Bear Hats, Banners, Masks, and Books

I love browsing Pinterest and being able to see all of the kid birthday party ideas. Some of them are quite extravagant which is fine if you can do that. I can see how you would go overboard on children's parties because they are so excited about it all.

So with that in mind some Teddy Bear party ideas or you could use these for everyday fun if so needed. My favorite Bear Books are included at the bottom of the post. Check them out I think you'll enjoy them!

Teddy Bear Hats

• Place a plate on a piece of card stock and trace half of the plate so you have a half circle. 
• Cut it out.
• Wrap it until you have a cone shape.
• Add your favorite bear items to the hat.
• Bear shown was cut out from felt pieces and glued to the hat.
• A party hat was added to the bear. You could do it with just the bear. Or just use stamps or crayons/markers to decorate your hat and don't worry about using felt.

• Punch holes in the side of each cone and add string or elastic long enough to go around your little ones head.
• Draw on any pieces that you need to with a permanent black marker.

Teddy Bear Banner/Bear Masks

I'll have to get a better picture to add. This banner was ripped down and some what broken/destroyed as I was taking a picture of it. So I need to do a few repairs. 

I purchased some craft foam from Walmart and using different sized plates and cups in my kitchen cut out different sizes of circles for a bear head-dessert plate, nose-small bowl, eyes-plastic medicine cup, ears-glass. Ears and head where cut out of brown, the nose was white, and the eyes black. I then cut out my own triangle shape for the snout of the bear and added a little mouth with a sharpie marker. Hot glued it all together and then glued it to some twine. Worked great….. well until it was ripped down because I hung it too low for curious little paws! I'll try and get a better picture up soon.

*You could easily turn these into bear masks by cutting large holes out for the eyes and adding elastic to each side so it winds around the child's head. Children could then help make their own mask and wear as part of a party or bear day.

My Favorite Bear Books… I own them all and love them.

The Teddy Bears' Picnic

 Jimmy Kennedy

 Illustrated by Alexandra Day

The Christmas Bear 

Written and Illustrated by Henrietta and Paul Stickland

The Bear Snores On

Karma Wilson and Illustrated by Jane Chapman

Happy Birthday

Adults enjoy birthdays just as much as kids do. And it is nice to make them special for adults because they can become quite boring once you are out of the child and teenage years. 

What to do…. stuff their car with streamers, balloons, and candy. Don't forget the birthday banner! 

DIY Dinosaur Happy Birthday Banner

I am all about party decor lately and there is not better way to make an occasion feel festive then with a banner of some type. They seem to be everywhere now. So just a simple one from scrapbook paper from the local craft store. (Hobby Lobby I believe). I chose a dark green for the background of all the letters and then different dinosaur prints to mix and match. I wish I had a better picture. You can see some of the letters are just a plain color while others have dinosaur, dinosaur prints, and dinosaur phrases "Roar" on them. 

Simply trace or draw all of your letters out. Cut them out and mount them to another color, place holes in the tops and string with your choice or ribbon. 

Done! Enjoy!

The Man-quet!

Yes you read that right. The man-quet. Similar to the bouquet for women. In all seriousness, men don't like to receive flowers. At least none I know do so instead make them a man-quet with things that interest them. I thought I had a better picture of this but I don't so you'll have to use the ole imagination. A 2 Liter of Pop makes up the center of this with a hunting magazine wrapped around the outside. Random candy bars and trail mix are stuffed down behind the magazine and the whole thing is tied off with some rope.

You can obviously customize this for any man to their interests and use it for many occasions. Birthday, Valentines, Anniversary, or just because. You may want to just give it to them and not refer to it as a man-quet. You know how men are........

Cammo Cupcakes

In honor of the start of hunting season.... ha ha.... or for a little (or big) guys birthday party these are surprisingly easy and end up with a pretty great wow factor.  I thought they would also look neat in a bunt cake pan with a white glaze frosting on them. Just a thought. I m sure there are quite a few variations you could try.

Needed Ingredients:

A yellow or white cake mix

Black and green food coloring

Frosting of your choice- I did a plain vanilla and colored it green.

Cupcake holders- I have seen Cammo ones out there which would be neat if you were doing a themed birthday party.

