TOY STORY BIRTHDAY PARTY For my daughter's 2 yr. and son's 5 yr. joint birthday party, we used the Toy Story theme.   Decorations used were Toy Story 2 paper products plus primary color balloons and streamers.    The average age of the attendees was around 4 yrs. old, so for any games that we played, we gave out prizes to all the children so no one would feel left out. We also tried to select games that were teamwork oriented or a winner by chance/luck.       "Claw Game" - Object: To grab prizes while blindfolded using tongs (or hands if a younger child) out of a container.  I used a clear Rubbermaid container filled with candy (Buzz Lightyear Fruit Snacks) and toys (Hot Wheels, bracelets, mini paint sets, etc...)  With every try, the participants were guaranteed some sort of prize.        "Musical Toy Story Squares" - Object: To be the last person left standing on a "Toy Story" character square that is drawn each time music (Toy Story soundtrack CD) is stopped... We started off with the same number of squares as participants in the game, using Toy Story character pictures (2 sets) printed from some s/w I had purchased (You can also get some pictures off the Disney web site). I glued one set of pictures on different colored paper which could help identify a character in case the child was unfamiliar with whom they were standing on, if it was called.  The other set of pictures I put in a paper bag and pulled out the pictures each time the music stopped. Mini M&M prizes were given to each child as the character they were standing on was drawn plus the last one remaining received "Dog Food" that I said "Slinky Dog" had selected as the final prize.  (Actually it was edible cookies shaped like a bone and kibble in a dog bowl I'd purchased at Target.  It looked very realistic and received a lot of  "ughs.")     (Note: This version of musical "chairs" avoided the pushing/shoving you normally encounter with the traditional version as there was equal # of squares as players. Since characters drawn were random, I found children were willing to move from even their favorite character(s) as they had wanted end up on the last "chosen" character whoever that might be.)  "Rescue Woody" – Object:  To find the "Woody" character who was stolen by "Al" of Al's Toy Barn. Based on the Toy Story 2 story, we used toy figures (Buzz Lightyear, Hamm, Mr. Potato, Rex, and Slinky Dog plus Woody) to act out Woody's rescue.  The children were told a very short (less than one minute) version of the story.  We used two grocery carts (kid sized ones) and selected two participants to push the cart filled with the Toy Story characters. The remaining participants were asked to work together to pick up prizes (Glitter Star Flashlights/Space Flashlights/Goody bags (Space stickers, pencils, crayons, and rulers)) and place them into one of the shopping carts. They had to get past "Zurg" (a Zurg room monitor that spoke and made Zurgotronic ion blaster sounds each time someone passed by) plus pass through a stream of bubbles (a stationary Buzz bubble machine blower and a battery operated bubble gun that a helper used). Traffic cones could also be used as part of the obstacle course for older kids.  Once they collected the prizes in the cart, they had to find Woody before they could actually get the prizes.  We hid Woody when the kids weren't looking and had collected everything.  This way there was no way they could have collected the reward without finding Woody.   "To Infinity and Beyond" – Object:  To launch Toy Story characters into "space." We used film canisters filled with 2 tsp. of water and ¼ tablet of an Alka Seltzer and attached Toy Story characters (finger puppets laminated in contact paper to avoid water damage) and launched them into "space." The kids enjoyed trying to figure out whether Buzz would blast off first before Zurg, etc… By the end of this activity, I think they had learned most of the Toy Story character names.  Note: This activity needs to be carefully controlled by an adult to avoid accidents that could happen as it shoots up into the air and the top of the film canister separates when the launch happens. We had children choosing a Toy story character canister with prefilled water and had them stand in line for their turn.  We were careful in ensuring that they stood back and waited for the blast (some blast offs took longer than others). Note:  Fuji film canisters worked the best for us (about 8-10 ft. high).  Kodak canisters launched about 3 ft. which worked well for the younger children.    The other game that we played was Water Balloon toss which the kids enjoyed.  I had a hard time keeping up with filling balloons, as they used all the balloons we had prepared ahead of time fairly quickly.   Other games that we were prepared the play, but didn't as we were running out of time was "Search for the Stars/Planets."  This game would have involved having participants try to find scattered prizes (glow-in-the dark planets and stars). The other game that we never got around to using was "Stinky Pete the Prospector's Gold Mine."  It would have been set-up as a type of treasure hunt with Gold Chocolate coins as the reward.  Clues would have been given to lead them to the gold.  Thank you cards were made from a Toy Story card maker s/w. We included a picture of the recipient on the card framed in space ships, TVs and Toy Story items.  We donated remaining prizes (goodie bags, prizes for games not played, excess purchases, etc…) to our local children's hospital which my son helped prepare and deliver.