Birthday Nature Crafts

Once the Forest Fairy and Animal party theme was approved by my Birthday Girl, fun ideas were abundant. Simple, affordable, and quick ideas, however, weren’t as easy to come up with. Enter Pinterest, a world of nothing but cool ideas to browse.

I need to thank the creative Mom of Paint Cut Paste who inspired these no-sew Forest Animal Masks using felt and glue.

All this mask-making took was a mix of colorful felt squares from Michael's (about 39 cents each), some thin black elastic, and fabric glue (I used all-purpose Tacky Glue). Superhero masks littering our playroom served as starting patterns to provide the perfect size and placement of eye holes. Next I hand-sketched  animal shapes around those masks onto paper, playing around with them until they looked right.

"Easy Peasy!" as the dear Birthday Girl would say. Sadly, I didn't get any photos of her in these masks that day...  she was too busy changing into different fairy princess costumes during the party. Oh well, at least it wasn't Hello Kitty.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Sara. I love you more than words can say.

 

Forest Fairy Fourth Birthday

Once we said “Goodbye” to Hello Kitty and welcomed the Forest Fairy & Animal Theme, Sara came up with a modest guest list of six girls and six boys ranging in ages 3 to 6. Twelve kids might not sound like a big party but we learned that a dozen kids can be just as wild as thirty when you invite two pairs of rambunctious brothers. HOLY COW (and I say this with deep respect and admiration for the patient parents of these pairs of lovable boys). It was a wild ride but also one very fun and very happy celebration.

One "Forest" Cake complete with blue sprinkle river and white chocolate-dipped pretzel logs...

 

One Fairy Cake complete with fairies playing jump rope and a cougar prowling after a mountain goat. When in doubt about decorating a homemade birthday cake, just add M&Ms and figurines from those great "Toob" play sets  

Anyone with Kindergarten-age boys will know that their sense of humor is blossoming… that’s putting it nicely. In a more direct manner, one might say they are goofy, wild, and loud to the Nth degree. So take this mix of wild boys (mine included), add wild animal masks (provided by me… whoops, didn’t think that through very well) and being relegated indoors (it was horribly cold weather with mixed hail and rain) and you get one super crazy high-volume wrestling match, interrupted only by cake, crafts, and opening presents along the way.

Girl Power still ruled the day. The Birthday Girl and her 5 girlfriends weren’t phased by the testosterone frenzy. They joined in the wild animal play for a bit but it didn’t take long for them to break off and start their own imaginative play in the rooms where I had set up twinkle lights and a bunch of fairy wings and fancy dress-up clothes.

Thanks to both lovely Grandmas, there were plenty of colorful flowers to adorn Spring Nature Crowns and all the kids (both genders) enjoyed making them.

Lots of hugs on Sara's Happy 4th Birthday -- lots of costume changes too. Go back and see how many outfits Sara was able to squeeze into her two hour party - it's impressive!

Tired Party Animals went home with Handmade Animal Masks, Fairy Wings for the girls (found affordable ones at Party City), and "Pixie Dust Activators" for the boys (light-up version of the classic hand-held magnet- and gravity-driven gyroscope). Everyone had fun and Mommy learned that William's upcoming 6th Birthday needs to be planned outdoors where wild boys can run, jump, wrestle, ninja-kick, and do all the things that wonderfully wild boys do.

My Super Boy's 5th Birthday

When William said he wanted to invite all of his preschool and neighborhood friends to his birthday party, I figured no problem.  How often do 95% of guests RSVP Yes? Well… apparently often because our guest list quickly grew to 26 kids!

Dressing up is one of his favorite pastimes and he requested a Superhero party so we decided that costumes would be the activity (decorating capes, belts, wrist cuffs and masks) and the party favors all in one.

Capes:  I found a polyester blend that was inexpensive, silky and flowing (but not too slippery), came in bright colors, and didn’t fray at the edges. No sewing required! Using an existing store bought cape, I made a pattern from newspaper. Then, with multiple folds and tolerance of some ragged edges, was able to cut four capes out at a time. Securing them in the front proved more challenging (snaps or little hooks work great but there is too much stitching involved, sticky Velcro won’t stay stuck, a glue gun would secure string but it might also create a rough surface against kids’ necks…. Hmmm. Finally, I remembered that snaps can be “installed” if you have the right tools and the Dritz Snap-A-Plier did the trick!)

Masks:  Stiffened felt is a godsend! All I did was make a little pattern then start folding and cutting. I was originally going to sew elastic on each one but when the headcount exceeded 25, I had to think of something easier. The same tool I used for installing snaps also punches holes in fabric so I could tie elastic cord on each side.

Superhero Cuffs:  Stick-on Velcro is my friend. I used rolls of 100% acetate firm ribbon, cut strips on a diagonal, and then used that sticky Velcro to make them stay put.

Belts:  Much to my surprise, the scraps left behind from the cape-cutting were just right for tie-on belts!

At the party, sticky felt (another good friend of mine) shapes gave the kids all kinds of ways to decorate their super-outfits however they liked! Stars, butterflies, smiley faces, and peace symbols were available pre-cut and I cut lightning bolts out myself from sheets of the sticky felt.

Big pictures of the Joker and the Riddler provided the perfect villans for "Blast the Bad Guy!"

We offered tattoos and face painting but the favorite activity was “Blast the Bad Guy!” The big refrigerator box we’ve been playing with for months became a target for bean bags thrown by super-kids. I had a couple coloring book pages enlarged then glued them to the cardboard and cut around them so they’d fall down when hit by a bean bag. The kids loved it and they got creative about shooting stomp rockets into it as well.  Stomp rocket play got a little crazy but as I look up, I keep telling myself, the bright green rocket sitting up on the skylight is proof that the party was a hit!

My Mom's dog (appropriately named Happy) was given lots of love at the party. The face painting almost turned to body painting but we managed to put it away before anyone got beyond their arms.