108

Oswal the Octopus -1yr- Pin Hat on Oswald

March 2002

Magdalena in Mount Rainier, MD, USA

Honorable Mention

First Birthday with Oswald My daughter, Julia, is a big fan of Oswald, the blue octopus from Nick Jr. We couldn't find anything related, so it was a "do it yourself" thing.

I made the invitations with pink construction paper, printed an Oswald with a stamp (made with a potato) on the front, and printed the information on my computer.

For decorations I used pink balloons with a "Happy first birthday" picture and plain blue ones, and some blue and "Happy first birthday" ribbons.

I also made an "oswald" piñata, with a balloon, newspaper and glue, an blue crepe paper.

My husband painted a beautiful picture to play "pin the hat on Oswald".

Most of the kids we invited were older (5 to 10 years), so I went with the "do it yourself" slogan and made big loot bags with brown paper lunch bags, with a big circle in construction paper (blue for boys, pink for girls and yellow for babies).

When they arrived, we showed a video of Oswald (it´s a new show for younger audiences, so I assumed they didn't know the character), and each kid received the bag, with an activity book, crayons, stickers, a mask (cardboard plates) and a hat to decorate. I also had markers, a bunch a colorful feathers (they were the big hit), pipe cleaners, glue, scissors and some pictures of Oswald and his friends that I printed from the Nick Jr. internet site (they have the instructions to make a piñata too). When they finished, we made a contest, and made up some odd categories so  every one had a prize. They had so much fun with this that we almost didn't have time for the games and the piñata!

We took pictures of my daughter with the kids on their masks and hats using the picture of Oswald as a background, and I'm going to send them as "thank-you" notes.

I made the cake and draw a little Oswald on it, and for food I offered ice cream, tootie fruities for the babies, and some plates of ham, roast beef and cheese with different kinds of bread so everyone made their own sandwich. The plates, napkins and cups were all "Happy first birthday" or plain blue, since there are none with Oswald.

We had a very limited budget, so we invested more time to make the things and made many trips to some dollar stores to find some nice prizes (and prices).

But it was worth the effort, the kids had fun, my daughter was happy and all of our friends had a great time too!

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