Wizard Of Oz -2yr- Yellow Brick Invits

Before my daughter was even born I dreamed of having a Wizard of Oz party, this year I got my chance.  Besides the party being a lot of fun for me and the kids, in honor of the Emerald City I was able to make it green" and save a little "green" too.  For example theme printed party plates are so expensive then get thrown out as soon as you use them.  I opted instead for rainbow colored plastic toddler plates from Ikea that were colorful and we use everyday.  Since I had this party in the works for years I was able to save money by buying related items after the season.  Tinman hearts were very cheap after Feb. 14.  Look for wicked witch related items after Halloween green Emerald City items after St. Pat's and scarecrow items in the late fall.  I also can re-purpose many of my items.  My Munchkin cutouts will be next year's Oompa-Loompas Munchkin land was decorated with giant lollipops made for my nephew's Candy Land party last year and so on.  But now for the fun part.

INVITATIONS: The invitations were made to look like ind. Bricks from the Yellow Brick Rd.  I wrapped a box of movie candy in yellow paper and secured it in back with a W.of O. sticker.  I found W. of O. die-cuts for .25 ea at a website called Totally Oz.  On the front of my "brick" I glued a Ruby Slipper die-cut and wrote "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" in red glitter pen.  At www.printwithmypic.com you can create your own movie ticket style invites for free.  I chose the template that looked like movie film and uploaded a picture from the movie I found on the web.  Since not many of our guests were familiar with the movie the idea behind wrapping a box of movie candy in yellow paper was so they could have a movie night before the party.  Microwave popcorn is a cheaper options but not as nice looking.  The words on the ticket read "There's no place like Ella's home.  Ella is turning 2 so watch the Wizard of Oz then follow the yellow brick road to our house.  I then gave the date and time.  The bar codes on these templates inserts your phone # to rsvp!  I slipped a movie ticket along with a W. of O. character magnet I found at Big Lots for only .50 ea under the paper on the box.  These were hand delivered.

DECORATIONS:  I made the tornado from a tomato cage that was covered in clear plastic.  I glued fake spider webs over that layer and used fishing line to tie in items like a cow a doll house chair and best of all my Hallmark ornament of Elvira Gultch riding her bicycle.  I hot-glued small plastic leaves on as well.  I set the tornado over a tee-ball tee on my front porch.  I also used the ruby slippers under the house idea by placing my daughter's ruby slippers in stuffed socks at the base of the house.  Other outside decorations included the "apple tree" which I made by cutting large paper apples on my Cricut and hanging them on the lowest branches by yarn.  If you have one I would also suggest using one of those tree faces available at Halloween.  Also in this area was a store bought scarecrow on a bale of straw.   Inside I ran a path of yellow corrugated paper leading from the front door to the dinning room for the Y.B.R.  Upon entering the house guests walked under a rainbow we made by tying 3 ea of rainbow colored balloons in rainbow order to a length of curling ribbon.  I used mac and cheese boxes wrapped in yellow paper as cheap/reusable balloon weights on either end.  

I used my overhead projector to make life sized munchkins by projecting transparencies of them I found as on-line coloring pages onto foam core.  They were then colored and cut out and given two slots on the bottom with scrap foam core inserted in the slots so they would be free standing.  I set these out along the y.b.r along with the giant lollipops.  I made a mural background of Munchkinland on sheets of bulletin board paper I embellished this with giant tissue flowers made from assorted whimsical printed tissue paper.  I taped the mural to a large cardboard mat used for cutting out sewing patterns with a little propping it was free-standing & I used it to block off the kitchen (Emerald City)  Behind the mural was a large appliance box that kind of looked like a fireplace.  I wrapped the whole box in green foil paper bought on sale in Jan. and decorated it with paper windows and stick on emeralds I got from Oriental Trading.  Additional boxes flanked the main one for grandeur and to help hold up the mural.  I covered these in green paper and made Em. City like domes out of green poster-board that were glued to the top of ea box for height.  Each table was decorated like a diff. character.  Tinman table was covered in aluminum foil and the centerpiece was a tin can full of heart picks.  The lion table had a yellow cloth and a stuffed lion in the middle.  Scarecrow table was covered in burlap with a mini scarecrow stuck in a pot.  The cake table was Dorothy with a blue gingham cloth and any Oz items I've collected threw the years as well as Oz confetti and of course the cake.  I also placed cards from my W. of O. trivia game on each table for entertainment.

ACTIVITIES:  When the kids arrived they were taken to the "Emerald City Wash and Brush Up Co." I set 2 small tables on my porch covered in green plastic cloth and made a sign for the place and the hours 1:00-2:00 closed for lunch 1:00-2:00 (like in the song).  Here each child could have their face painted like any Oz character they wished and girls could have their nails done with instant dry nail polish.  The boys were issued either a plastic Tinman hats purchased from Totallyoz or a felt scarecrow hat that I made using the Simplicity 4024 pattern.  Girls were given pink Glenda crowns which could either be made from this same pattern or purchase foam glitter crowns already made at a craft store.  Once the children were ready my niece appeared dressed as Glinda to guide them threw the party.  First we took the birthday girl in her Dorothy dress to the front of the house to collect & put on the ruby slippers.  Next they were lead to the cornfield where my nephew dressed as the Scarecrow told them "First they tore my arms off and they threw them over there then they took my chest out and they threw it over there."  The kids then had to work together to reassemble a scarecrow doll I had made from a basic rag doll pattern but separated at each joint and Velcro dots on each end to re-build.  A paper version would work fine too.  

