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Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire -5yr- A Journal

July 2010

Amaryllis in San Clemente

Special Mention

For my daughter's 5th birthday I planned a party based on the book "Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire".  I made the invitations using a clip art picture of Nancy from the book.

INVITATION>> "Name's 5th Birthday is here celebrate with us! Leave your fancy clothes at home and come ready to have fun as you become an Explorer Extraordinaire at Name's Clubhouse"- followed by the necessary details- date/time/place lunch & cake. 

ACTIVITIES>>As each girl arrived to the party they received a personalized "Exploration Journal" with a magnifying glass. I made the exploration journals as follows: front page- a picture of Fancy Nancy with the title "(Girl's Name) Exploration Journal" I used cardstock for the front and back cover. The inside pages were like a coloring book with a note about what to do on the top portion for example Oh La la Giant Flowers do you see one? the girls had to draw flowers.

We had pages for leaves flowers birds & bugs glow in the dark bugs magnifying glass and pictures of birds with their descriptions to color. Each girl had to complete the journal to get the Official Club Membership card and uniform. To help them complete the journal we had a table with glow in the dark bugs and a dark box to look at them dead bugs to watch with the magnifying glasses (I found a dead bee and small spider!) cards stickers stamps & ink crayons and color pencils.

This activity involved the Moms because most of the girls do not read yet but I wanted to involve the mothers as much as possible during the party. After completing the journal each girl received a club membership card (like the ones on the book) I made them using cardstock and colored pencils they also received a card with instructions of the activities that they could do as club members and the club uniform. The idea of giving a card with instructions was to make it easier for me to explain to the adults what was "next". Given that it was a large group of girls (12) I needed some organization!.

COSTUMES>>The Uniform - each girl received a fancy hat and a ribbons skirt. I found straw hats in pastel colors with a flower (like the ones sold for Easter/spring) really cute at the .99 store! And made the skirts using different kinds of ribbon and flowers and hot glue- all from the craft store. After receiving the official membership card the girls made a bookmark with felt butterflies stickers at the lunch table as they got ready to eat (the instructions read "you can make a bookmark and the next time you are reading a fancy book if you have to take a break you won't miss a page or two).

Once all the girls were at the lunch table we served them lunch they were wearing their  hats and it was really adorable! The tables were decorated with a light green tablecloth and small flower arrangements. Each girl also had at the table a small tin the tins were filled with wet oasis but no flowers- the girls were going to make a flower arrangement at the end of the party. Once they were done with lunch they played for a while to give the moms a chance to eat lunch.

Food>> kids-chicken nuggets mac&chees PB&J sand. Fruit adults salad bar argentinian empanadas and fruit. When lunch was over we made the last 2 activities of the party. Butterfly Hunting: I got some papers shaped as butterflies at the craft store which I colored with food color (my daughter helped with this) then I decorated them with pieces of ribbons and used wood skewers to put them around the garden . There was one butterfly for each girl and the names were stamped on each one. I got a pair of flip flops for each girl.

GAME>>We sent them to "find a butterfly named just like them" and to use the ribbons to "fancy" their flip flops. The ribbons were color coordinated to match the flip flops and just had to be attached to the flip-flops by knots. (there are lots of ideas on the internet to decorate flip flops). The moms helped with this again that was part of the plan to involve the mothers. After decorating the flip flops each girl received a little bunch of flowers in a cup which they used to make their own flower arrangement with the tins that were at the lunch table. Originally my idea was to have the flowers by the butterflies but then I got afraid of the sun damaging the flowers.   When we were done with the activities we took pictures of the girls and of the whole group all of them with their flip flops hats skirts and flower arrangements.

CAKE>>Finally it was cake time! A local bakery made an incredible job making a "Fancy Nancy the Explorer" theme cake with lots of flowers butterflies and ladybugs and Nancy the Explorer!

FAVORS>>Each girl took home what they did during the party the uniform and a small bag with a small Fancy Nancy book (level 1 reading).

DÉCOR>>The lunch tables were under an EZ-up tent that I decorated with a flowery fabric and ribbons hanging from the tubes of the tent were the ribbon's skirts and also some paintings that my daughter and I made for her "club house" the paintings were made over foam pieces and I glued some ribbon to the sides to hang them to the ez-up. The ez-up was the "club house". We also had some big nylon butterflies and big artificial colorful flowers decorating the backyard. I also prepared 2 garlands with some birds bugs and butterflies to decorate.

Yes it was a lot of work but I enjoyed every minute of it not to mention that my daughter enjoyed it even more which made it all totally worth it! I hope that she remembers it when she's older!      "

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