DECORATE
Think color and not theme- I think it works out better to pick a color scheme and then mix in the characters or theme. We chose primary colors with mostly blue and green and a splash of red and yellow.
Home made tissue paper pompoms and streamers hung from the ceiling make it really festive.
We also used some of their toys for decoration on the mantle.
I used scrapbook paper and curling ribbon to make a birthday banner that we hung from the mantle as well.
In the picture on the left we simply wrapped the columns with more streamers and hung tissue paper pompoms randomly around the room. I bought several solid colored table cloths at Dollar Tree and covered the tables in each room. This brightened it up and protected my furniture from all the little party people.
If you can draw- use butcher paper and make decorative signs like this one above. I just free handed it and had the kids help me color it in. If you can't draw- you can still use a projector to get the same effect- or you can skip it all together and instead do a few more streamers or banners that say Happy Birthday.
I combined store bought decorations with more home made pompoms to brighten up the kitchen.
FOOD
This is where a lot of expense can come in, so the more you can do yourself, the better!
I chose to make small cakes for each boy and cupcakes for the guest. I wanted to make it as fun as possible, so I decided to do character cupcakes. I gathered some candies, made home made butter cream icing and home made marshmallow fondant. I used a box mix for the cupcake batter.
We thought of all the characters on the movie and just went to town decorating cupcakes!
For the boys cakes I searched cake ideas on the Internet and combined a few ideas together to come up with these. I ended up spending a LOT of time on the Woody cake and very little time on the Buzz cake- and wouldn't you know it, simple was MUCH better! I was so much happier with the Buzz cake! - oh well, live and learn!
More character cupcakes. I think Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head were my favorite!
If you choose to have a lunch/dinner party plan on simple foods that are kid friendly. We decided to do a hot dog barbecue. I printed pictures of Slinky dog and let the kids color them in- some went traditional and some went wild! So, we had Slinky dog hot dogs!
Guest could choose their Slinky dog and put them on the bun, or the hot dog- it was really cute in theory- but you had to move the one toothpick to actually eat the hot dog- so this is more of a looks cute- not practical idea.... but it was SO CUTE!!!!
We chose fruit and veggie trays and chips to go with the hot dogs. Keeping it simple and mostly finger food helps with the cost too.
This is an example of mixing theme with color- I chose to only buy themed plates for the kids and cheap solid colored plates for the adults. I did the same with the cups and napkins. This cuts cost and adds color! If you wanted, you could just do solid colored plates, cups and napkins and it would really cut down on cost.
FUN and GAMES
In keeping with the movie, I hid little Army men all over the house. Two of the Army men had parachutes on, the children who found those were given a prize.
Having these little guys really added to the party feel too.
I also thought it would be a fun activity for the kids to take pictures as their favorite character. You could do this on a much smaller scale- think one cardboard box and one face cut out. The kids thought it was pretty cool! It was pretty time consuming, so unless your kids LOVE picture taking, this may not be worth the time it takes to make.
And, last but not least- the pinata! I made this cutie from a scrap cardboard box and a few rolls of streamer! The kids absolutely LOVE pinatas- so this was a real hit!.. no pun intended. :)
I will post later on how to make your own pinata.
So, there you have it- a few fun ideas for your next birthday party! Don't forget, you can incorporate most of these ideas into any themed party you like!
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