Angry Birds Birthday Party

Lucky you! My sister, Leslie, is back again today with another guest post. This time an Angry Birds birthday party.  Here's Leslie:

When it comes to birthday parties, (or any kind of party, really)... I get a little excited!

My son's birthdays are all within two weeks of each other in April and May, so pretty much as soon as Christmas is over I start planning.  (OK, not really that early, but I do get things going in my head quite early).  Today I want to share with you some ideas we used last May for a joint party for my 8-year-old and 5-year-old.  We chose an Angry Birds theme since they (and their Dad) love this game. 

Five months ago, there wasn't much out there you could buy around this theme.  Now, I see toys, games, and clothing all over the place.  (Have you seen this costume idea?  It's probably a good thing I didn't see this until recently. So fun.)  We had to come up with most of the party decorations, favors, and games, ourselves, but that was all part of the fun.

Decorations:
I had drawn out a pattern for each bird on colored card stock that I was just starting to cut out when I found this free printable, so I used it instead.  It looked better than what I was free handing anyway. 



I also used the pattern for the treat bags. (Thank you creative people for putting patterns online!)

Treat bags and invitation.

Invitation:

I free handed the outline and used the face from the printable again.  The party details were on the back (image above).

Food:
You might have seen these cupcakes from the Crafty Chicks website.  They were so fun to make and the kids loved them.  We also had bags of popcorn and lemonade for the kids to enjoy.

Entertainment:
This was the funnest part of the party.  We stacked lots of cardboard boxes in different formations with a few pesty pigs (green balloons with faces) hiding in between.  Then the kids took turns hurling balls (with bird faces) at the pigs. 

I was amazed at how long this kept them entertained. Build a tower, knock it down. Repeat. Repeat.

Party Favors:
I filled the treat bags with some Easter grass (is that what it is called?), eggs filled with candy,

and these fun key chains. 

I made them using a similar technique as described here (I use Glossy Accents rather than Diamond Glaze). Also, rather than use scrabble tiles, I wanted something bigger, so my brother cut these wood squares for me, which measured about 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".    I found the graphics online and put a character on both sides.  Then I screwed in the key chain parts that I purchased from JoAnns.  (If you want more details on how to make them, just leave a comment or email).

Gifts:
Where to begin?  First, we made these figurines from polymer clay and used Jenga blocks for their battleground.  In this picture I used sticky-tac to set things up for a picture.

The boys were really excited about these and helped me create each character and make sure they looked like the real thing. 

Next up were these shirts that my sister, Kimberly helped me make.  The boys opened them the morning of the party.

 I used felt for the birds and sewed them on the shirt (thankfully all the shapes are pretty much basic circles, triangles, etc.).  Kimberly cut the words on freezer paper using her Cricut and then I painted them.  (Cheri at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar explains this really well here). 

The last gift I made for the boys were these little guys:

They were made with much love, laughter, and a little frustration (when I sewed a face on the wrong side, or make a head oblong with too much stuffing). My Mom is awesome at this kind of stuff. I had planned on just showing her the characters from the game and seeing what she could come up with, but we actually found this tutorial which helped immensely!  She and I stayed up until midnight every night working on these babies when I took the kids to Idaho to visit during our Spring Break.

Lining them up...Ready, Aim,

 Fire!

It was a fun party and the boys are still talking about it.  If you want better descriptions of anything mentioned above, just let me know.  Thanks!

Boy, do we wish we lived closer to Leslie as she throws one awesome birthday party! Thanks for sharing, Les!

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