Blues Clues Party -4yr- Blue's Snack Shack

~Blues Clue's Party for Four Year Old~  I threw an action-packed and homemade Blue's Clues party to celebrate my 4 year old son's birthday, and the kids all LOVED it!   

INVITATIONS: Invitations were a homemade "mailbox" for each child, using purple cardstock cut into an oblong mailbox shape for the base, and a sheet of yellow cardstock folded in half then trimmed to the mailbox "opening" in a sort of long semi-circle shape (you can write on the inside, glue the back to the purple base, and leave the folded half to decorate like Mailbox, complete with googly eyes and simple red felt cut-out smile).  The inside had a little pawprint drawn on, and read, "We Are Gonna Play Blue's Clue's to Celebrate Christian's 4th Birthday!", along with party details and instructions to "wear something blue".  The finishing touch was a red cardstock mailbox flag cutout for the kids to play with (putting it up or down) that added a realistic touch and gave room to write, "Skidoo To My Party!".  I attached this with a simple brass fastener.  Everyone commented on how cute the invites were and how excited they were to come to the party when they got them!   

PARTY DECORATIONS: Blue and white sidewalk chalk pawprints leading from the driveway to our front door were a fun hit, and blue and white balloons tied to the mailbox let everyone know where the party fun was.  I also made a large pawprint from posterboard and taped it in our front window to get the kids extra excited as they arrived.    I bought a twelve dollar plastic mailbox from the local superstore (in the hardware section) and spray painted it purple (they come with the red flag already!), then glued a yellow cardstock face to match the one from our invitations (with giant googly eyes).  This was our table centerpiece, and also held a notebook & a crayon for each child until it was time for us to use them when we played Blue's Clue's.  Simple blue and white everything with some yellow splashes here and there, done with balloons, streamers, and disposable plates, etc.  Doing half of everything in white (napkins, plates, cups, etc.) cut down on the price a lot, too.    As children arrived, I had several Blue's Clue's puzzles and sheets of Internet-printed BC coloring pages so they had something to do right away. 

FAVORS: My son and I had great fun making Blue's Clue's ears for everyone out of a few simple sheets of 8.5 x 11 blue foam, dark blue markers, and a three dollar glue gun.  Cut out a lengthwise strip to fit around child's head (I used my son's head as a basic guide), plus enough extra to overlap so you can glue this together to create a headband.  Next, cut out two long, wavy ears from the foam, and draw dark blue spots on them with a marker.  Attach to the \*inside\* of each headband with your glue gun.    I also bought a small notebook for each child, since of course we had to play Blue's Clue's!  You can find the "official" ones that look like Steve and Joe's notebook at most party stores, or just use the little spiral bound ones that are more affordable.  A green or red crayon to go with it is a must for each child.   

GAMES: One simple index cards, I wrote out short clues for the children to romp from one area of the house to the next, with me guiding them amongst all the giggles and squeals of delight as they found each new clue.  I decorated the clues with small glued-on gemstones for extra sparkle and interest.  The final clue led to my son's bedroom, where one of the tall dads was waiting with a Blue's Clue's pull-string pinata that the kids got to enjoy when they found it.  Such fun and excitement!  (I also had simple white manilla envelopes with each child's name on them, tucked in the room so we could hand out loot bags for the kids immediately as they collected the pinata treasures).  I filled the pinata with lolipops, chocolates, sparkly gemstones, tokens to ChuckE. Cheese, and other little trinkets and treasures. 

I also created an inexpensive Salt & Pepper Bean Bag Toss game out of a yard each of black and white felt, the glue gun, and some uncooked rice.  Just cut out matching shapes of salt/pepper shakers, glue the edges together while leaving room at the top to pour in a little rice, then glue the whole thing shut.  The glue dries almost instantly so it's very easy to make these.  I used a white crayon to draw a face on the Mrs. Pepper, and a black crayon to draw a face on Mr. Salt.  Next, I added Shovel and Pail with a dollar store beach pail set that I cut out simple eyes and mouths from felt scraps, then attached with the glue gun.  The kids lined up and took turns racing to see if they could either toss the beanbags into Pail, or they could use Shovel to see if they could carry them as fast as they could to dump in Pail.   

A friend made me a wonderful BC felt game, where the kids closed their eyes and spun around three times, then placed the pawprint on Blue.  A big hit!  YUMMIES: Usually I go crazy trying to make a perfect homemade cake, but this time I let my son pick out his own specialty cake from the grocery store, and he was \*thrilled\* to select his own Blue's Clue's cake.  It came out adorable and it was a pleasure to simply send my husband to go pick it up on the morning of the party.  :)   

After the kids enjoyed cake and singing, we opened presents, and I cleared the table and set it up for cookie decorating.  I also had some Blue's Clue's puzzles and Internet printed coloring pages set up again for anyone who wanted something calmer to enjoy.  I then opened the "Blue's Snack Shack" so the kids had something to occupy them as the party wound down and children were being picked up to go home.  I made a fun Snack Shack poster out of tri-fold presentation board that I cut the center portion of into a triangular (rooftop) shape and glued red posterboard over (adding some traditional swirl designs from the show using a darker red marker), then added a yellow and purple cardstock chimney.  I cut out Blue from a coloring book cover (you could also use a greeting card or Internet printed picture) and glued her to the back, top portion of the chimney so she was peeking out.  The kids loved this! 

The center portion had simple instructions for decorating cookies and to "take some home to share with someone you love".  At each place setting was a paper plate with three plain "slice-n-bake" type cookies, a plastic butter knife, mound of icing, and 3 paper muffin cups for each child, filled with sprinkles and other fun edible decorations.  Clear plastic baggies with each child's name labeled in Sharpie marker held cookies to go home after decorating was done.