11296

Wizard of Oz -5yr- A Crafty Oz

June 2005

Angie in Atlanta, GA, USA

Special Mention

When our oldest daughter turned five, The Wizard of Oz was her favorite book and movie, so her presents that year were a Dorothy outfit, a Toto stuffed animal, and the books by L. Frank Baum.  She also wanted a Wizard of Oz birthday party so. . .

We couldn't find Wizard of Oz invitations (believe me, we would have bought them in a heartbeat), so we had to make them, scanning the invitations from the cover illustration on the movie DVD, and gluing the picture onto blue gingham paper, tied with raffia.  The party was held at a local pottery store where the kids got to paint a piece of pottery of their own choice.  The invitations read:  "Somewhere over the rainbow, Erin's turning 5, To the Land of Oz we'll go, For painting, games and a sweet surprise." 

Everything was green:  balloons, party favor bags, table cloth, forks, napkins, juice boxes, punch. 

Snacks included a yellow brick road birthday cake with Dorothy, Scarecrow, etc., cake toppers and an Emerald City candle; "Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!" (animal crackers); and -- of course -- Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts. 

We downloaded a yellow brick road "Happy Birthday" banner, and decorated the room with numerous downloaded Wizard of Oz coloring pages that our daughter had colored. 

We played "Pin the Heart on the Tin Man," using a tin man as big as my daughter that I drew onto posterboard, and wooden hearts from a craft store.  At the party, the kids got to decorate the hearts with markers and glitter glue.  We used tape on the back of the hearts to play the game.  Afterwards, we put self-adhesive magnets on the back of the hearts for the kids to take home, to be hung with pride on refrigerators. 

Other games included "Hot Toto" which was hot potato played with a Toto stuffed animal. 

Next we played "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," musical chairs played to the Wizard of Oz soundtrack (which also played throughout the party).  As the music played, the kids marched around in a circle on a yellow brick road made of a brick pattern photocopied onto yellow paper.  When the music stopped, they all sat down in the nearest chair.  There were more chairs than kids, so there's none of the usual pushing.  Taped to the back of each chair was a picture of one of 6 characters from the Wizard of Oz (see downloaded coloring pages).  After everyone had a seat, we spun a "spinner" from one of my daughter's board games (Chutes & Ladders), on which we had taped  pictures of these same 6 characters.  When the arrow stopped spinning, it would be pointing to a picture of one of these characters.  If you were sitting in a chair with that character, you're out. 

Our last game/craft activity was "The Wizard's Hot Air Balloon."  Green balloons were tied with green ribbons to 6 oz. styrofoam cups.  Inside each cup were a cut out picture of the Wizard of Oz (see downloaded coloring pages), and enough pennies to keep the balloons from floating to the ceiling.  With parental help (the dads really seemed to enjoy this), the kids added and took out pennies and scraps of paper until the balloons achieved neutral bouyancy.  The balloons spent the rest of the party slowly drifting about the room.  The dads spent the rest of the party maintaining neutral bouyancy. 

The party favor bags included little Dover Wizard of Oz activity books, more coloring pages tied with red ribbon (representing the Scarecrow's diploma), a chocolate gold coin attached to red & blue paper made to look like a medal (for the Lion's medal of courage), a bag of animal crackers, Wizard of Oz stickers (the characters and Dorothy's red shoes, obtained from a local crafts store), and bottles of bubbles that we labeled "Glinda's Magic Bubbles", complete with a picture of Glinda and Dorothy's famous utterance -- "My, people come and go so quickly here." 

"I'm melting!!!!"  The party finale was the "sweet surprise" - a melted witch served with the birthday cake.  The witch consisted of pointed chocolate ice cream cones turned upside down so that they resembled witches' hats.  We made the hats the night before the party by melting some dipping chocolate, and then dripping the chocolate onto and around the round edges of the cones which we had laid out on wax paper.  Refrigerate the cones so that the chocolate hardens into the "brim" of a witch's hat.  It's okay if the "brim" of the hat isn't perfectly round -- it adds to the effect.  To serve, put a scoop of green mint-and-chip ice cream on top of each slice of cake, and then put the witch's hat on top of the ice cream scoop.  Viola` --a melted witch that really melts!  Go with a chocolate cake, and the resemblance is eerie. 

By the way, I blame your website for making me so obsessive about this birthday party.  This year's party is at Chuck E. Cheese.

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