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Buzz Lightyear -5yr-  Photo with Buzz

January 2005

Amy in Westbrook, Connecticut, USA

Special Mention

Buzz Lightyear Birthday Party for 2 boys - 5 years old & 2 years old  Both my boys are big Buzz Lightyear fans and so of course our theme for their joint party (their birthdays are 3 days apart)was Buzz. We had 22 children attending.

For the invitation, I had my brother find a photo of Buzz online, take Buzz's face out and replace it with photos of my boys' faces. For the wording, it said "You're Invited. As a member of the elite universal protection unit of the space ranger corps, I Buzz Lightyear invite you to join Justin and Colin at their birthday party". We wrote "RSVP to Star Command" and put the phone number, date, time and place. The invitation was fantastic. I had it made into a photo so when the invitation was sent out it was like receiving a photo postcard in the mail.

I rented a large room since we had so many children attending. The children in attendance ranged in ages from 2 1/2 to 5, mostly around 5 years old.  When the children walked into the building, first in the entrance way were pictures of each of my sons in the Buzz costume, 8 x 10 with a sign under each saying "Welcome to our party" and "thanks for coming". When they walked into the room, they saw penant streamers (purchased in Oriental Trading) going across the ceiling. On the left was a table covered in purple fabric where presents could be dropped off.

The first thing everyone saw was a large table put in a "u" shape. The table was decorated with Buzz plates, napkins and cups on "buzz" blue colored plain table cloths. There was curly ribbon on the table in orange and blue and also each chair had either an orange or blue balloon on it. There was also a juice box with a Buzz sticker at each place setting). In one corner of the room, there was a play area with a kids tent, tunnel, and the large megablock castle blocks which the kids LOVED. In another corner we put a large table with a blue tablecloth with lots of playdoh and playdoh toys plus plastic cookie cutters in all different shapes on it.

There were also Buzz cups filled with crayons and coloring pages of Buzz and alien pictures that the kids could color and take home (found those on the internet). In another corner we put a "spin art" area where we had purchased two spin art kits (with extra paint) and put a sign saying "spin your own galaxy with Buzz" and put a large 3 foot Buzz doll next to the sign. The kids loved this and they each got to make 2 to be able to bring home when they dried.

We made sure we had smocks for the kids to wear while they used the paint and also wipes and paper towels to clean their hands. After a half an hour of free play it was time to eat so all the kids sat down and had pizza for lunch (we told them it was from Buzz' favorite restaurant, "Pizza Planet"). We set up a little table on the side with pizza, salad and soda for the adults (and since this was in the midst of a blizzard, most parents stayed instead of dropping off).

About 10 minutes after the kids were eating, we told everyone to be quiet and listen to something, it was the Toy Story theme, then I told them that I thought I saw someone in a hallway, pretended to look and be surprised, and out came Buzz Lightyear himself (we rented the costume from an online dealer and my friend wore the costume) and the kids went crazy. Buzz first went up to the birthday boys and they were so thrilled! Then Buzz danced to the song and welcomed everyone to the party.

Then Buzz told all the kids to come join him in a circle and we all did the chicken dance, the locomotion, and also a game of "Buzz says" instead of "Simon Says". The children all had such a fun time. Then it was time for photos with Buzz. We had all the kids sit down and Buzz called each child up to take a photo. (we took the photos with a digital camera and will mail the photos with thankyou cards). When each child sat on Buzz' lap, they were given a certificate (we made them on the computer) that had stars all over the border,a photo of Buzz on it and it said "Star Command" on the top and then "This certifies that (childs name) is now an official Space Ranger Cadet of Gamma Quadrant Four." We put Buzz's signature and the date of the party.

They were also given a space badge which was a label put in plastic (bought in Staples) that had the childs picture on it (I found each childs photo in either a class photo or from xmas cards we got this past holiday) and had their name on it along with a little picture of Buzz - kind of like the certificate. We put party ribbon on it so they could wear it around their neck. Buzz said goodbye and then it was time for cake. We made our own cake - blue frosting and a few Buzz ornaments from the Disney store.

After cake, to end the party, we had a pinata. It was an "incredibles" pinata which we ripped off the picture and put the boys' Buzz' pictures on them. We filled it with candy but also with boxes of raisins and granola bars!

The kids played a little more and then it was time to go. Each child received a little package which contained a Buzz coloring book (from a discount store for 50 cents), some crayons in a little ziplock bag with a buzz sticker on it, some Toy Story fruit snacks, and a sheet of Buzz stickers. The girls got a Barbie coloring book instead of the Buzz one. The packages were wrapped in silver paper with green and purple ribbon.

All in all, the children had a fabulous time. The parents were so surprised and even had a good time because we had catered to them too. My boys and a lot of the kids dressed in Buzz halloween costumes they had which added more to the theme. It was a lot of work and it took me 3 months to plan but it was well worth it to see the happy smiles on the faces of my boys and those of all the children. I am already thinking about what to do next year! I have to add that this website helped a lot to get me going and I used it last year as well for the carnival theme we had last year.

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