Directions:

Simply mix up the cake batter following the instructions on the cake box. Then separate batter into 3 bowls. Leave one bowl white or yellow whichever cake type you chose. Color one of the bowls with black food coloring and one with green.

Place cupcake liners in pan and drop a tablespoon amount of black in each cupcake. Once each cake has black go back and add a tablespoon of green to each cup and finally a tablespoon of your original mix. 

Look over the cupcakes and see which needs more of what color and add accordingly until you are out of batter. 

Bake following the directions on the cake box. Frost as you'd like. 

Flip Flop Cake

Quick Summer Cakes

I'm more of a baker than a cook. At least I like to think I am. I really enjoy doing fun cakes for birthdays. Only trouble is most of the ones I want to do are so involved that I end up messing them up or am far to intimidated to try them in the first place. So I'm starting with simple and working my way up. I'm happy to say that this cake worked out the first try. Its very hard to mess up.

Needed Ingredients:

This is the perfect example of simple. All you need is the cake. Either make one from scratch or use a boxed cake mix of your choosing. Same with the frosting. Use home made or store bought. Then you'll need any type of small candy. I used skittles here but you could use M&M's or Reeses Pieces or Red Hots. Almost any small candy will work. 

How To:

Simply bake the cake in an 9 by 13 pan or any large flat pan. When the cake is out and cooled cut two flip flop shaped pieces. Cut them as large as you can so you can use as much of the cake as possible. Place them on a platter. Use a spatula or both hands to get them from the pan to the platter so they don't split in half. Frost them. Then add the candies to make the foot pieces. You can frost the entire cake or just leave the sides open. Whichever you choose. The excess cake can be eaten and/or frosted if you like. 

Fun for summer parties or any type of ocean themed party or shower. Good luck!

Boy Birthday Banner

Boy Birthday Banner

Simple is best. That has always been my philosophy anyway. It seems like the more things you add to something the worse it looks. My normal rule of thumb is less is more. This banner could be made to say "Happy Birthday" "Congratulations" or just a name as seen below. Cut triangle shapes or any shape you'd like to use for your base pieces. Then using a stencil, or print the letters of you choice from the computer and cut out and trace them, or simply use your own handwriting if you like. Make your letters and then add your accents. This one turned out well because of the switching back and forth of colors. Be creative and do what works best for you. 

Number Birthday Cake

Birthday Cakes By The Numbers

This cake idea is great if you want to do something a little different but don't have a lot of time or cake decor skills. (My apologies for the blurry picture) Make the cupcakes of your choice and arrange them on a large platter or as seen here on a large piece of cardboard wrapped in wrapping paper. Then arrange as many of them as you would like in the number of your birthday child/adult. This cake was done for a 20 year old. Add sprinkles or any other toppers you would like. Easy Easy! Good luck!

Easy Cowboy Cactus Decor

You find yourself planning a child's birthday party  or other event and wanting some great stand out decor pieces that will set the theme for your party so that you don't have to do so many decorations. You search every party and dollar store in a 50 mile radius of your home. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. All you can find are ridiculously expensive and cheaply made items that you simply cannot force yourself to purchase.  If you are doing any type of cowboy/cowgirl or wild west themed party look no farther for simple decor ideas. Over the next week ideas a plenty will be flowing for your next western themes bash. So take notes, try what you like and find some party inspiration your little (or big) ones will love. 

First things first- DIY Cardboard Cactus

Needed Items:

• Cardboard pieces-Use a cardboard box
• Paint
• Pink tissue paper
• Scissors or Exacto Knife
• Pencil

Directions:

• Find a large cardboard box and break it down so that it will lie flat on the ground. 

• Using your pencil trace the shape of a cactus on the largest side of the box that does not have flaps

• Cut out the cactus.

• Paint with different colors of green, brown, and tan paint.

• Use Pink tissue paper to make small cactus flowers to glue to the cactus. Just crinkle up the paper and attach.

