Strawberry Shortcake -5yr- Strawberry Patch Picnic

Strawberry Shortcake 5 year old The theme of my daughter's 5th birthday party was A Walk Through Strawberry Land.  The party was held in our backyard with stations set up to represent each Strawberry Shortcake (SSC) character. 

INVITATIONS: I made the invitations with cardstock & SSC clip-art. I added glitter and pop dots to create a 3-D effect. The invitation read: Strawberry Shortcake and her friends are celebrating a berry special day! It's Lulu's 5th Birthday! Next were listed time, date & place (Strawberry Land listed with our home address). Each invitation was placed in a SSC scented party bag with strawberry wrapped candies and was hand delivered. 

DECORATIONS: I tried to re-create the whimsical candy & fruit landscape of the SSC movies. The front walkway of our house was decorated with strawberry plants (2 blown-up red balloons dotted with black marker to look like seeds, attached to green painted stir sticks with pipe cleaners & stuck into the ground), a bubble blower & a sign Welcome to Strawberry Land. I made all of the signs at the party from half sheets of foam board & candy striped poles (PVC pipes striped with satin ribbon). The front door had a SSC poster (found at Dollar Tree DT). Each station was decorated with a plastic tablecloth the color of the character & a sign with the character's picture & station name.

Inside, I had strawberry scented candles burning and a SSC mix cd playing in the background. I also made a strawberry path from the bathroom to the back sliding door to help guests find their way. I made the path by cutting strawberries out of red & green cardstock and taping them to the floor. Our lanai was decorated with more SSC posters (DT) and SSC beach balls hanging from the screened area. I had a SSC mix cd playing in the background. The backyard was filled with more strawberry balloon plants & colorful paper lanterns & hard candy decorations (2 plastic plant pot saucers glued together, wrapped in colored cellophane & tied with curling ribbon) hanging between the trees. My mom made a Happy Birthday banner with scrapbook paper, glitter and ribbon.

ACTIVITIES & GAMES: Arrival As the kids arrived they were given a strawberry handle bag that they could use to collect prizes during the party. The bags were made by gluing green construction paper leaves & handle to red paper lunch sacks. Each bag was dotted with seeds (used a black stamp pad & pencil eraser to make dots) & labeled with the child's name. I made a few extra bags incase any of the them ripped during the party. Next time I will spend a little more to buy the sturdier handle bags the weight of the prizes combined with the humidity of the day caused many of the bags to rip. Each guest also received a nametag decorated with SSC stickers.

Station #1 Raspberry Torte Tattoos.  Each child got to pick a SSC tattoo or bug tattoo (I didn't think the boys would want SSC tattoos!).

Station #2 Angel Cake Art the kids painted SSC sun catchers (DT) that they could take home after the party. I put a name label on the back of each one before they stared painting so that we would know which sun catcher belonged to which child. 

Station #4 Peculiar Purple Pie Man Mix-Up Before the party I colored pictures of different SSC characters (SSC coloring book - DT), laminated them & cut them into 4-5 puzzle pieces. At the party the kids had to match up the pieces. They were given a box of crayons & a homemade SSC coloring book as a prize. The crayons were purchased for 22¢ each during back to school sales and the books were made by tearing 15 SSC coloring book pages out and attaching them inside a red folder & tied with ribbon. 

SNACKS - Station #5 Strawberry Patch Picnic I staked in the ground 2 tarps and overlaid them with checkered picnic tablecloths.  The kids sat on them for a picnic snack. Before the party I mixed pink frosted animal crackers, Strawberry whoppers, Strawberry Jell-O-O Rainbow popcorn, pretzel sticks & strawberry shaped gummies together & divided it into small baggies. As the kids sat down, they were given a small squirt of strawberry scented hand sanitizer. Each child got a pint berry basket (from local farmers market) filled with a snack baggie & juice box. I twisted 2 pipe cleaners together for the handle & wove red ribbon thru the basket. The kids kept the baskets when they were finished.  Meanwhile, the parents sat in the Strawberry Parent Patch.  I set up a few card tables with pink tablecloths and a snack table with soda, bottled water, chips & salsa, & vege tray for the parents to munch on during the party.

Station #6 Orange Blossom's Rotten Orange Played like Hot Potato, the kids stood in a circle & passed a fake orange around to SSC music.  As each child was out, they were given a jar of homemade orange play dough (made with orange Kool-Aid for color & smell). I took empty baby food jars, spray painted the lids orange & tied orange ribbon around them to hold the play dough. Each jar had a tag that read,Homemade play dough ~ Love, Orange Blossom. As the kids finished at one station, they moved on to the next.

Station #7 Blueberry Muffins Frisbee Toss Kids had to toss small SSC Frisbees (DT) through a hula-hoop suspended between two branches of a tree. Everyone got a bubble kit (purchased at CVS for 90% off after summer) for a prize.

Station #8 Huckleberry Pie Fishing Spot I blew up a small kiddie pool & filled it with water. The kids fished for foam fish cutouts with a homemade fishing pole. The poles were made from leftover/new scotch-brite cleaning wands with white twine tied to the handle and a magnet on the other end. The fish foam cutouts had hardware washers hot glued as eyes. Each guest caught 5 fish. The kids got to keep their fishing pole & fish so that they could play the game at home. Everyone got a Happy Birthday jingle buddy (colored jumbo jingle bell with clown head) as a prize. 

Station #9 Rainbow Sherbet Bowling We placed a large piece of plywood in the grass to make a level area & arranged 10 2-liter bottles as bowling pins. The plywood was covered with a plastic tablecloth. The kids had to knock the bottles down with colorful wiffle balls. Everyone got a candy necklace as a prize. 

Station #10 Honey Pie Pony Race I purchased stick horses (DT) & hot-glued silk flowers & ribbons to decorate the manes & tails of both horses, just like in the SSC movies. The kids raced 2 at a time around a candy-striped pole. Everyone got a marshmallow ice cream cone candy as a prize. 

CAKE - Station #11 Cake & Ice Cream Two banquet tables were set up on the screened lanai & I covered the table in SSC theme tablecloths. I saved money by using solid lime & pink napkins & plates instead of the theme ones. The tables were decorated with tissue paper topiaries in colorful terra cotta pots. Each place setting had a SSC coloring page printed from the Internet and decorated baby food jars filled with crayons. This kept the kids busy while the cake was served. The kids each got another squirt of strawberry scented hand sanitizer before they sat down.

The birthday cake was a giant strawberry made from heart-shaped cake pans. The kids had cupcakes decorated with SSC picks & ice cream cups for dessert. The night before, I scooped ice cream into cupcake liners, put them on a cookie tray & covered them with plastic wrap. This made serving ice cream a breeze at the party. After all of the kids were served, I cut the strawberry cake for parents. After cake, my daughter opened presents. The kids all free played at the stations until the end of the party.

GOODY BAGS I took empty Crystal Light drink containers and altered them with scrapbook paper and mini straw hats spray painted pink. They were filled with SSC stickers, band-aids, fruit snack & a party blower. The kids left with all of their prizes and the goody containers. I included a cd burned with SSC songs with the thank you notes. I starting planning a few months ahead so that I could purchase everything for the party on sale or at discount stores & dollar stores. The party was a huge success and I found so many great ideas on this site!