Rescue Heroes -4yr- Save the Dolls

My middle son turned four in July and his favorite toy is rescue heroes.  There wasn't that much on their web site so we came up with our own ideas. 

Our invitation was in book form. The title page had their trademark sign, the R in the circle.  The 2nd page said "You are invited to attend rescue school, where you will get the chance to rescue animals from fire, sand and water. The third page had the date, time, place and a note to please wear or bring their swimsuit. Included in their envelope we sent a badge we had made(just a rectangular piece of paper with their name and stickers about rescue on it laminated and hung from yarn). We invited 5 toddlers, my 3 year old and of course the birthday boy for a total of 7 kids all 2 to 4 years old. 

As the children arrived they got to dress up as their favorite hero.  We had goggles, snorkel and web shoes for the scuba diver. Life ring (made out of Styrofoam), whistle and sunglasses for the life guard.  Stethoscope and hat with mirror for the doctor.  Stethoscope and big white shirt for the Vet.  Radio, bullhorn and whistle for the police officer.  We had enough for about three of each kind in case more than one child wanted to be the same character.  After they were dressed I had a table with all different shapes of construction paper out(squares, rectangles, circles, polygons, arrows, and ovals)  the had white piece of construction paper so they could design their own rescue vehicle out of the shapes and then glue(I used glue sticks) them on to the white paper. 

After all the kids arrived and were through with there pictures. I gave them each a bucket(name written on it with paint pen) filled with water balloons. In a clean trash can we had extra balloon to fill up their buckets In the back yard I had a large box painted like a barn with squirt animals inside and out.  Around it I made flames out of poster board(2 or 3 sheets should be fine if you space the flames right.  Color flames, red, orange, and yellow and the cut out)  I braced them in the yard with sharpened pencils so that if the kids barely touched the flames with the water balloon it would knock down the flame. 

After all the fire was out they got to run to the barn and rescue the animals. They put the animals they rescued in their buckets. They then went to the big sand box and went hunting for animals and people that had been buried in the sand due to an earthquake. 

The got to use their shovels and sieves that had come with the buckets when I bought them.  The one you got the least got to pick out their fishing pole for the next game and so on so the one that got the most got to pick out of the few that were left.  I made the fishing poles out of dowels that I painted and hot glue them twine and a magnet on.  They were told they needed to rescue people and animals that had been trapped by a flood.  We had attached gym clips to the people and animals and put them in a plastic swimming pool. 

After all this the kids were hungry and tired so we served, pizza(made my own rectangular one. Put cheese down first then the pepperoni on top in the shape of a jet, that is my son's favorite voice tech toy),chips, fruit salad and for the cake I made cupcakes in ice cream cones. Decorated with blue frosting and teddy grahams in life savers for the decoration on top. 

Decorations were balloons and streams hung in our screened in porch, basic color plates, cups and cutlery.  Only the napkins had fire trucks on them.  Before the kids left I had made a piñata in the shape of a jet(you can check out a book at the library that will tell you how to paper mache one.  It is really easy to do)I filled it with snacks such as gummies, goldfish and animal crackers.  As their treat bag they had their bucket, squirt animals, sieve, shovel, fishing pole, snacks and the animals and people they help rescue along with crayons and the coloring book of  the web site and I made certificates on the computer congratulating them on completion of their school.  All items that weren't made I got from the dollar store and didn't cost that much.  Just start looking for things about 2 months ahead of party.  Total cost of party was $60 dollars.