Strawberry Party -5yr- Duck Duck Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake 5yr - This was the most fun party for my daughter who is about to start kindergarten.  I wanted to create a special experience for her and her little friends that she would never forget.  Here's what went into making this a 'berry special party': 

DECORATIONS:  red & pink balloons and crepe paper hung from ceiling and light fixtures and fan blades.  There were balloons everywhere (the hot-air kind, not helium), including all around the door to our home.  For the centerpiece hanging from the fan above the table, I hung three balloons in the middle that were decorated like strawberries (black dots from a marker, and green tissue paper cut out like leaves glued to the tops of the balloons with elmer's- very cute!)I covered the table with a red plastic and then set out strawberry shortcake plates and napkins at each place. 

FOOD:  my daughter helped me make cupcakes in strawberry shortcake liners and we decorated them with pink icing and lots of red/white/pink sprinkles and sparkles.  Her cupcake had a giant strawberry shortcake candle on top that I purchased at a party city.  I arranged the cupcakes on two red plates in the center of the table and my daughter's was in the center on top of a red bowl turned upside down.  We served water & strawberry cool-aid in clear plastic cups with the cupcakes.

GAMES:  this was probably the best part.  Every child had a strawberry shortcake goody bag with a drawstring top I found at party city.  When they arrived, they were welcomed to Strawberry Land and received a bag and a recipe card.  The cards had a picture of strawberry shortcake I dowloaded from the internet and four ingredients with check boxes next to them:  flour, sugar, strawberries, eggs.  They each got to choose a crayon to mark their recipe.  Then we began to play games. I explained that we were going to have fun like strawberry shortcake and her friends and that we would also 'make' a shortcake today for the party. 

The first game was duck-duck-goose, but we changed it to be strawberry-strawberry-shortcake. The kids had fun running around the circle. Each time someone got 'picked' and ran around, I gave her the first ingredient to her recipe (a tiny zip lock bag of flour - (jewelry bags purchased at Hobby Lobby).  We played until everyone had their first ingredient.  Then we checked off 'flour' on our recipe.  We then moved into another room and lined up to play 'put the hat on strawberry shortcake'.  I enlarged a picture of strawbery shortcake from the internet and then decorated a tiny straw hat I found at Hobby Lobby for them to stick on (used scotch tape). Once each child had a turn at trying to put the hat in the correct place, she received her second ingredient - a bag of sugar, and marked it off her recipe.  I then told them we needed to go strawberry picking for our next ingredient. 

We went outside in the yard where we had 'hid' felt stuffed strawberries all over the yard.  They were each to find one and bring it back to the circle. (I made these from a pattern I found for strawberry pincushions on the martha stewart website - some were red, some were red with white dots, and some were hot pink with white polka dots filled with rice.  All had green leaves on top and were absolutely adorable.)  We played a game of toss and tried to toss our strawberries into the strawberry basket.  Once everyone had a turn, they received their 3rd ingredient, which was a bag of strawberries (red hots), which was also then marked off the recipe.  Finally, we needed our eggs.  My daughter's grandpa has chickens, so he came with an egg basket full of strawberry eggs that he handed to the children. (These were strawberry cascarone' eggs - I drained the eggs, stuffed them full with confetti, then placed green tissue paper leaves over the hole and glued down with elmer's.  I watered down red acrylic paint and we painted the eggs red, then used a black marker to cover with dots that looked just like seeds.  These were my favorite! All the moms wanted to know where I bought them :-)  Once all the children came back with their eggs, we circled around two huge bowls and I told them it was time to make our shortcake batter.  We emptied our flour, sugar, and strawberries into the bowl.  Each child was given a wooden spoon tied with red and lime green ribbon to stir with.  They all had fun stirring the 'batter'.  Finally, it was time to add the eggs.  I asked them if they had seen their mommies crack eggs before, and then the confetti started flying!  Most cracked them in the bowls, some made a mess in the grass, but mostly it was fun to see them astonished to see all the confetti coming out of their eggs.  They stirred it all up, then I suggested we go inside to eat 'real' shortcake. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Each child was asked to sit with her hands in her lap while we placed a cupcake on her plate with a candle.  All the children got to have a candle lit at their place, then we sang Happy Birthday and blew them all out. (My experince has been that little children have a hard time not being the one to blow out the candles.  This way, everyone is happy.) They were served water or cool aid and we were done eating in 10 minutes (they usually only lick off the icing and eat a bite or two of cake, which is why I did not go to the effort of making or buying a big cake.)  We washed hands and gathered in a circle around our presents.  Each child sat with her present. 

My daughter sat in the center of the circle and we counted off around the circle to 5.  Whoever was 5 gave her present to my daughter and she opened it. She thanked each child with a hug and a strawberry cookie she had made and placed in a little bag.  The kids had fun counting to 5 until each child had received her little cookie. (Cookies were made from a recipe for strawberry cake cookies.  My daughter and I made the cookies, which tend to spread out quite a bit, and then we used tiny heart cookie cutters to cut them out.  They were bite sized and a nice 'gift' for my daughter to hand to her friends.)

FAVORS:  by the end of the party, each child took home a treat bag filled with a strawberry shortcake bandaid, her wooden spoon, her recipe card and crayon, her felt strawberry, and her heart cookie (unless it had already been eaten!)    I also took a picture of my daughter (who was dressed like strawberry shortcake, hat and all) with each party guest.  I got lots of the balloons in the background and the pictures are adorable.  My daughter will be sending thank you notes out to her friends with a picture inside each card.  

This party was loved by all parents and kids, and did not cost me a fortune.We had 15 children at this party, boys and girls, ranging from 2-5, and it was quite a crowd.  But all the moms helped out and made it fun for all the kids.  We began at 6:00 and were done at 7:15.  I was exhausted, but I know it was all worth it because my daughter came running up to me when the house got quiet, knocked me over with a huge hug and said "Mommy, thank you for giving me this party.  It was the best!"  All my ideas were not original - I got lots of ideas from this website and others and am so glad it turned out so berry special.  I hope some of these ideas might help you have a great Strawberry Shortcake party for your berry special girl, too!