Sunday, October 21, 2012

The Lorax Party (Part 3): The Lorax "show" and Party Favors

This is Part 3 of the post about the Lorax-inspired party. This post covers the Lorax "show" and party favors. 





THE LORAX SHOW:

Several weeks before the party (but well into the preparations for the party), I began to question our choice of the theme for the party. What if no one besides Sohan even knew what the Lorax was?! This was right before the movie came out, so I was honestly worried. I decided to remedy the situation by just reading the book to the children at the start of the party. I explained to my son that this was the plan. 

Once the movie came out, he came up with a much more elaborate plan! He wanted props, costumes, a script...in short, a stage production! I was amazed and proud of my about-to-be-5 year old! He even wanted to incorporate the music from the movie. Seriously, he directed the whole thing! 

I'm sure the audience had fun watching, but it was even more fun putting it together with my son. 








Although I made most of the costumes and props, this fabulous Lorax beanie was made by Little Popos, from Hawaii. You can visit her Etsy shop here




I made Lorax mustache props for the children in the audience and everyone chanted along with Lorax (played by my son): "I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees!"


Everyone also enjoyed popcorn during the show. 



PARTY FAVORS:

In addition to sweet treats from the dessert table...


...and Lorax plant pots with "truffula seeds" planted inside, from the planting station...


...party favors included cute little boxes, with "UNLESS" rocks, to serve as a reminder to be mindful of our environmental and eco-friendly. 



I made Lorax -nspired gift bags to carry home the rest of the goodies....





Goodies included Truffula Tree crayons, and Lorax coloring books which we also let the children color in at the beginning of the party, while waiting for other guests to arrive.


We made Lorax hand-puppets out of felt, so the kids could put on their own version of the Lorax "show" at home after the party! :-)


I even provided copies of the soundtrack, in case they needed a background score for their productions! :-)



I also printed off book plates and Eco-Advocate certificates from the HP website. 






I hope you enjoyed these posts! Please feel free to leave comments.


Saturday, October 20, 2012

The Lorax Party (Part 2): Decorations, Games & Activities

This is Part 2 of the post about the Lorax-inspired party. This post covers some of the decorations I made for the party, the games and activities. 







DECORATIONS:


I made the "Street of the Lifted Lorax" sign out of some scrap pieces of wood that I picked up at the local hardware store in the salvage bin! I topped it with an inexpensive lantern from HomeGoods (which I'm planning on reusing in my yard). After the party, we decided to keep the street sign and put it in my son's playground for a whimsical touch. 




To make the wreath, I wrapped orange feather boas around a styrofoam wreath (the same wreath from the Spiderman party, minus the cupcake wrappers!) Then I added a felt mustache and eyebrows, a pom pom nose and large googly eyes. 


The truffula tree centerpieces are made from colorful wool pom poms attached to sticks that I spray-painted yellow. The sticks were recycled from my Bollywood Karaoke party and Lilac Babyshower. I displayed the truffula trees in tall vases filled with mini marshmallows--a Barbaloot favorite!


The focal point of the decorations were definitely the truffula trees! The tops are made from styrofoam discs covered with feather boas. The trunks are recycled PVC piping.


I also made a Oncler house and Thneed Factory, which doubled as decorations and backdrops for the Lorax "show". They were also made of recycled materials. I reused the buildings from last year's Spiderman party! Really, I did!







What?! You don't believe me? Well, here's the proof--check out the back of the Oncler's house and Thneed Factory and you'll see for yourself.


 I also made a kid-size standee of the Lorax, which doubled as a decoration and a prop for the photo booth. The kids had fun posing with him for photos!


The banner welcoming folks to the party read "Dr. Sohan-euss".





Decorations are great, but we had LOTS of fun (and somewhat educational) activities for the children. They truly had a blast.

ACTIVITIES AND GAMES:

To Gain Entry...


The invitation requested that the children bring 15 cents, a nail and the shell of a great grandfather snail to "gain entry" to the party. I put out tin pails for them to put those items in, upon arriving at the party.

Recycling Station...


The invitation also asked them to bring paper, plastic and glass items to recycle. I put out bins for each of those items, so the children could sort their items into the right bins. It made for a cute little lesson about recycling for the kids--and a gentle reminder for their parents to continue to encourage recycling at home!

Upcycled Craft Station...


In the weeks leading up to the party, I started collecting up lots of empty cans. bottles, boxes and containers. I set up a craft station with these items and various craft supplies for the children to make their own upcycled creations. 


Feed the Barbaloots...


Those Barbaloots LOVE truffula fruit(!), so one of the game centered around feeding truffula fruits to the Barbaloots. I used a corn-hole game and covered it with paper barbaloot cut-outs that I made.





Save the Humming Fish...


Another game was to save the Humming Fish from the gluppity glupp and schluppity schlupp! I used an inflatable pool filled with inflatable fish, with binder clips clipped to their mouths. I made fishing poles with bamboo sticks, ribbon, ribbon spools, wooden pegs. corks and magnets. 




Truffula Tree Planting Station...





Singing and Dancing Like Swomee Swans...


We also played our own version of musical freeze. I made Swomee Swan wings for kids to wear and they each danced and sang as we played the soundtrack from the Lorax movie. The last swan left was the winner.

Cotton Candy Truffula Trees...



As an extra sweet treat (since we hadn't had enough sugar already!), we enjoyed cotton candy Truffula Trees while playing the games. 

Photo Booth...


Since the photo booth was such a hit at the Spiderman party last year, we had a photo booth again. The backdrop from the Lorax "show" doubled as the photo booth and I made a Lorax standee for the kids to pose with. 





So many more details about the Lorax "show", party favors etc. to come, so stay tuned! :-)

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