Wizard of Oz 5yr - Lions, Tigers & Bears

We had a Wizard of Oz party for my now 5-year old's birthday.  The kids(we had 32 show up…plus relatives and parents) had so much fun, I wanted to share my ideas.

For invitations, I used the "diploma" idea.  I found some printer paper that had sky and clouds with a rainbow arched across the top.  I printed "Come over the RAINBOW (each letter in the word in a different color of the rainbow), and celebrate Catherine's 5th birthday!  I typed all of the party information in gray and black.  I made a note at the bottom about responding and letting me know about any food allergies their child(ren) might have.  For the invitations that we had delivered:  I rolled the invitations up and tied them with red curling ribbon.  I printed out name cards using ruby slipper clipart for each child.  I punched a hole in the top of the cards and used the curling ribbon to attach the cards.  For the invitations that we mailed:  I found paper size envelopes with sky and clouds all over them.  I printed the return address and the delivering address in rainbow colors. We had my daughter's party at a local amateur playhouse.  On the door going into the playhouse I made a yellow brick sign (out of a yellow piece of poster board).  It said "Follow the yellow brick road to Catherine's party." 

I found a roll of yellow craft foam at a local craft store.  I drew bricks all over to make the yellow brick road.  So, the kids walked on the yellow brick road to enter the room.  When the kids walked in, they walked throught a rainbow.  (Before hand I had measure the doorway and used a piece of packing tape to hold pieces of rainbow crepe paper.  I repeated the rainbow over and over along the whole length of the door.  It was almost like walking through a beaded curtain.) I had drawn out the characters and had them hanging on one of the walls.  I had found some rainbow colored hot air balloon streamers and hung them in a couple of places. 

I had a large box that I had spray painted brown.  I painted it like a "cabin house" and had it in one corner of the room for decoration.  I went ahead and had all the games (I'll talk about them in a bit.) set out in different areas on the floor.  I had rainbow colored helium filled latex balloons tied on backs of chairs scattered around the room.  A small local party store was able to order Mylar balloons that looked like the scarecrow, lion and tin man.  At the beginning of the party, we had Dorothy come and read a copy of the Wizard of Oz.  (The Sticker Book version was short and appropriate enough.)  After she read the book, she sang "Happy Birthday" with the kids and signed autographs.

Then the kids ate.  I had made rainbow Jell-O.  I made each color of the rainbow out of Jell-O, and had them set out on a clear tray.  I made a cloud out of Cool Whip.  (The kids loved it!)  I made rainbow colored bread using bread tubes from Pampered Chef (a flower, heart and star).  I used those same tubes to cut out lunch meat and cheese.  I had "Witch's Mix".  (I combined Bugle chips, pretzel sticks, Goldfish crackers, and Cheez Nips.)  I made a sweet mix with animal crackers (Lions, Tigers and Bears), Teddy Grahams, mini-marshmallows, and raisins.  I had a veggie tray with ranch dip.  I had two kinds of chips with cheese dip.  Instead of making pouch, I just had Capri-Suns in house for the kids to drink and sodas for the adults.  (I had to clean afterwards, and didn't want to have to mop the floor because of spilt juice.)

After everyone ate we had cake and ice cream.  We had rainbow sherbet and Superman ice cream.  I had made two different cakes.  I made a sheet cake and had iced it white.  I made a yellow brick road diagonally from one corner to the other.  I used chocolate icing to outline the bricks.  I then made grass and flowers along the edges.  In one corner I decorated with a house and a tornado.  I made a house out of the top half of a Goldfish box.  (You could have used a small cardboard milk carton.)  I used hot glue and glued wheat chex to the roof for shingles.  I glued pretzels on the sides for the "logs."  I also put some chex for a door and a window. I made a tornado by dipping a sugar cone into melted chocolate candy melts.  Then I put some in an icing bag and made "whirls" all around the tornado.  In the other corner, I wrote "Happy Birthday Catherine."  I place some plastic figurines of Dorothy and Toto on the yellow brick road.  For the other cake a used the Wilton 3-D Bear pan.  I cut the ears off of the bear.  I decorated it like Dorothy.  It turned out pretty cute.

After cake, the kids played games.  We played a musical floor game.  I had made some "game pieces" out of poster board.  (I had ruby slippers, an apple, tornado, rainbow, paw print, diploma, medal of courage, heart, witch's hat, poppies, bucket of water, basket, a green hot air balloon.)  I also had some "yellow brick road" pieces Xeroxed onto yellow cardstock.  I played some music and when the music stopped, whoever was on the ruby slippers got to tell the group how we walked around the next time.  (They stomped, clapped, walked like a chicken….it was fun!) 

I had made a hopscotch game out of piece of butcher paper and painted it like a rainbow.  I had clouds on either end.  I made "rice bags" (instead of bean bags…they don't hurt as bad if you are accidentally hit with one) using rainbow fabric.  I made a ring toss game.  I glued party hats onto paper plates.  I made the rings out of aluminum foil.  I also made a putt putt golf course.  I had my husband cut out six pieces of wood and I painted them.  (We had the Tin Man, Lion, Scarecrow, rainbow, yellow brick arch, poppies, and apples.)  I found some inexpensive kid's golf clubs and balls at Wal-Mart.  (They had so much fun rearranging the course!)  I had some other games planned but we didn't have time for them.  We had a two hour time limit. 

I also had "Lion, Tigers and Bears" planned.  (Like Duck, Duck, Goose.)  We were also going to play "Freeze Scarecrow."  (I was going to play some music and have the kids dance.  When the music stopped they were going to freeze like a scarecrow.

After games we had crafts.  We made paper Dorothy's.  I had cut out paper dolls out of flesh colored cardstock.  I had cut dresses out of blue and white gingham paper.  I braided brown hair for her hair.  (I tied three strands of brown yarn together and braided it.)  I had wiggle eyes for the eyes.  I had markers set out for the rest of the face.  I had paper and crayons set out for drawing.  I had cut out red tissue paper (in different sizes) and had green pipe cleaner to make paper poppies.  I had yellow and brown ink pads set out, so the kids could make lions out of their thumb prints.  I also had play-doh and cookie cutters set out just for fun. The kids had a choice between continuing with their crafts and watching my daughter open her presents.  

When the kids where leaving we handed them both an autograph book (I had made them out of fun foam and filled them with paper.  They were 4"x5" or 1/4 of a piece of paper.)  and a goody bag.  For the goody bags:  I had sponged painted Toto and hearts on brown paper bags and punched holes in one corner and tied it with blue and white gingham ribbon.  In the goody bags, I tried to represent things in the movie.  I had Xeroxed coloring pages I found on the internet of the different characters.  I rolled them up and tied them with a piece of raffia for the "diploma."  I had medallion gum for the "medal of courage." I had a plastic heart straw for the Tin Man's "heart."  I had a plastic top for the tornado.  A small magnifying class to see the munchkins with.  A sucker for the lollipop guild.  Small plastic bag of M&M's (Auntie Em), gummy Toto's (found the at Oriental Trading) and some other candy.  A rainbow colored spring (like a slinky) for the rainbow.

I know this all sounds like a lot of work, but it was well worth it.  It took about three weeks to make everything.  Everyone (kids and adults) had a blast!  I hope you enjoy all of my ideas.  Maybe, they'll help someone out....Good luck