Monday, June 6, 2011

Cam's Creature Adventure-Wild Kratts Birthday

Well we did it! The weather man came through :) A great amount of our friends and family were able to join us and boy does it pay to have a mom who is a caterer! I am a procrastinator as it is so really the only difference with this party is I invited everyone last minute and I didn't make the invitations myself. If I had planned ahead I also would not have gone to Costco on a Friday! Yikes! And we had bought spots in a pickle ball tournament at an auction and it ended up that it was Friday night, so my mom and dad agreed to come to our house to babysit and help me get ready! Mom I love you SO much! I couldn't have gotten this done without you! While I was gone she made the potato salad, pickled cucumbers got the creature power suits figured out all while watching my 4 children! 



My mom had this cake made by Jamie at her kitchen. It was SO AMAZING! It became the centerpiece of our party! The rhino and the tree she sculpted out of rice krispy treats. The stones along the bottom are marshmallows. Cam was so pumped when he saw this. Plus Gayle made adorable cupcakes that had oreo "dirt" on them and gummy bugs! 



I bought animal print paper at the craft store and just cut out the letters to make this sign. I literally was gluing it as people arrived. But it helped pull everything together. 

Cam was insistent that he and his friends have creature power suits. I'll show you below how we did them below. 




Cam was in awe :)

Awesome bounce house! No one could believe how big it ended up being and the company was so nice. If you are in the Snohomish County area, bouncyhouses.com is the place to go. They had a ton to choose from, the owner was available for questions and can we just say, for reserving this Wednesday and to have the reservation, delivery and clean up go so smoothly was great.

We cut felt in a black strip about 12 inches wide. Folded the piece in half. Cut a v-shaped whole for their heads. Cut out the colored felt for the paw and details. Just glued everything on! My mom did the majority of them Friday, but we underestimated the amount of kids that would want them. So we were throwing more together during the party. Even Keegan at 9 thought they were pretty cool :)

Having a blast! Maybe too much cake :)



We ended the party with a showing of Wild Kratts on our backyard screen.  It's a piece of plywood, my husband Joe painted white. The kids love snuggling up out there and watching a show. These kids were so pooped by this time, that they were almost falling asleep.


Our version of "Creature Pods"
Cam was thrilled with them. He likes to pretend it is his "handheld device"

NEW INFO: For the creature pods I used these FOAMIES markers, bookmarks and animals I got at the local craft store. The markers took much longer to dry then I anticipated. They were more like paint then markers. So do them ahead of time. If you play games that earn them badges you can make them sticky (stickers or labels maybe?) and stick them on the back. You could even punch holes in them and hang them from strings like necklaces.


Here are some extra photos of the creature power suits that I hope helps!





Here are 2 blogs the first one Kara's Creative Place is where I got some of my ideas. She had great game ideas. 

http://karascreativeplace.blogspot.com/2011/05/wild-kratts-birthday-party.html

The 2nd one I just found and she has great ideas but I warn, she is MUCH craftier then I and is more capable at sewing then I am. So it is awesome but WAY beyond my skill set, hopefully not yours. It's still great ideas though :)

http://thundercloudsandafurrowedbrow.blogspot.com/2011/07/party-wild-kratts-style.html

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad I found this blog! My daughter wants a Wild Kratts birthday. Did you play any games or just let them run wild and bounce, etc.? Also, on the creature power suits did you use some sort of piece under the arms to hold it together or does it just lay down on it's own? Thanks! coriobrien@yahoo.com

wendy said...

My Almost-Mr-Five is stoked for a wild kratts party too!!! Thank you so much for your posts! (I have seven days to pull it together, and way fewer kids coming!!!)

wendy said...

PS. How did you make your creature pods?! wendyandchris@rogers.com

Anonymous said...

love the ideas - doing a wild kratts party for my twin 6 year olds. Pool party/ocean theme. Just curious re: suits...how much was the cost per suit? Just curious. debating how to make mine, if perhaps black t-shirts could work and minimize sewing.

-Amy

Ashley said...

No No No Sewing :) I don't sew. I should clarify. I CAN'T sew. Wish I could :(I bought black felt by the yard and cut it to size. We cut felt in a strip about 12 inches wide. Folded the piece in half. Cut a v-shaped whole for their heads. Cut out the colored felt for the paw and details. Just glued everything on! So I am not positive how much the black felt cost per yard, but it was NOT expensive. I looked at black t-shirts and they were more $, but maybe you could find them on sale OR if you don't have a ton of kids coming???? The colored felt I bought by the sheet it came in 8.5x11 inch rectangles and I just bought one of each color. They only cost 19 cents per sheet. Some tacky glue and we were in business :) If you have ANY more questions let me know! Have fun!

Anonymous said...

So, my son is turning 5 soon. I love your blog on this! I want to do a wild kratt party for him too. He loves them!! Can u post how u did the creature pods and answer the previous posters questions about the games.I was wondering about that too...
I also noticed that you had a wild kratt picture on your birthday sign. did you just print that out from something you googled? any other specifics would be greatly appreciated!!!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ashley said...

I let the kids just play and run and bounce :) But I did see on another blog a mom that had them play Cheetah Tag where the kids tuck a "tail" into their pants and they chase each other trying to pull out each others tails. Like flag tag. That sounded fun and then there was some sort of cheetah badge to put on their "creature pod." She also had a firefly game I will try to find the link for you. They got glow sticks for that. I wished, had I not been so last minute,that I could have found some inflatable animals to hide in the yard. And have a creature hunt. I searched a couple sites but please note- I HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH THEM- NOR HAVE I SHOPPED THEM BEFORE SO I CAN NOT VOUCH FOR THEIR SERVICE,so use at your own discretion :)

http://www.thejunglestore.com/Gift-Catalog/Inflatables?gclid=COTao8DXo6wCFQZThwodWiE2Ag

http://www.thebigzoo.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=545&perpagefilter=48&viewfilter=Grid&sortbyfilter=Price+%28Low%29&page=1

I don't know how much time until your party but if you have time the websites might provide you with some cool stuff...

Another reader had an idea of checking out
I am going to add the answers to your other questions (creature pods and more game stuff) up above in the posting.

Ok let me know if these help! Good Luck.
See you on the Creature Trail ;)

wmcswain said...

In case anyone is planning a Wild Kratts party right now, they have a few things on the pbs kids store for a party. I ordered a personalized green shirt for him from pbs.org after my attempt at a vest was marginal. They also have banners that would be great for a party, but I'm just going to improvise. I'll link up on my blog post about the party after it happens. :)