12207

Rescue Hero -4yr- Many Different Costumes

October 2005

Jeannie in Ypsilanti, MI  USA

Honorable Mention

We had a Rescue Hero party for my son's 4th birthday and the kids loved it!  The children were given the option to dress as a Rescue Hero (either from the show or otherwise), but those who didn't were given costumes upon arrival.  I had purchased fire fighter, police, military and doctor costumes at the dollar store.  We also visited the local police and fire departments to get plastic badges and fire hats for the party. 

Once they were in costume, we gathered all the kids and told them that they were in the Rescue Hero Training Camp and had to complete four training assignments before they could become official Rescue Heroes.  They were each handed a card with four missions and boxes to check once completed.

The missions were:  
1)obstacle course,
2)avalanche rescue,
3) fire rescue, and
4) volcano rescue. 

The obstacle course was a series of challenges that my husband set up in the backyard utilizing our large play structure.  They had to climb up the ladder, run across the bridge, go down the rock wall, run across some planks, climb up another twisty slide and ring the bell at the top when they finished.  As each finished, they received a check mark on their card for that mission, as they did at the end of each mission.   

The avalanche was the favorite of everyone and the kids spent a long time here.  We set up a tent in the backyard and filled it with big pieces of foam and foam peanuts covered with white sheets to look like mountains of snow. I bought a large quantity of peanuts at a packaging materials company and they gave me the big foam pieces for free.  The entrance of the tent had a Playhut tunnel attached, so the kids would have to crawl in.  The tent and tunnel were also covered with white sheets. We hid a bunch of plastic paratroopers inside one for each child, plus a few extras.  We also had a fog machine going behind the tent to give it the avalanche effect. 

The party was in the evening, so it was dark outside, making it even more fun.  The kids were told that a team of paratroopers had gotten caught in a giant avalanche and their mission was to go in and find them.  After they were each given flashlights (Oriental Trading), they crawled in and dug around in the snow for a paratrooper.  They all played in there for quite a long time!

Then they came out and launched their paratroopers off the deck.  For the fire rescue, we drew and cut out flames from pieces of cardboard (from local furniture shop).  My husband propped the flames in the ground throughout the backyard using stakes.  We had the fogger going again to look like smoke. When the fire siren went off (big bell) to alert the kids to the forest fire, they stood along the fence and threw water balloons at the flames until they were all knocked down.   

For the volcano rescue, I stacked up a few different sized trunks and tubs to form a mountain.  At the top I put one of the Halloween cauldrons that you plug in to look like flames shooting out the top.  I draped the whole thing in black and red tablecloths and sheets to look like a mountain with lava running down.  Along the edges of the mountain I placed Little People villages and people who needed to be rescued. 

The kids had to take turns hopping in a pillow case (fireproof lava protection bag) down the length of my living room and rescue one of the Little People and bring it back to safety.  They were all cracking up and loved this part.  As soon as each child got all their check marks on their cards, we took their picture in their costume.  After eating pizza and cake, we broke open the firetruck piñata. 

Party favor bags, containing freebies from the police and fire stations and various Rescue Hero type stuff from the dollar store, were distributed.  Plus, they got to their flashlights from the avalanche rescue.  The kids all took off to the backyard to play in the avalanche some more until the party was over.  After the party, we sent thank you notes contaiing their pics printed on an official Rescue Hero ID badge.  The party was a great success!

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