Toy Story Party

The Toy Story films are some of the best kids movies ever. Ever.
In our family the adults love them as much as the kids, and the toddler loves them as much as the big kids.
Our walls echo to shouts of "Reach for the sky!" and "To infinity and beyond!"
Woody and Buzz are at home on Scrag's bed, so much that you'd think his name was Andy.

So the choice of a theme for his third birthday was pretty easy. Great scope there!
Cowboys and space. Pizza and aliens. Perfect.

We started with turning Scrag's room into Andy's room, and recreated Andy's box western town (from Toy Story 1). Throw in our collection of Toy Story characters (Buzz, Woody, Mr & Mrs Potato head, Slinky dog, Barbie, Ken and the green toy soldiers...) hang some bunting and put on the original movie... welcome to Andy's room.

With rain forecast, I decided to turn our dining room into Pizza Planet.
Red cellophane over the windows (it clings on; you don't even have to stick it with tape).
Some giant balls from the $2 shop, hung from the ceiling (make a loop of sellotape all the way round the ball so the string won't pull away)
Paint a ricepaper lamp shade ($3.90) while it's hanging there!
Borrow lava lamps and add some removable wall decals (love that $2 shop!)... and of course my painted Pizza Planet sign.

Loved hearing the "Wows" when people walked in and were transported away from that grey rainy day to... Another Planet.

Pizza Planet food is so simple. Dominos Pizza (with the boxes removed of course), cocktail sausages, watermelon, mini corn cobs, popcorn, chippies and... alien cupcakes!

These guys are too cute... and very simple to make!

1. Make a nice green butter icing and smooth a round swirl on top of each cupcake (Tip: hold the knife steady and turn the cupcake to get a nice round shape)
2. Use white mini-marshmallows sliced in half for the eyes. Slice triangular slivers from soft green sweets to create antennae.
3. I used the squeeze tubes of Queen glitter gel writing icing (silver) for the eyes and mouth (available from the supermarket). Too easy!

A rainy day party with thirteen pre-schoolers plus parents and older siblings called for a rethink of our original plan, which was basically to run around the garden, have hobby-horse races, shoot off pump rockets and rocket balloons, play hide'n'seek and then have a treasure hunt.

To accommodate that many energetic little people, we had to make use of all the spaces in our house...

So we turned Miss Fab's bedroom into a face painting & tattoo parlour, moved furniture and added in star-cookie decorating as an activity.

There was lots of dressing up, with Mr G doing a great job as Sheriff Woody. Like his home-made outfit?

Hat = $3.90; Vest = fabric from Geoffs Emporium $6. Add jeans, a check shirt, a bandana scarf and some boots... We now have one cool Sheriff who is not too shamed to go pick up Pizzas from Dominos looking like that!

And check out Mr Potato Head. Funny huh?

Sheriff Woody wandered around handing out snake lollies...

...and creating Deputies. Like my easy home-made deputy badges???

Then there was the Rocket Cake. Here's how to do it...

1. Triple-recipe of one-egg chocolate cake, baked in a roasting dish lined with baking paper. Cut off the two corners to form the body of the rocket, then trim the remaining triangles of cake and flip them round to form the rocket fins.
2. Ice the main body blue (with butter cream icing of course)
3. Ice the fins red. Use the gel colours to produce vibrant colour.
4. Slice the bottom off a cuplet ice cream cone and poke into the base of the rocket to create the exhaust
5. Decorate and make pretty. I used the squeezy Queen icing writing tubes and sweeties.
6. To create a burst of jet flame, melt orange barley sugar sweets in the oven, on a tray lined with baking paper.
7. When the sweets melt and run together remove quickly from the oven and use a knife to pull the melted sweets into the shape you want. It will harden and cool quickly; before if becomes brittle use your hands to refine the shape.
8. Poke into the base of the cake as shown. Simple but very effective!

(and a hit with the birthday boy and his friends)

Finally we finished off with treasure hunt, which was just as easy to do inside as it would have been outside.

I had collected photos of all Scrag's little buddies and Photoshopped their faces onto Woody, Buzz and Jessie's bodies (found on googleimage)

I printed two copies of each image, one to hide, and one to attach to the goody bags.

The kids had to hunt all over the house for their picture and when they found it, bring it to Woody who would exchange it for their treat bag - containing a rocket balloon, a Toy Story stamper and some sweets.

So fun to watch the kids "buzzing" about seeing themselves as Woody, Buzz or Jessie.

Scrag had a great time. His friends had a great time.

I did it without stressing, (even the rain didn't phase me for once cos I planned ahead.)

Another party done and dusted.

Yeehar!

• FREE Printable Toy Story Party Invitation
• Download Printable "Rocket Juice" labels... 

Peel the labels off bottles of budget lemonade and replace them with these fun Rocket juice labels
Labels are set up on a portrait (tall) A4 page. Cut the printed page in half, and wrap the label around the bottle; using a glue stick to apply.
Click to download...

[Personalised Toy Story invitation]

   

A Brief Post from Party Land

Hellloooooo!
Today is Party Baking day. And Bunting day. And last minute things day in the Schedule of Party Works.

It's full steam ahead here in Party Land.
I am sitting here in my sweats, fresh from walking bus duty and cupcake baking... taking five minutes for myself in between gluing tassles on Woody's vest and cutting out bunting. Soon I will take a shower. After the cleaning/washing/slaving is done, I promise (I'd hate you to think I'll stay stinky all day).
No point getting clean clothes messy, right?

I think it's kinda funny that an introvert like me gets such a kick out of planning fun parties.
Me, the girl who freaks out in crowds, loves nothing better than to invite a bunch of noisy kids over to her house and show them a great time.
Do you see the irony there?

I love it. Love kids parties.
Love the challenge of coming up with a cool theme.
The fun of spotting bargains to enhance it.
The creativity I get to use, making stuff from bits and peices.
I think even if I had an unlimited budget I would still like to do my parties home-made.
Because I just love using my imagination. And seeing the kids use theirs.
Love to make a fuss on their special day. See them enjoying themselves with their friends.
Watch kids having fun, celebrating and being kids.

Maybe they won't notice the little details like the Rocket Juice labels on the bottles of (home brand) lemonade, but for me it's all part of making an atmosphere of fun. A party where anything can happen. Where laughter and giggling is the soundtrack.
Where you overhear kids saying to one another, "Man this was the fun-est party ever!"
I love it.

So here I sit surrounded by bunting needing stringing, goody-bags needing filling, cupcakes needing icing and a Rocket Cake needing Baking.
I have to re-think the Party Plan cos there's rain forecast. I've learnt the hard way to check the weather and have a Plan B. Now I'll be baking some Star Cookies for the big kids to ice. Setting up Miss Fab's room as "face-paint central" and turning our Dining Room into Pizza Planet.

(Do you like the sign I painted???)

I get stressed though. Course I do. Almost every party, my hubby threatens to ban parties from now on. But somehow, another birthday rolls around and I find myself here on Baking Day up to my elbows in cupcakes and bunting. My goal this party is to get through it without stressing. I am going to let go of the small stuff.

I don't need to sew the tassles on Woody's vest. I can glue-gun them.
I don't need to make signs for the food that read things like, "Meteor shower" (on the chocolate crackle) or make Deputy Sheriffs badges out of gold-painted cardboard. these are great ideas, but ones I can let go of in the interests of a relaxed headache-free marital-bliss me.

Really there is no time for blogging.
But here I am, taking five minutes out for sweaty-ole Me.
Wish me luck.

{PS Are you Party Mad? Or Party Shy?}