Tales of Desperaux 6yr

After seeing the movie, The Tales of Despereaux, my son wanted a party with the same theme! Try to find ideas for this one ... not easy! I hope I am a help to someone else out there. INVITATIONS: I purchased yellow cardstock with matching envelopes, then printed the invitations (see below) and one-hole punched the invitation (all over) to look like cheese! They read: Hear Ye, Hear Ye ... Are You a Man or a Mouse? Come to Zachary's 6th Birthday and find out! Zachary has chosen a few brave friends to become Heroes in Training! Go on a Quest! Travel to Mouseworld and Ratworld (if you dare)! You will be rewarded for your Courage, Honor, and Chivalry! (Then add the details for your party). Our noble chef is creating a menu fit for a king or mouse .. so please let us know about any royal allergies! ~ A Hero Doesn't Appear Until the World Really Needs One! ~ I send an eVite (reminder) three weeks before, the invitation two weeks before, and request the RSVP a week before. DECORATIONS: I ordered cheese" balloons from US Balloon. We were supposed to have the party at the park but it rained that morning so we moved the party to the house at the last minute. ENTERTAINMENT: We had the Balloon Diva make the most amazing balloon creations.  GAME NO 1. In the Kindom or Dor Chef Andre Needs Help with Boldo (the Fruit Genie)! The kids then played Pin the Grapes on Boldo. I went to Staples and enlarged a pix of Boldo then glued it to a large piece of pressboard. I then printed a bunches of grapes for the kids to put on Boldo. Each kid got a prize of an Airhead. GAME NO 2. We are now in Mouseworld: Test Your Bravery Jump Over Mousetraps Prize: Cheese/Crackers. I went to the 99 cents store and purchased real wooden mousetraps. I set them up a few feet apart and make the kids jump over them (frontwards backwards on one leg etc.). Of course I did not set them to go off. But we cheered the kids on and told them not to get stuck in the traps! For their bravery they each got an individual package of cheese and crackers of course. GAME NO 3. Still in Mouseworldthe kids had to show that they have heart and Make a Mouse House with Recycled Items (plastic gloves tooth picks cupcake cups). Again I went to the 99 cents store and picked up a few items passed them out and asked the kids to make a mouse house. Because they had heart their prize was a chocolate heart. GAME NO 4. Moving on to Ratworld the kids had to pick their color thread (different colors of licorice) and go on a Quest for Cheese Triangles. I found a huge package of different flavored Twizzlers (like the thread in the movie). The kids chose a flavor ate it then went on a quest for "cheese" triangles (which were make-up sponge wedges). I hid about 100 of them around the front yard. The kids had to then put them in groups of 10 so we knew how many were missing. We played this twice they loved it so much! GAME NO 5. Still in Ratworld the kids had to Test their Courage and Play the Cat/Mouse Game (tag). The birthday boy was the cat and had to tag his friends (the mice). Once tagged their prize was mouse vittles aka Skittles! FOOD/SNACKS: Fruit (strawberries)  Mini carrots  Cheese puffs Cheese Its  Squeeze cheese & crackers Cheesey Chex Mix  Cheese Doritos Cheese Pizza and Water bottles (Costco). CAKE/CUPCAKES: Donuts from Krispy Kreme -- instead of a cake that no one has time for the Mom to cut and serve I ordered yellow Krispy Kreme donuts. It was so much better to sing and pass them out quickly ... no waiting! FAVORS: Each child got a reward for Courage Honor Chivalry ... in a yellow goodie bag I included Coloring pages (from the Despereaux website) a box of Mac-n-cheese a handful of Chuck E Cheese tokens crowns from Burger King (altered for our party theme) and ... here's the real treat Wendy's had Despereaux Happy Meal toys. I purchased a few then when the promotion was over I emailed the company and got the rest ... for free! I sent them the nicest letter for being so gracious! I printed Thank You letters and had my son fill out. It was a great bday ... we are known for our parties so we try to outdo each one ... oh we have three kids so it's not easy!  "