13534

Dragon Party -5yr- Dragon Crafts

May 2006

Margie in Los Alamos, NM USA

Runner Up

Dragon Party 5 years Just Dragons - No knights No castles!  My son wanted to have a dragon  party this year, but he was adamant that he didn't want knights or castles just dragons.  Well, this  proved to be a little more difficult to plan as available party ware with dragons also has knights  and/or castles on it.  So, I had to put everything together myself.  After a lot of searching, I found  some really great ideas though! 

My son LOVES crafts, so we decided to make the invitations.  I  ordered a foam dragon stamp on Ebay .  We used it to stamp the dragon's body and spikes with 2  colors of craft paint on white card stock we didn't stamp his wings with paint.  Then, to make the  dragons more magical, I cut the wing shape out of double-sided-tape-sheets (purchased from  orientaltrading.com.)  My son peeled the backing off and stuck them on the card stock, where the  dragon's wings were supposed to be, and then peeled the top paper off and sprinkled different  colors of glitter on it.  So the dragons had sparkly wings!  We sealed each envelope with a dragon  sticker purchased on Ebay.  (I have to say that, if you prefer to purchase invitations, I found some  really cute pre-made dragon invitations  at  and at   There are a lot of  Chinese-New-Year-type dragon decorations that you can buy, but we wanted to have all kinds of  dragons at our party, so I opted not to buy any pre-made decorations. Instead, I used the foam  stamp to stamp dragons onto construction paper.  Then I cut the paper out into pendant-like  triangles and stapled them onto string so it looked like flags.  We strung this over the table and  doorways on the day of the party.  I purchased a dragon yard sign from shindigz.com. 

On the day  of the party we put it in the front yard with green and red balloons attached to it.  My older son also  had 3 dragon posters that came with a dragon book he had, so we hung those up, as well.  We tied  red and green helium-filled balloons around the yard. (If you want to make more decorations, look  up dragon decal on Ebay.  You can copy the shapes onto your computer, enlarge them, and print  them up.  These can be used as templates or directly as decorations.) When the children arrived,  they received a dragon headband to wear (purchased on Ebay) and worked on a craft.  The craft was  making an egg carton dragon.  (I thought of this on my own, but then I found something similar  on-line:  http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/dragon.html.)  Before the party, I cut egg carton cups down the middle, into long, 6-cup, rows. I punched holes into one end and spray-painted them  green. I used small styrofoam eggs (purchased at a craft store) for the heads.  I pressed them along  the edge of a table so they were head-shaped and spray painted them green, as well.  Finally, I  cut green pipe cleaners into small lengths.  When the kids arrived they poked a piece of pipe  cleaner into the back of the head and twisted it through the hole in the egg carton to attach it.   They glued wiggly eyes onto the head, stuck a red feather into the mouth for fire, and pipe  cleaners into the head for horns and ears and horns.  Finally, they decorated the body with glitter  glue, sequins, and small craft foam shapes.  They had a lot of fun making these dragons and some  were rather impressive! 

When they were done, we put them aside to dry.  (Other DRAGON crafts I  found on-line include
1) Dashing Dragons
2)Dragon Visor
3) Dragon Puppet
4) Dragon  Tube Craft: and Dragon's Breath

After the craft, we played PIN THE PARTY- HAT ON THE DRAGON.  I found this window cling game on Ebay and it was really perfect!  But you  could also draw a dragon on poster-board and use food stickers to feed the dragon. 

Next, we  played DRAGON TAG.  Basically, the kids line up and hold onto the waist of the child in front of  them.  The person in front is it and tries to tag its tail (the last child in the line.)  Once (s)he  succeeds, (s)he moves to the end of the line. 

Next, we did  the PINATA.  I purchased a green  dragon-shaped pinata and filled it with dragon necklaces, flashing dragon pins (both purchased at  oriental trading.com), a small amount of candy, and small dragon toys (purchased on Ebay.)  Each  child received a, canvas bag (from orientaltracing.com) that my son and I had previously stamped  dragons  on (using fabric paint and the foam dragon stamp.)  They filled their bags with the pinata  loot. 

