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Wiggles Party -2yr- Pin Nose On Wags

March 2004

Jennifer in Jacksonville, FL

Special Mention

We hosted a Wiggles birthday party for my son's second birthday last April.  This was shortly before the Wiggles partyware and party activities became available, so we had to improvise. 

I made Dorothy the Dinosaur invitations by piecing together paper cut in the shape of her head, hat and teeth.  (I traced her head and hat shape off of a coloring page on the Wiggles website.)  I glued a small red silk rose on her hat and googly eyes on her head.  Her mouth opened and the party information was printed inside on a pink tongue.  It invited everyone to "A Wiggly Party" in honor of Ryan's 2nd birthday.   

I bought red, yellow, blue, and purple plates, and green cups.  We stuck yellow dot stickers on the cups to make them into "Dorothy the Dinosaur rosey tea cups."  We served dinosaur chicken nuggets, fruit salad, and goldfish crackers for the kids.  We made a big red car cake using a cut cake pattern - basically you bake a 9x13 sheet cake, cut it in the side-view outline of a car, add two cupcakes for wheels and ice accordingly.   

For a craft, the kids made Henry the Octopus puppets.  Before the kids came, I cut his head shape out of purple construction paper, glued on eight accordian-folded strips of paper for legs, attached googly eyes, and drew on his mouth.  I then attached these to paint stirrers.  The kids glued on Henry's hat (already cut from yellow construction paper) and bowtie (already cut from red construction paper) when they arrived at the pary.  This was the perfect amount of involvement for two year olds.  They loved their puppets and had fun shaking them and dancing to Wiggles' songs.   

For games we played pin the nose on Wags the Dog, Henry's Underwater fishing game (tie strings to dowels, add a magnet at the other end, cut out fish shapes and put a paper clip on each one - the kids fish by picking up a fish by the paper clip with the magnet), and Flora Door's beanbag toss - cut holes for her eyes and mouth.  I drew Wags and Flora Door on posterboard - the drawings don't need to be perfect -the kids won't be judgmental and they will recognize them!  We wanted non-competitive games that the kids could play with their parents' help whenever they were ready since kids at this age are not really into cooperative play or taking turns - we didn't want any tears at this party! 

Each game had a prize.  We had a sand pail for each child with his/her name painted on it - use a paint pen - it's easy and not messy, and the paint will stay on for quite some time.  We gave the kids the pails as they came in and then they gathered their goodies in the pails as they did each activity/game.  We had playdough, bubbles, pinwheels, and water squirters as prizes for participating in the games.  The Henry puppets also fit in the pails. 

When the kids finished the games, or while they were waiting for another child to play, they had free play time on the swingset in our back yard.    We had a pinata as our final activity - a magician's hat and rabbit - afterall, Greg loves to do magic.  We used the pullstring adaptation, had all the kids grab a string and pull - it was a blast.   

For thank-you notes, we mounted a photo featuring the child at the party on red, green, blue, or yellow construction paper and wrote our thank you inside.  Incidentally, we opted to ask each guest to bring a book to be donated to a local shelter for battered women and children in lieu of a gift for the birthday boy.  This went over so well that we are asking for a donation of a toy or book for another local charity this year.  Some other game ideas you might want to try are hot potato and musical color squares - use colored squares of paper instead of chairs (little ones might fall out of or over chairs if they get too excited) and play Wiggles songs. 

For really young children, you may want to have as many squares as you have kids - they'll have fun just listening for the music to stop and running to a square - it's not necessary for anyone to get out.  A musical parade would also be fun.  The kids could make instruments - for example, oatmeal containers filled with beans or you could provide pots or containers to bang.  March around to Wiggly tunes.  The Wiggles are all about learning and fun - what better theme for a birthday party.  So, "Let's get ready to Wiggle" and have some fun!

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