Pirate Sea Monster Mural

As I'm sure you can tell by know I love pirate activities. This can be done as part of a pirate activity or at the beginning or end of a pirate party as you are waiting for guests to arrive or for them to leave. Find a large roll of butcher paper and create a simple mural. If you are not artistic you can most likely find things to trace. Draw out a mural that is large enough to take up a full length table or be placed on the floor as shown here. Leave markers, crayons, or colored pencils out and let children/adults find a place and begin to color. Once everyone has colored a small piece your artwork is complete. This works as a great ice breaker activity for adults, and a great time filler for kids. Obviously you can do this with any theme you would like. It doesn't have to be strictly for pirates.

Pirates-Message In A Bottle

Message in a Bottle

Message In A Bottle for a Pirate or Ocean Party

For some reason it seems people of all ages enjoy pirate parties especially when the theme is done right. To use a message in a bottle for your party you can do a few things. 

Party Invitation:
The first is to purchase small plastic bottles and print the invitation on paper that is then rolled up and put in the bottle. Then deliver.

Treasure/Scavenger Hunt:
Place all of your clues in bottles and as the children find them they can take turns opening the bottle to see what the next clue will be.

Activity:
Have the children make their own message in a bottle. You'll need bottles of some kind, tan or brown paper, and sand and shells if you wish. The paper can be crumpled up before or after it has been made this gives it more of an old pirate look to it. If you'd like to add sand and shells it just adds a little extra something. 

You could also have the children make their own treasure map to go inside of the bottle.

Message in a Bottle for Pirate or Ocean Party

I Spy-Ocean in a Bottle

 I Spy also known as EYE Spy

This is so easy to make if you are looking for Pirate, Ocean, or even mermaid party or activity ideas. 
I've seen these in stores but they are filled with plastic beads and then small objects inside you which you are supposed to find by shaking the bottle about.

This is very simple. You can use only small shells if that is all you have. Or you can find mini plastic animals and sea creatures for usually 5, 10 or, at most 25 cents to add to your shells. Make a label that lists all of the items that are in your jar or bottle. Then place the items inside. Fill the remainder of the jar with sand as shown here or rice, small beads, sugar, anything that is small enough for you to see the other objects around it. Use hot glue or super glue to glue the lid on tightly or you may end up with quite the mess on your hands.

To play simply have the children shake the jar around to see if they can spot all of the objects that you have listed. You can be as creative as you want with this. Have fun!

Pirates-Who's Who

Who's Who of Famous Pirates

This game is definitely better for older kids but they seem to really enjoy it for a pirate party. You'll provide a list of famous pirates as well as pieces of their signature on pieces of "parchment paper". The kids must then decide which signature goes with which pirate.

Needed Supplies:

• Brown Craft/Butcher Paper
• Black Paint or Markers
• List of famous pirates-you decide how hard to make them (see below)

Who's Who of Pirates-Can you find the signature that matches the pirate?

Directions:

• Tear pieces of brown paper into squares that are roughly the size of an 81/2 by 11 piece of paper. 
• Crumple up the paper several times so it looks like an old worn piece of pirate paper
• Using your list of pirate names write a PIECE of the name on one of the papers. 
• You want to include enough of the name that the kids can tell which pirate it is but not enough that it is so easy. You'll also want to use different fonts as to have it look like the pirate signatures.
• Make a list of the available pirate names to go with the games so the kids have some helpful hints to use as a match.

Pirate Name Examples:
BlackBeard
Anne Bonney
Mary Read
John Rackham
Sir Henry Morgan
Captain William Kidd
John Bartholomew Roberts

Simple Baloon Decor

No Helium Balloon Decor

I don't know if you have noticed or not but the price of helium is up which makes decorating parties with balloons more expensive then it used to be. One idea is to blow up balloons with just air and hang them from the ceiling as shown below. You could even attach them all to a string and make a garland from them or place them around doorways to look like a balloon arch. Happy decorating! 

Superhero 6-Vaporize a Villian

Superhero Day 6

Our week of Superheroes is coming to a close. On to pirates or cowboys... I haven't quite decided which yet.

Every superhero needs to defeat a villain of some kind. This game can be done in several different ways. So read on and customize as you like. Happy Vaporizing! :)

• Using 2 Liter Soda bottles print out pictures of Villains from online. Tape them to the bottles. Use one certain villain or a few. Have the children use water guns to knock down/vaporize the villains.
• Do every thing same as above but add sand or water to the bottles to make them heavier so it takes more to knock them over. Use nerf guns, balls for bowling, frisbees, or any other "tool" that can be safely thrown and see how many pins the kids can knock over.
• Use smaller bottles and put them in a small child's pool so they float. Then use whatever you would like... nerf guns, balls, water balloons, etc to hit the somewhat moving targets.

