelry in the yard and have the children help Leah, Shimmer and Shine to gather the pieces of the treasure (5-7 in number). The individuals or teams that succeed get a tasty treat. For variation, you can print out Shimmer and Shine images, glue them on cardboard and cut them into puzzle shapes and have the children assemble the whole puzzle.
*Nahal and Tala game (Cat and mouse game)
You can also have them play the Nahal (Cat) and Tala (Mouse, though she would take offense) game. For the game, one child becomes Nahal and another Tala while the rest of the children form a circle with Tala inside. They spin around and sing the show tune, and when the song stops, so do they, and Nahal has to weave in and out of the circle to try and catch Tala.
*Shimmer and Shine Chase game
Another Shimmer and Shine party game idea is to repurpose an old fashioned chase game and make it a “Catch the Piggy in a Blanket” game – where Leah has to catch the piggies before the time runs out. You can make it more fun by having a smaller set area (a pen) where the children can run. Another option is to enhance the game by adding Shimmer and Shine (another one or two players). In this case, whenever the chasers touch a ‘piggy’, it freezes on the spot. The other players can bring the frozen player back to life. The game ends when all the ‘piggies’ are caught.
Shimmer and Shine Birthday Party Favors & Ideas
Once the fun and games are over, it’s time for every genie to get back to the bottle. Before they depart, you can give some nice party favors, to help them remember their stay at Zahramay Falls. You can print and cut out the Shimmer and Shine characters from the links in the sections above. Glue the characters to the gift bags and you have an easy personalized bag ready.
*DIY Genie bottle necklace
As for what goes inside the genie pouch, you can add a genie bottle “jewel” necklaces – it’s a DIY. When it comes to necklaces or jewelry, there is a wide selection – you can make a genie bottle pendant or even some tassel jewelry.
*Free printable Shimmer and Shine favor toppers
Additionally if you plan to provide some candy treats for your guests, fill up a cellophane bag with these treats and use this free printable Shimmer and Shine favor topper to top the open end.
*Free Printable Favor tags
A great way to match your favors to your theme is to use these free printable Shimmer and Shine favor tags to add a little message or name for your guest.
For some other Shimmer and Shine party favors ideas, you can add oriental beads friendship bracelets in the bag (bonus points if you find them in pink or light blue), monkey gummy bears, pink and blue gumballs and even some of the tiger stripped cookies from the food section above, in case they get hungry on their journey home. Top it off with a Tala or Nahal key chain and you’re set (you just need to find a monkey and a tiger key chain).
Shimmer and Shine Birthday gift ideas
Since there is no characteristic Shimmer and Shine merchandise, you’ll have to look elsewhere for gift ideas. Why not give your child his or her very own Narhal plush pet (white Bengal plushy). Or why not get Tala? There are lots of yellow monkey plushies available.
For a memorable gift, get your children to join Shimmer and Shine at the Nick. Jr Play Date Tour. They can ride on a magic carpet and enjoy lots of games with their favorite characters. While we’re on that line of thought, Nickelodeon has a nice service called the Birthday Club – if you join, you get printables for your child and they also get a phone call from their favorite character.
You can also give your child a Shimmer and Shine t-shirt by sending an image to one of the many custom t-shirt companies out there. Speaking of clothing, there are lots of pink, purple genie pajamas on Amazon, so your child can feel like either of the two genie girls.
my daughter’s birthday party
This is amazing! It is absolutely adorable! Thank you
You’re awesome! Thank you!!!