Shrek 2 Party -6yr- Swamp Hop Balloon Pop

My son just had his 6th birthday and he wanted a Shrek 2 party.  We decided to invite his whole class and a few extra friends so we had a total of 27 kids.

For invitations I downloaded a picture of Shrek from a photo gallery and printed them out from my computer with all the information. 

Despite the number of kids and the fact that we had to be indoors because of the weather, the party came off without a hitch!    First, as the kids arrived they each picked out a sticker of either Shrek, Fiona or Donkey and we played Shrek Trivia in our livingroom that I labeled THE FOREST.    I had my son help write the questions so were easy enough for all the kids to answer.  We played until everyone arrived and once they all arrived I had the kids seperate into groups according to their stickers.

They were asked to go to one of three different areas of the house that were labelled THE CASTLE, THE POTION FACTORY and THE SWAMP. I made great signs to hang from the doorway of each room of our house. 

In the POTION FACTORY I had several bottles, each with a label stating their name and "Happily-Ever-After Potion." I had several kinds of candy that were small enough to put into bottles by hand.  They made for colorful bottles of potion.  The girls realy got into making designs with the candy in thier bottles, where the boys were all about how fast they could fill their bottle. 

In the SWAMP, I prepared a Swamp Hop game with music from the soundtrack (similar to musical chairs.)  The kids loved to dance to the music while they played and once they were "out" they picked out a balloon and in the balloon was a clue-they had to pop the balloon to get the clue out.  The clues were all read together so they could work together as a team to find the jar of eyeballs I hid.   

In the CASTLE they played Shrek Bingo.  I made the Bingo cards by downloading pictures from the movie from a couple of photo galleries, printing the photos and pasting them onto cardstock and then I had the cards laminated.  They loved it!  My son loves to play the game over and over.   When they got Bingo they had to yell SHREK and they got a prize.  

After about 20-25 minutes the kids rotated to a new area.  I enlisted the help of three friends to monitor each area of the house and it worked great that I could float from area to area to help where needed.  When all the kids were done with all three stations they all went to the SWAMP to watch part of the movie and present opening.  That worked great because they could watch either one.  While the kids were all there, we prepared the tables for cake in the other three areas.  I served cupcakes with lime green frosting and Shrek 2 figurines I found on Ebay, Shrek Cheezits, and Shrek Fruit snacks. (NO SLIVERWARE NEEDED!!!) For punch I poured Sprite in each kids cup and sprinkled magical "punch potion powder" in each (lime flavored jello) which made the sprite fizz and turn green.  The kids loved to see that.  I also froze gummy worms ahead of time and I put one into each cup.   

At the end of the party my son handed out the party favor bags which included a copy of the Shrek 2 soundtrack CD, a Shrek 2 tattoo, another sticker, glow-in-the-dark slime and a Shrek mini M&M tube.  Then they could take home the eyeball they foundin the scavenger hunt, prizes from Bingo and their Happily-Ever-After Potion bottle.  For decoartions I ordered Shrek posters and found a GREAT movie store display - cardbord cutouts of each character.  The party were so smoothly that way that I will do it again with that many kids.  Everyone had fun and after 2 1/2 hours our hours was quiet again!!! For thank you cards I printed out the same picture of Shrek I used for the invitatyions.