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My 3 year old son Connor loves Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear. For his birthday this year we decided to do that as the theme. For the invitations, I got to dark blue heavy stock card and cut
into four squares from each page. I found some good clip art at http://www.disneyclips.com/ and printed off a picture of Buzz thinking and three of the little aliens that were pointing to the
sky. I created the wording of the invitation and put it into a thinking bubble (like you see in comic strips). I then glued all of this and for the final touch added silver star stickers to
make it look like it was in outer space. All of my supplies were purchased at Michaels and the main characters I printed off the computer. We held the party at a local community center since
we had about 20 children and their parents and siblings. The room was decorated with green, blue, and orange. I set up the main eating table in a u shape so that everyone could see one
another. I had separate tables for the crafts and presents and plenty of other room for the games. We just used plastic table clothes which helped for easy clean up. I decorated each child's
chair at the main table with a balloon tided to the back. Table decorations consisted of many of my son's toy story toys around the table and room. We also had a buzz light-year bubble blower
and used throughout the party. I played a toy story CD in the background and also had a buzz tent that belonged to my son for decoration. I used buzz plates for the pizza we served and also a
juice box. I used blue and orange colored plates and napkins for the cupcakes. The parents were also served pizza and soda. I ordered the pizza from Papa John's because they have pre-ordering
options on their website. I had ordered two days before and it showed up right on time. It was great because I did not have to worry about it that day and deal with it while the party was
going on.
When each child arrived, they received a nametag I created on the computer. Each nametag had a different Toy Story character on it. I got the clip art for that at the website above. When the children arrived, the first activity was to create their own MR. POTATO HEAD. I went to Hobby Lobby and got large pieces of foam in the appropriate colors. I created the head, eyes, hat, ears, nose, mustache, feet, etc. Each child was given a bag with all the pieces already in it. The parents helped the child glue the pieces together to form their own Mr. Potato Head. This kept kids occupied while each guest arrived. Once that was completed and drying off to the side, we played our first game. I got all the children in a circle and we played PASS THE SPACE ROCK. I got these cute little toys of the slinky dog from the movie at Hobby Lobby. I wrapped them up in layers of foil. My husband worked the music and the children passed around the rock until the music stopped. If they were left holding it, they peeled off a layer and got to keep the toy. While this game was going on, my sister-in-law was setting up table for the next craft, BUILD YOU OWN UNIVERSE. I ordered some 8 inch clear plastic tubes with tops online from ED Luce packaging. Also purchased some glitter in the shape of planets. I filled a big jug with water and blue food coloring. The kids and parents added glitter to the tubes, poured the water into the tubes, added the a few drops of baby oil. Secured the lid and shake. The kids LOVED it. It was also another thing they could take home with them. After that craft the kids were brought over to a section of the room where my husband had laid out several layers of bubble wrap. I was lucky enough to find it on sale at office depot for $1.99 a bag. I made a sign of some footprints walking on the moon and told all the kids we were going to go walk on the moon. The kids ended up jumping but LOVED all the noise they made. Be careful if you have children who don't like loud noises. We had one but he was ok with it all. After walking on the moon, we sat down for pizza. After pizza, we play with a pinata. I filled it with suckers and all the kids were able to take home a bunch. After the pinata, Connor handed out is goody bags to all the kids and thanked them for coming to his party. For the goody bags, I took some colored bags and made a thank you note from Connor and printed them out on nametags. The notes were attached to bag with the child's name. I filled the bags with cute little Toy Story McDonald's toys I had purchased on ebay (20 toys for $20). I also downloaded some toy story coloring pages from http://coloringbookfun.com I had my husband copy them at work. We created a little personalized coloring book for each child by putting a cover sheet on there thanking them for coming to Connor's party. I bought a big box of crayons and gave each child 3-4 in a plastic bag. I also included some toy story fruit snacks, a cool straw, and a ring pop. It was a GREAT party and even the adults had a good time. My son had a blast and so did his friends. To this day, the little kids come up to me and ask when Connor's next birthday is going to be.
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