Next, we did a DRAGON EGG RELAY in which the children lined up on one side of the yard  holding a plastic spoon.  Each child had to carry a dragon egg on their spoon to the other side of  the lawn and back again.  If they dropped it, they could just pick it up.  I used iridescent putty eggs  (from orientaltrading.com) for this activity.  They ran back and forth several times and put their  dragon eggs into their canvas bags, along with their pinata loot when they were done. 

Finally we  played PASS THE DRAGON EGG, in which children passed an egg around while music plays.  The  egg consisted of dragon wands (Orientaltrading.com) wrapped in layers of tissue paper.  When the  music stopped, the child that was holding the egg unwrapped one layer and received his prize.   After that, we took a break for cake and ice cream.  I couldn't find any party ware with just  dragons, so I purchased plain green plates, napkins, cups, tablecloths, and forks, because green is  my son's favorite color.  I found an AWESOME dragon cake pattern on-line at http:// www.webmall1.com/sweetdreams/dragoncake.htm.  It was SO adorable, and a big hit with the kids.   We drank red, dragon-blood, punch and ate iridescent  dragon dust sherbet.  Finally, it was time  to go on the treasure hunt: 

THE HUNT FOR THE DRAGON'S LAIR.  I showed the children a page  from my older son's book, Dragonology, that describes how dragons hoard treasure in their lairs.  I  had made up a treasure map before the party, and told them that an old dragon-hunter had given it  to me.  The map wasn't very specific, and as most of the children can't read yet, I embellished our  hunt orally as we went along.  I wanted to make sure that the children  weren't scared. As we  followed the map, we found dragon scales in the desert (small abalone shells in the sand box), and  a few jewels that the dragon dropped along the way.  We knew that we were getting near the lair when we found all the baby dragons out playing (small  plush dragons from orientaltrading.com).  I had made the lair at the corner of our fence with long  strips of brown packing paper.  Inside, the kids found the dragon's treasure:  more jewels, jewel- tone faceted super balls, small metal coins with dragons on them (from Ebay) chocolate gold coins,  and gold Mardi Gras necklaces (from a local party shop.)  I think that this was the best part of the  party in the children's eyes.  They LOVED the treasure hunt! The kids put everything that they  found in the dragon's lair into their canvas bags. 

As a final activity, I purchased DRAGON  SCRATCHERS on Ebay.  Before they went home, each child received a scratcher and then used their  dragon coin (from the treasure hunt) to scratch off the coating to reveal a word: red, green, or  black.  Then they had to hunt for a plastic dragon figure (my husband hid these during the treasure  hunt) in the color that their scratcher indicated. When they went home, they took their bags filled  with all their goodies, their magic dragon wand, their craft, and dragon figures.  My son and I made  thank-you notes using cardstock and large dragon stickers we bought on-line.  We sent them out  with photographs of each guest doing something fun at the party. 

The next week, my son took  cupcakes to school for a class party.  I found candy molds on Ebay for making dragon chocolate- pops on sticks.  I just filled the dragon part with melted green chocolate and my son scooped in  milk chocolate. I didn't insert a lollypop stick, so they were just flat, round chocolates with green  dragons on them.  I frosted the cupcakes with green frosting and pressed these chocolate circles on  at a slight angle.  They were bigger than the entire top of the cupcake, but they looked great.  He  took them to school with the extra green napkins and juice boxes.  Another idea I had for cupcakes  was to make little dragon flags to push into each cupcake using toothpicks and dragon clipart on  my computer. 

Overall this party turned out terrific.  My son's friends brought various toys/items  that they had received at the party to share at preschool every day for an entire week!  More than  one mom told me that their son hadn't stopped talking about the party and my older son (now 7)  told me that he wants the exact same party when it's his birthday!

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