Animal Footprint Decor

Animal Prints

Just a quick idea for the day. Animal footprints for birthday party decor or for a child's bedroom. These prints were simply traced and cut out from  black card stock. 

Find the prints you want and either draw and trace them on the black paper or print them from your computer and then cut out and trace and cut out again. Use any type of tape or glue dots to get them to stick to your walls. Stagger the prints so it looks like the animal actually walked there. The little circles are supposed to be fairy footprints.

Use all different sizes and all different types of prints for a forest look. 

You could also use this for an activity at a birthday party. Have the kids "find" certain tracks around your home or yard and see if they can identify what animal it was. 

Superhero X-Ray Vision Goggles

Day 5 of Super Hero ideas....

This one is super easy and kids love it even though there is no actual x-ray vision happening. The best toys are the ones that require some imagination right?

Using a toilet paper roll simply cut it in half or smaller. Just depends on how big you would like the goggles to be. If you wanted you could use two full rolls so you could avoid all cutting. Attach a stick on the side. Let the kids decorate the inside and outside of the goggles however they would like. Theses were left plain white. 

Once the kids are done with their decorating you are ready for superhero fun! You could make an eye spy activity to go with these or just use them alone as a craft.

Super Hero Masks

The Masked Superhero

What is a superhero without a mask of their making? Kids love to create their own costumes and in this case their own superhero identity. I found some masks at Walmart in the party section and traced them onto plain white paper. I made copies on colored card stock, cut out the eyes and added a large popsicle stick to the side. 

Kids can decorate as they would like adding their superhero name or just adding super details. If you want the mask to stay on without using the stick simply add two small holes on either side and attach a small piece of elastic to each end. 

Superhero Kryptonite Toss

Superman Kryptonite Toss

Day 3 of Superhero Ideas. This one is for Superman. A Kryptonite Toss. Simply take a shower curtain, white or clear and paint planets, moons, stars, etc. on it with acrylic paint or sharpie markers. Cut out a few holes on some of the planets. 

Superman Kryptonite Toss

To play try to find green balls or kryptonite of some kind. I found some cool green balls at Walmart that are rubbery and spiky on the outside and light up on the  inside when bounced. Leave the curtain on the ground and see if kids can hit the holes you cut out. Or find a way to hang the curtain and have the kids through the "Kryptonite" through the holes you cut out.

Fun little game that is fairly easy to assemble. You may even be able to find a shower curtain with planets already printed on it. You could cut out the holes were ever you like. Or if you'd like to avoid cutting the curtain choose certain planets and see if the kids can just hit them or get a green bean bag to land on them.

(This picture was of the curtain on the floor. The yellow sun and the red star have been cut out so a ball or bean bag could be thrown through them if the curtain was hanging.)

7 Days of Superheroes-Day 1 Thor

Make Thor's Hammer

With the latest Superhero craze you may actually find yourself in need of this hammer. Boys will find themselves in need of this hammer for sure. Either for a costume prop, party decor, or just for fun. 

This was actually easier to make then you would think. Follow along. Add your own twist to it. However you do it have fun. Boys of any age can't seem to get enough of this by the way. Maybe it would just be a great father/son rainy day project.

Needed Items:

• Ribbon
• Toilet paper rolls /paper towel roll /or a wrapping paper roll
• Hot Glue
• Small Box
• Paint

Directions:

• Tape your box closed so that you have a surface ready to paint.
• Paint the box as shown below.

• For the Handle if using toilet paper rolls you will need 4 as shown below. If using a paper towel roll experiment you may be able to use just one or possibly 2. If using a wrapping paper roll you will need to cut it down a bit.

• Paint the handle brown. Add details on the side to look like leather that has been laced up if you wish.

• Add brown ribbon at the top with hot glue.

• Attach the handle to the middle of the box with hot glue.

• You are done. Enjoy.

DIY Thors Hammer