Backyardigans Party -4yr- Backyard Carnival

We had planned on having my son's 4th birthday party at a local inflatable party center.  Three weeks before his birthday, he changed his mind and said that he wanted a party at home.  He wanted a Backyardigans party. 

INVITATIONS: I had to hurry and make the invitations so I could get them in the mail.  I found a picture on google images of the 5 Backyardigans and made the invitations on my computer and printed out on cardstock.  The invitation read: Logan is turning 4!  Please join us to celebrate" and gave the party details.   Then it was time to start planning the party...with only 2 weeks!  I started reading entries on this website which was a great resource.  Unfortunately there was only one entry for a Backyardigans party at that time so I was left trying to decide what to do at a Backyardigans party!  Logan's cousins and friends that were coming ranged in age from 1 year old to 12 years old so I needed games that would work for quite a span of ages and a more defined theme to work with.    After much thought we decided on a "Backyardigans Pirate Party" based off an episode.

DECORATIONS:  We planned to have the party in the backyard.  I bought a Pablo pinata inflatable beach ball tattoos and tablecloth from the Backyardigans section at Party City.  I bought a solid colored orange and royal blue tablecloth for the cake/present table and the snack table.  On the snack table I used a cardboard pirate chest filled with the 5 Ty Backyardigans dolls as the main decoration.  I bought solid colored plates and cups for the food and drinks in orange and blue.  We set up 2 gazebo tents (10x10) next to each other.  The tables were under one and the carnival (described below) was in the other tent.  I bought a helium balloon tank and tied balloons throughout the yard and tents. 

CAKE:  We considered making the Pablo cake on the Nick Jr website.  We ultimately decided to buy a plain white sheet cake at Costco (cakes are yummy and cheap!) that just said Happy 4th Birthday Logan.  I bought the Backyardigans pirate ship that is a bathtub toy and placed that on top of the cake.  It comes with the pirate ship plus a figure of Pablo and Uniqua and a treasure chest.

GAMES: As everyone arrived we had the kids decorate their loot bag.  I bought plain white lunch bags at WalMart.  The kids wrote their names and decorated their bag with markers and crayons.  Once everyone was finished we started the "carnival."  I had read an entry on this site about a similar idea.  We set up stations that the kids could rotate through and they could play as many times as they wanted.  We made signs out of poster board that had the name of the game.  Each sign had the Jolly Roger symbol stamped on it and I used my Cricut machine to die cut the letters.  We attached stakes and put them in the ground at each game.  We had a "main" prize for each game and candy if the child played the same game more than once.  The games were:

1.  Walk the plank.  My husband set up a wooden beam a few inches off the ground.  The kids had to walk the plank and the prize was a pirate hat.  (Directions on making the hat later.) 

2.  Digging For Treasure.  We took a barrel filled it with sand and added "treasure" which was colored rocks.  For each treasure the kids found they got a piece of candy. 

3.  Musical Islands.  We set colored foam tiles in a large circle and played the Backyardigans CD.  When the music stopped a color was drawn from a hat and the child standing on that color got a prize.  The prize was a Backyardigans CD that my husband copied. 

4.  Penny Toss.  I traced various sized circles on large pieces of foam.  Once the child tossed a penny into a circle they won a pack of Backyardigans fruit snacks. 

5.  Tattoo Parlor.  Backyardigans tattoos from Party City. 

6.  Beach Ball Barrel Toss.  The kids had to toss a Backyardigans beach ball (also purchased from Party City) into a large barrel.  The prize for this game was a rubber bouncy ball. 

7.  Pool Toss.  We blew up an inflatable infant pool filled up the pool and added several drinking glasses.  The kids had to throw a ping pong ball into a glass.  The prize was a stick of cotton candy.  I bought bags of cotton candy at the Dollar Tree and made sticks out of typing paper that I rolled into cones.  This way I could get 2 or 3 servings of cotton candy per bag.  

The carnival was fun but you need lots of adult or teenage helpers for this to go smoothly!  After the games we served the cake and ice cream and opened presents.  It was very windy so I had to take the cake inside to light the candles and we moved the all the presents inside to open.  We had to use duct tape to hold the signs onto the stakes and the balloons we blowing everywhere.  Oh well that is the chance you take having an outdoor party! 

Once the kids were finished with their cake and ice cream it was time for the treasure hunt.   This was by far the highlight of the party for the kids.  They were so excited!  I divided the kids into 2 teams: older kids that could read and younger kids that could not read.  I made a treasure map of our backyard (just a crude drawing!) and brushed it with brown ink.  I cut it up into pieces and put one piece into an envelope.  For the older kids I typed out the clue and pasted it to the outside of the envelope.  I took pictures of the clues for the younger team and glued the picture to the envelope.  I told them they were not allowed to open the envelopes until all clues had been found.  I also set some rules:  everyone had to be present before reading the next clue and the older team would take turns reading the clues.  For the younger team I took 5 pictures of items in our backyard.  Some were close ups to make it more challenging. 

Here are the 7 clues for the older group.  Some of the clues were borrowed from an entry on this website and I made up the others.   1.  Attention all pirates We've stolen your loot it's time for a treasure hunt we're sure you'll have a hoot!  Here is your first clue:  If you were real pirates you would sail the seven seas and for your transportation you'd need one of these a plastic bathtub toy 2.  A pirates fort need not be grand as long as it is built on land inside the playhouse 3.  You're doing great mateys.  Here is clue #3: A message in a bottle was a great way to send a letter but you pirates today have got it much better on a phone in the playhouse 4. We pirates need to stay warm when the weather gets cold we like to light a fire in a copper bowl fire pit 5. 

When pirates get tired this is where they lay they rock back and forth in the sun all day hammock 6.  When our bellies are rumblin and we're sailin the high seas ARRRGH matey we sure wish for one of these the grill 7.  Clue #7: What do you do with a scurvy pirate?  Make him walk the plank!  To keep pirates healthy on our ships this type of food must pass our lip basket of fruit in the playhouse Final clue:  Now that you've searched high and low its time to find the treasure.  To find all your loot you will need to work together.  Both teams have pieces to the treasure map work together you'll find it in a snap. Both teams were directed to the deck where they assembled the map.  The kids really loved this game.  Once they taped the map together they followed the trail to their treasure which was on the deck in the deck box.  Inside was a cardboard pirate chest (purchased at a dollar store) that was filled with bottles of bubbles.

Next we had the pull string pinata.  The kids each took a turn and Pablo still had not opened up so I ripped him open and shook out the candy.  I filled it with Jolly Ranchers Life savers and suckers.  I had chocolate candy bars but did not want them to melt in the sun so I threw them out as the kids were grabbing their candy.  The kids used white lunch bags to hold the candy. Directions to make the pirate hat:  I bought a template hat for $3.99 at Michaels.  It was a black foam hat with a white jolly roger symbol made of foam with a blue feather.  I bought black foam and was able to trace out 2 hats per sheet.  I peeled the jolly roger symbol off the Michaels hat used white paint and stamped the hats I made.  I bought elastic to secure the hats and taped on a red feather.  I made 15 hats for less than $10. This website was an invaluable resource to me.  I would have never been able to come up with such great ideas without reading the other entries. The kids and parents were all commenting on how much fun they had and how original the party was!  It was all because of birthdaypartyideas.com! "