Rescue Hero -5yr- Pin Ladder on the Tree

Rescue Hero Birthday Party My son was in love with Rescue Heroes last year and so we had a Rescue Hero themed party for his 5th birthday.  I started my preparation by doing a search on "rescue hero birthday party" and found this site, among others.  I had some of my own ideas and gathered others as I went.

The invitations had the logo from the Rescue Hero/Fisher Price site and I also used their nametags to make nametags for each kids (kind of making them honourary rescue heroes too).  I bought Firetruck themed plates, tablecloth, loot bags, and balloons (plus other balloons that said happy 5th!) and used fire colours for decoration (cups, streamers, other balloons).  We were hoping to have it outside, but the weather wouldn't fully cooperate.  We were able to start outside so when the kids arrived, I had pie pans of bubble solution and giant wands for them to make bubbles and that was a good ice breaker. 

Then we went inside for games. We planned Rescue-themed games and started with "pin the ladder on the tree to save the kitty."  I used my amazing (?!) artistic abilities to draw a picture of a tree on a piece of posterboard and then printed out a picture of a cat and made a ladder out of construction paper.  This was a favourite game by a few of the kids. 

We also played a version of duck, duck, goose, but instead, did rescue, rescue, hero.  That game was not a rolling success. We had brought out what rescue heroes he did have and the blocks so that kids could play a bit and that was a huge success!  My husband played with them and honestly, the kids seemed to just like having the attention of a fun adult who built crazy things with them. 

We then went over to the kitchen table to make walkie talkies which were pieces of styrofoam from some shipment at my dad's shop that I wrapped and hot glued black construction paper on and stuck a black pipe cleaner in the top for an antenna.  I had lots of stickers (some of those ones leftover from labelling your video tapes with the numbers and then some from the dollar store with hearts and stuff on it) and the moms helped write the kids names on them. 

The kids really enjoyed making these, although I think some were disappointed that they didn't work. I think at this time we had cake.  My son wanted the RH logo on the front and  so I made a round cake and iced it in white icing and then also made yellow and red icing (not pink, you have to get the paste colouring to make true red - this was actually a source of amazement to other moms that you could make red icing) and did the logo on top and then my husband used the rest of the icing to make flames around the bottom of the cake (he IS artistic.  truth be known, I think he also did the logo - i just made the cake).  very cool. 

My son also wanted chips, cheesies, lemonade and apple juice to eat.  I don't like feeding a meal at a party.  Most kids have eaten, the food gets wasted (I cute VERY small pieces of cake) and it doesn't seem to be enjoyed.  I'm sure when he gets bigger, we'll do pizza and stuff - when he's so old that games aren't cool any longer. Then we did presents and all the kids sat in a circle and I took pictures of each kid with my son when he opened the present.  Needless to say, he got A LOT of rescue heroes. It wasn't raining so we went outside until parents came.  My husband had spray painted "fire" on a big piece of cardboard and propped it up and we had water balloons so the kids could throw them and put out the fire.  That was a hit! 

And my son wants water balloons to do that again this year.  We brought the bubbles back out and some kids did that and others played on the swings, or in his playhouse or sandbox.   It was a good birthday (tiring for me because I was largely pregnant) and a lot of the parents said it was the best they had ever been to - some asked us to do their kids' parties!  We did it quite cheaply and the kids had a lot of fun.  I think keeping things moving quickly, having alternate things to play with and some quiet things (bubbles)  and having a fun-loving husband who will run around the yard with a bubble wand all helps.  Also, keeping it simple. This year will be a farm party and since we have a farm, that should be rather easy.  I look forward to planning it and have gleaned a lot of good ideas already from this site and others.