After they had the scarecrow back together Glinda lead them to my son the Tinman dressed in his costume made from the Simplicity pattern. I wanted something a little diff. than the popular pin the heart on the Tinman.  I made a Tinman out of silver poster board and backed his chest with magnetic sheets.  I cut out red paper hearts as well as other red shapes and attached a paper clip to each one.  First the children "fished" for a heart by using a pole made from tying one end of a piece of yarn to a magnet the other to a pencil.  The other shapes besides hearts were added for a little challenge and to teach shape recognition.  Once the child caught a heart they stuck it on the Tinman's magnetic chest.  This works really well if taped to the fridge.  As another level of difficulty older kids had "apples" thrown at them while they played.  This was done by having my brother-in-law stand behind the "apple tree" and throw red ball pits balls.  The final game was to test their courage by throwing beanbags into the Cowardly Lion's mouth.  I made a lion by wrapping a med. Box in yellow paper for the body and adding legs and tail and a smaller hinged box in the same paper.  The hinge allowed the mouth to open and close.  Add facial features and a fringed paper mane and prop open the mouth with a pencil.  If the child got a beanbag in the mouth it would fall shut.  Just when they thought it was safe to enter Emerald City I appeared dressed as the Wicked Witch.  Glinda instructed them to throw water balloons at me until I melted. While they did this my Bro. in Law shot flying monkeys purchased at O.T. at them. We went back inside to find Munchinland removed and the Em. City in it's place.  Because of the low door children had to crawl threw and LOVED it! 

FOOD:  The children had a rainbow fruit tray (cherries mandarin oranges pineapple chunks sliced kiwi blueberries and grapes) with marshmallow crème clouds. Also a near rainbow veggie plate of (cherry tomatoes carrot sticks yellow bell pepper and sugar snap peas) with ranch dressing clouds.  They had p.b. and j. "sandwitches" cut like large stars with a pretzel rod inserted for the Good Witch and taquitos made to look like broom sticks by adding a piece of celery to one end that had been fringed with a knife.  The guacamole that went with was made to look like the face of the Wicked Witch.  It being green then add olive slice eyes a small cumber chunk nose and red pepper slice mouth.  They also were served ruby slippers which were jello jiggles made from red jello cut out with a high heel shaped cookie cutter.  I threw the left over veggies into a pasta salad for the adults and made fruit salad with the extra fruit.  So that adults could be in on the theme they were served the Scarecrow's brain (salad shrimp molded into a bowl with cocktail sauce and clear gelatin) the Tinman's heart (heart of artichoke dip and crackers) and to prove they weren't "chicken" like the Cowardly Lion (buffalo chicken wings).  Adults also were given a cocktail called a Flying Monkey.  This recipe and the Cornfield Crunch snack that was set out during the games came from  "The Wizard of Oz Cookbook".  

CAKE:  The cake was the biggest hit of the party!  I divided 3 white cake mixes into 6 bowls and tinted each bowl a diff. color of the rainbow with food coloring.  I poured the batter in layers into three round pans to get a 3 tier cake.  I iced the 2 bottom layers in lt. green and ran a comb like tool threw it to look like grass.  The small top cake was Em. City so I iced it in a darker green.  I cut yellow fondant into 1" rectangles and made a path of yellow brick with them leading to the top.  Using a small flower cookie cutter I cut out orange poppies and covered much of the cake with them.  I stuck green old fashioned candy sticks in the top to look like the domes of the city and attached Popsicle sticks to character die-cuts that were inserted around the cake.  Melting Witch punch was served instead of ice cream (green sherbet and ginger ale with a small black foam witch hat floated in it)  It really helped labeling all the food to add to the theme.

FAVORS:  The kids got a Dorothy basket made from folding 12x12 brown card stock into thirds horizontally and vertically.  Cut the vert. fold lines up to the center from the bottom then down to the cent. from the top.  The paper can now be shaped into a basket by stapling the overlaps with a 1"x12" handle.  The baskets were lined with a square of blue gingham cloth.  Under the cloth was a diploma (mini coloring page rolled around "Smarties" candy and tied with a ribbon) from the scarecrow a heart (plastic heart box with peanut butter clay inside) from the Tinman a medal of courage from the Lion (make your own medals from O.T. one side had a pic. of the b-day girl in her Dorothy dress the other side I inserted with a pic. of the Cowardly Lion) a lollipop from the Munchkins and a stretchy horse of a different color bought at O.T.  As they left the girls were given a large bubble wand with a paper star on it like Glinda's the boy's wand had a paper ax head to be like the Tinman.  Even the mom's got a gift.  O.T. has ink pens that look like witch's brooms that can be customized.  I had mine printed with "I'll Get You My Pretty"."