1226

Wizard of Oz -5yr- Throw Apples at Scarecrow

November 2000

Joan in Finksburg, MD

1st Runner-Up

We had a Wizard of Oz party for my daughter's 5th birthday. 

We made invitations from images at www.ozwiz.net.  We put on the invitations to "dress as a character if you like."  My daughter, of course, was Dorothy.  Some kids dressed up and some didn't, but everyone was comfortable as they were. 

The weather had turned cold and rain was probable, so we planned for an indoor version of the party.  We made a yellow brick road out of several sheets of yellow construction paper, and drew bricks with black magic marker using one of those metal "L" measuring tools, fastened it down with masking tape. We had the yellow brick road start inside our garage, where we used my daughter's Little Tykes playhouse for Dorothy's house, with the witches legs sticking out (white tights with black stripes drawn on with a marker) and ruby slippers from Target. 

The boom box played "Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead" & "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," which I had recorded over and over so that it would be sure to play as each guest arrived.  The yellow brick road continued inside down our hallway, through the kitchen, and into our play room where the party tables were set up and we had the character's images hanging and a rainbow on the wall.  We had a little TV showing the video, while the kids colored pictures of the characters which I had printed & copied off the internet.   

We also had filled a plastic jar with Skittles of each color in the rainbow.  I had made a label of Glinda and  rainbow, which said "Over the Rainbow Candy."  Each child took a guess as to how many were in the jar.  The closest won the jar to take home at the end of the party.  Once all the guests arrived, we decorated "goodie boxes".  (I found 4-packs of cardboard boxes at a discount card shop.)  The kids used all kinds of Oz stickers I had downloaded off the internet, markers, and crayons (have them write on their names!).  Then my husband took the kids into the family room where they did the Limbo under the witch's broom stick.  (We used 2 chairs and several encyclopedias.)  We let them pick the music off the soundtrack CD.  Even the 2-year old enjoyed it. 

I took a few minutes during the Limbo to go put the tops on each child's goodie box, which contained a munchkin doll (find them on sale!) a large rainbow lolly pop, a maze (downloaded off the internet and rolled up like a diploma),an Oz sticker activity book (from bn.com or amazon.com), a Glinda blow-out, and their colored pages.  I took strands of raffia to represent straw and tied bows around each box.  (You could also throw in skittles or rainbow bubble gum if you want to push more sugar!!) 

Then, although it was chilly, it wasn't raining, so we went out on our deck and played "Throw Apples at Scarecrow" (from the scene where the apple trees get mad that he and Dorothy picked apples off them.)  I had traced around my daughter's head and body on a piece of plywood, and then painted scarecrow on. My husband used his circular saw to cut a hole in scarecrow's belly.  We tied it to our deck railing.  Apples were in season, and I picked up 6 pounds for $1.98.  So the children lined up and took turns trying to get the apple into the hole, and when they did, they got a Starburst candy.  The kids had a blast, and kept lining up until all the apples were gone.  (This was a good game for all ages, as you could make it as hard or easy as needed.)  p.s. - the deer enjoyed the discarded apples. 

We went back inside and played Hot potato, with a stuffed Toto I had found at a Party Supply store (sometimes the Warner Bros. store has them too).  We played 3 rounds of this, and the kids had a blast.  The last round we played that once you got out, you could pick a piece of candy out of the bowl.  Again, I had ordered my Wizard of Oz party goods online, as I couldn't find them locally. 

For my daughter's cake, I had made 2 13x9 rainbow chip sheet cakes (box mix) with vanilla icing w/ rainbow sprinkles inside.  It was decorated with a yellow brick road (yellow icing and tiny bricks imprinted with a steak knife (it didn't take long!)). We topped it with the Dorothy and Scarecrow cake topper (also available online) and sparkler candles.  We had rainbow sherbet.  We passed around a rectangular basket I had lined with Wal-Mart's gingham fabric and filled with Toto-shaped cookies, and a plate of ruby slipper-shaped cookies (topped with red edible glitter).  (Cookie cutters found online.)  We had a plastic black cauldron full of green Kool-Aid bursts, as we felt for the age group, spills would be less of a worry than cups.  The kids all enjoyed themselves and seemed very excited to be going home with their own little gift.  It may have been a little heavy on the sweets, but my daughter has a sweet tooth in addition to her sweet heart, and her birthday's just once a year!

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