Curious George -3yr- Banana Balloon Weights

Curious George Party for my daughter turning 3. My daughter loved Curious George and so for her third birthday we gave her a Curious George  birthday party.

For the invitations I printed them on white magnet paper with my color printer. I  used a really fun crazy font from www.fontsforkids.com and printed it in red. The invitation read as  follows- Anna will be three and she is very curious to see how much fun there will be with friends  and one little monkey.  Come and celebrate Anna’s birthday November 20th at the Sargent’s. At  the bottom was a graphic of George on a ball that I downloaded off of the Internet. They were so  cute and everyone loved the fact that they were magnets that could be put on the fridge to remind  them of the day.

The morning of the party Ann woke up to a visitor. It was George (Large stuffed  one I bought off of eBay) so he was sure to be a guest at the party we made a big deal about him  arriving just in time for her.  We hired a jungle theme bouncy house and had that out in the  driveway. 

On the front door we had a sign that said There once was a monkey named George.  He  was a good little monkey and always very curious.  We decorated the house with tons of red and  yellow and blue balloons and red and yellow and blue crate paper.

We used the crate paper to look like a circus tent in the living room (up to a peak) and then had another huge bunch of balloons  that hung down from that. All around I had Curious George books that I had bought of eBay and  that had been given to us before. I used frame stands for the books at the cake table so they were  upright. 

The balloon bouquets were held together by bunches of bananas. I had 7 of them around  the living and dining rooms.  I had a long low table with lots of little chairs I had rented. It had a red  tablecloth with a George tablecloth down the center. The kids had George color books that I made  from George clip art on the web. Scholastic Books is a great source for George stuff on the web!  

The art activities I had were bookmarks and nametag buttons. The bookmarks were pieces of 2x6  card that had a George zoo scene. Go to Dltk’s printable crafts for kids at www.Dltk-kids.com for  inspiration. The kids colored these with markers. Then they were placed on a piece of clear contact  paper that was a little larger than 4x6. A few paper confetti sprinkles and the contact paper was  folded in ½ with the colored paper and confetti inside like a sandwich. Then we punched a hole in  the top and added a ribbon. 

For the nametag buttons I ordered blank buttons form Oriental  Trading. Then on the computer I made a picture George with each child’s name. The kids colored  the paper circle and then the grownups put the circle in the button form and pined them on the  kids. They were really cute.  Parents also took the opportunity to read the many George books scattered around the room to their kids. It was so fun to watch their faces because many had never read a George book and he is so funny. 

Of course the highlight was the bouncy house and we had  fun reggae music playing while the kids jumped an jumped, It was November and really cold out  but the kids didn’t seem to care. No formal games because they were only three and not ready for  the whole win or lose thing. Being a chilly November morning so I had muffins and scones labeled  Monkey Chow and served hot cocoa and jungle juice and hot coffee for the adults. 

Instead of a  cake I made a tower of red frosted cupcakes with a small plastic ball of George on the top. It looked  super cute with the George books all around a bright yellow tablecloth. Plates, cups and napkins  were all special ordered off the Internet (not easy to find!).  After 2 hours of jumping doing crafts  and eating birthday cake we called it a morning. Gifts were to be opened later. Such a good idea  with little ones who don’t always understand the gift giving idea.

For a thank you gift we gave  Curious George’s Birthday Surprise books. I made a Curious George bookplate on the computer that  said, Thank you for coming to my birthday love Anna and put it inside each book. I also had a  small bag with stickers, and Curious George Fruit Chews. They also took home their bookmarks,  color books and nametags.

Yes Curious George had a great time too. We found him in the bouncy  house still bouncing around!