Ducky Birthday -3yr- Everyone Dressed as a Ducky

Ducky Birthday Party for 3 yr old.  Thanks to all the good ideas I read on this site.  I added a few of my own and we had quite a ducky event.  The invites had the usual 'waddle on over to our pond' etc., but included a request that all ducklings wear swimsuits to the party (in December). 

The decorations started with large orange duck prints leading up to the house cut from fun foam.  Inside were 'duck crossing' signs just about everywhere, yellow/orange/blue streamers, blue & white balloons, some stuffed ducks I got at yard sales, and adorable duck balloon animals in various sizes.  These are easy to make by twisting a large yellow balloon for head and body and wrapping this around a small orange balloon (same size balloon just very little air in it) for the two halves of the beak - draw on eyes and wings and you're done.  I had at least 50 of these in different sizes.  A very inexpensive and fun decoration.  Another inexpensive decoration was made from printable window cling paper - I made about 100 small duck prints this way and stuck them to the windows all around the house to look like a duck had walked everywhere. 

For food we had chex mix in a yellow bucket with an orange scoop and a "duck feed" sign, pizza and salad.  I also selected just the orange, yellow and blue M&M's from two large bags and had those in a container I happen to have that looks like a cracked egg. 

The cake was shaped like a rubber ducky, of course.  Finally, the night before the party I had softened some icecream and placed scoops on a wax-paper covered tray.  I sprinkled these with blue sprinkles and stuck a small rubber ducky into each one before refreezing them.  These turned out great because they looked cute and the kids used the ducks like handles to eat their icecream 'popsicle' neatly.  From a dollar store I found duck bibs for everyone, blue table cloths and yellow plates, cups and flatware. 

To start the party, I dressed the kids as ducks (hence the swimsuits to start with).  I had all the kids gather together and I explained that my daughter wanted everyone to be a ducky for her party.  Then we looked at a large picture of a child next to one of a duck and I asked them questions like "You have feet like this little boy - what do duck feet look like?"  We went right up the body that way from feet to feathers to duck bills.  As we got to each part, I gave them duck feet (cut from fun foam) duck feathers (simple netting tutus and a dollar store feather boa) and a duck bill (yellow and orange visors cut from fun foam with googly duck eyes).  The kids were so thrilled to be dressed as ducklings.  We all had a looong look into a mirror and then we took some adorable photos. 

The first game was a duck pond game I invented.  I taped two dollar store blue plastic table cloths to our dining room floor for a pond and scattered about 25 green lily pads (cut from fun foam) on it.  The kids had to walk across the pond on the lily pads to get a duck egg (plastic easter egg) and then get back without using their hands (i.e., ducks don't have hands). 

At the end they opened their duck eggs to find a duck treat - gummy worms.  We also played duck duck goose and picked floating ducks from a small blue baby bathtub I had to get prizes (everybody got a prize).  Finally we used the leftover lily pads for a craft project.  The kids glued on a lily flower and a pond animal (fun foam from a craft store) and the words "Ada's (or whatever the child's name was) Pad".  A fun sign for their bedroom door that will remind them of the party. 

My daughter and I had sponge painted simple duckies onto inexpensive white paper bags for treat bags.  Treats were rubber duckies, an egg with a toy inside, and some candy.  They also got to take home their costume, bib and ice cream baby duck.  The kids all agreed it was the best duck party they had ever been to. 

The next day one of the kids was wearing her costume over her clothes when we ran into them at the local library!  I was pleased to have made everything but the dollar store items myself from inexpensive supplies.