First the invitation. I love publisher for this kind of stuff. I started with a template and just changed out the clip art and words to fit our party. Here is what I come up with:
The only problem is these never seem to fit in a regular envelope. Since I had to send these through snail mail, they needed envelopes. I created my own by folding letter sized paper using "the tape method" found here.
Games are a must to keep 7 little 5 years old out of trouble for an hour and a half. We started our party with visor and paper bag decorating so that there would be a simple activity to keep everyone engaged while we waited for the rest of the guests to arrive. Also, everyone would have a hat for sun protection when we went outside. The visors were 3/$1 at the Dollar store. I found turtle and frog stickers, star stickers, and our own markers for this activity.
Next was the scavenger hunt. I hid one frog, lizard, snake, and bug house (dollar store again) per child and gave each kid a scavenger hunt sheet (also created in publisher) and a crayon. The kids looked for each item, put it in their bag, and marked it off their list. This went really well. The kids helped each other out.
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| cut page in half to produce 2 sheets |
Next, we took our bug houses outside to look for bugs. I also had some shovels for digging and a bug net for this activity. The kids had a great time with this, and it was easy pickin's due to the influx of lake flies.
We headed back inside for a game of Frog Hoppin'. All I did was print out three large lilly pads from clip art, tape them to some pots from my kitchen, and put prizes in each pot. I found green ping pong balls 6/$1 at walmart. The kids stood in a line and took turns trying to bounce the "frog" (the green ping pong ball) onto the lilly pads (the pots). When they got one in the pot, they picked a prize. This was more difficult than I had anticipated for this age group, so we just moved the pots closer.
Next was the cake. My birthday boy wanted a snake cake. I looked on several blogs and birthday cake instructionals and came up with my own version. I used this egg free chocolate bundt cake recipe minus the chocolate glaze. I let the cake cool. Then put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes so it would be firmer for shaping. Once I pulled it out, I cut it in half. Then I put the two halves together to form an "S" shape, and used a serrated knife to shape one end into a pointed tail. I rounded the other end and used the pieces I shaved off to form a head. I held the head together with tooth picks.
I iced the cake with a simple butter cream frosting tinted green. Frosting cakes is not my strong suit. They always come out crumby. This time I frosted it once, this layer of icing had crumbs running through it, as usual for me. I put the cake back in the freezer for another 15 minutes. Then I frosted it again. This second layer of frosting came out much better. I used two marshmallows and black gel writing icing for the eyes, a fruit leather for the tongue, and skittles to decorate the rest of the cake. All of which were egg and nut free! It is totally possible to make fantastic fun treats that are allergy friendly.
We only had a few minutes left after cake, so while we waited for the party to disperse, we did flyswatter relay races. I found a pack of two swatters at the dollar store, again. My son had a couple plastic flies in his collection of animal toys. I split the kids into two groups, and they took turns carrying the fly on the swatter to one end of the room and back. If the fly fell off, they had to stop and put it back on the swatter.
Everyone went home wanting more time to party, which tells me it was just about the right length. Always leave them wanting more, right? Most important, the birthday boy had a great time!
Hope this helps you plan a fantastic mostly homemade party for your own little one!
