Sesame St. Bash -2yr- Best Of Elmo CD

My daughter loves Elmo, so we decided to host a Sesame Street Bash for her second birthday. 

For invitations I scanned a picture of a fish bowl and then used a computer program to design the invitation.  First, I "painted" water half way up the bowl and then I used an idea bubble in which I wrote:  Dorothy is imagining (child's name)at Madison's second birthday party! I then included the details and finished it off with...Brought to you by the letter M and the number 2!  (M is the first letter of my daughter's name and 2...well, you get the idea!) I then punched two holes in the fish bowl and placed an orange swedish fish (Dorothy) in a clear lollipop wrapper (found at any craft store) and tied it to the invitation with blue ribbon.  We then cut out sand paper to glue to the bottom of our fish bowl.  The invitations were gorgeous!  

For party decorations, we placed balloons and streamers along the front of our house and made a Sesmae Street sign that read Happy 2nd Birthday Madison.  We nailed the sign onto one of the porch columns.  I also made an Oscar head out of poster paper and green craft grass for his fur and placed him in a silver trash can from Home Depot.  I had the CD "The Best of Elmo" blaring "Can you tell me how to get...how to get to Sesame Street!" as the kids arrived. 

We also used sidewalk chalk to draw Sesame Street character faces and the letter M and the number 2 all along the sidewalk leading up to our home.  A special message from Big Bird on the stairs leading to our porch was written to Madison and the kids followed Big Bird's foot prints to our door!  Inside the house, were more balloons and more streamers and Ernie, Big Bird, and Elmo sand molds affixed to the stair spindles -- so they could greet the kids as they arrived. We had cut 10 letter Ms and 10 number 2s out of construction paper and taped several outside and we taped the rest to windows throughout the house and to the fireplace.  On the cake table, I used a galvanized tub from Home Depot, filled it with angel hair to look like bath bubbles and placed Ernie and his rubber duck in the tub!  I also spelled out Happy 2nd Birthday Madison with wooden blocks. 

The cake was Big Bird in his nest.  The kids party favor bags were also on this table.  We also had a craft for the kids to do.  I covered the table with white craft paper and drew the face of a Sesame Street character at each place and wrote a child's name above the character.  For a centerpiece, I filled two flower pots with green craft grass and stuck Sesame Street Character lollipops that I made from a candy mold. 

I bought small flower pots and painted them white with a red rim and used a white paint pen to write each child's name on his/her flower pot.  They, with the help of a parent, glued foam flowers and bugs onto the flower pots.  Crayons were also scatterd around the table so that they could color their character if they wanted!  The kids were also encouraged to nibble Sesame Street snacks from Keebler while they worked!    We served dinner as well--hot dogs, chips, dips, and several salads.  I made sugar cookies in the shape of Ms and 2s and covered them with sprinkles. Drinks for the kids were Sesame Street juice boxes and "adult" drinks for parents were placed in galvanized tubs filled with ice. 

After eating, we played two games.  Stick the nose on Elmo and stick the cookie in Cookie Monster's mouth.  I made both characters out of poster paper and used felt and craft foam paper (?) for the eyes as I wanted a bit of a 3-D effect.  I stuck velcro on Elmo where his nose should be and made noses out of orange foam paper (?) with velcro on the back of that.  For the cookies, I used a tan foam paper (I can't remember what this is called!)and for the chocolate chips I used a hole punch to punch out little chips from black felt and glued them to the cookie.  I then stuck velcro to the back of each cookie.  The kids had a blast with these games! 

For favor bags, I bought medium sized white bags with handles at AC Moore and made an Elmo face out of red construction paper and glued that to each bag.  I glued on an orange pom pom for his nose and two big googly eyes.  I used black construction paper for his mouth.  I tied the bags shut with black string and dangled little wooden letter Ms and number 2s that I had painted and glued magnet strips to.  Inside each bag, were Sesame Street stickers, bubbles, two Sesame Street character lollies, an Elmo plastic cup, a letter M and number 2 cookie, crayons and a homemade coloring book.  I visited the Sesame Street web site and downloaded the coloring pages for the numbers 1 - 10.  The first page was the coloring page for the first letter of that particular child's name.  I wrote ____ is for (childs Name). I also personalized captions, using Madison's name in each one, and used a hole punch and black string for binding.  My mother-in law and sister-in-law made Elmos out of red felt for heach child,  complete with an orange pom pom nose, a black felt mouth, and googly eyes.  The kids loved them! 

As each child left, I took a photograph with him/her sitting/standing beside Oscar and his trash can.  I had my daughter's picture professionally taken with the same Oscar and his trash can and made thank you cards to send to her friends using that picture on the front.  I also included a little wooden frame that I had painted green and in one corner I glued two tiny googly eyes and used brown paint to paint Oscar's mouth and trademark eye brows.  I used a white paint pen and wrote Oscar and Me across the top.  And, of course, I put the picture of the child with Oscar in the frame!  What a great time we had!  The gown ups even thought they were at Sesame Street!