Curious George -3yr- Pizza Cookies by Little Chefs

Curious George Birthday Party for 3 year old. My son decided on having a Curious George birthday party this year.  Once I got brainstorming, I really enjoyed creating activities with the monkey theme. 

For the invitations, I took a photo of my son in a homemade monkey costume (my older daughter had been Boots the monkey one Halloween).  I glued copies of the photo on the card front with caption "This little monkey is turning 3!"  On the inside I wrote "Curious Kyle will go bananas if you come to his birthday.  Time, date, place, etc...  Please join us for lots of monkey business."  My son helped decorate the envelopes with curious george stickers and I wrote "Are you curious?" on the back flap. 

We decided on a house party, and keeping in mind that most guests were 3 years old I decided to provide activities appropriate for this age. 

Decorations were simple, tableware and balloons were yellow, red and blue, and bananas served as table decorations.  I bought 5 yards of curious george material.  I made simple bean bags (1 yard gave me 20 bean bags).  I drew curious george's face on a thick poster board and cut out the mouth.  I also provided buckets with different CG faces taped on the sides.  Kids enjoyed throwing bean bags through the mouth and in the buckets. 

Chalk and hula hoops were also left outside to play with. A scavenger hunt was organized.  I explained that a little monkey had been here earlier and hid bananas all around the yard.  Bananas were placed and found all over the back yard (if they were not found I didn't worry about it since it was outside.)  The kids placed the bananas in baskets as they found them.  The only CG book I had was Curious George and the Pizza.  I read the story and we enjoyed pizza for lunch. 

Out of the remaining CG material I made simple child size aprons (1 yard made 4), and with poster board and tissue paper I made chef hats.  Each child received an apron and hat.  

Instead of making real pizza, they made pizza cookies.  I made large round sugar cookies in advance.  Parents helped frost cookies with red frosting (tomato sauce) and the kids got to create their own "pizzas" with m&ms, sprinkles, etc.  Finished cookie pizzas were placed in "pizza boxes"  (Pastry boxes) with a sticker on the top that said "Curious Kyle's Pizzera" with a picture of a monkey, and taken home.  Stickers were made on the computer. 

I opted for cupcakes rather than cake.  So we feated on cupcakes with a yellow hat on top (made with a marshmellow and nilla wafer).

Lastly, I made finger puppets using a plain knit winter gloves (2 pair for $1.00 at our local dollar store) and glued brown and tan pompoms on each finger to create a monkey face.  Each child received a glove puppet and we sang "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" and "5 little monkey swinging in a tree".  

Since I made most of the food and activities myself my expense was very minimal.  The kids got to bring home lots of gifts too, an apron, chef hat, pizza cookie, and puppet. 

We had a great time!!!  Thank you notes included a  message "Thanks for making my birthday Oo-Oo-Ah-Awesome!!!"