Olaf Party Games, with the help of my Cricut

Hunter has decided that he wants an Olaf birthday party this year.   OLAF.

Be sure, this is NOT a Frozen party.  He is adamant that there will be NO Anna, and NO Elsa, and NO Let It Go.   ONLY OLAF.  And snow.  He really wants snow, because after all, you have to have snow if you want to build a snowman!

We are going to take this idea from Growing A Jeweled Rose and Olaf-ize it.  Instead of the generic snowman face she used, I cut out an Olaf face using the Print Then Cut feature on my cricut.   If you have a Cricut, and don't know how to use this feature, LEARN IT.   Crafts by Two has a great playlist of tutorial videos here.  This video shows how the Cricut cuts out an image that I printed from the computer.

These are the faces after they are cut, still sitting on my Cricut mat.
Can I just tell you how awesome it is to be able to do that on my Cricut with any image I want, and not have to fussy-cut all those little faces by hand?!?!

I just glued the cut out faces onto plain white foam cups. For the top Olaf, I cut a pipecleaner in three pieces & stuck them in the top of the cup.  We will stack them up, and let the boys knock 'em down!  Just like the carnival game with the milk bottles & a baseball.  Only we won't be using a baseball.   A rolled up sock makes a great plush snowball to throw at the Olaf stack.  Or you could arrange them all on the floor and let the kids roll the snowball for some Olaf Bowling.   We may do both if we need a little time-filler.

I  cut out more Olaf faces for these Snow Shooters, also from Growing A Jeweled Rose.  Those are going to be going home with the kiddos in their goodie bags, which will also feature these same Olaf faces!  

I have lots of other fun things planned, but I will wait to post until after the party, when we have photos of the games actually being played!

Have I mentioned how much I love planning birthday parties??   If I honestly thought I could quit my job and just plan parties for people all the time, I would do it in a heartbeat.  A heartbeat, I tell you.

I feel a celebration coming on...

The little man turned 5 yesterday.   Wow...  it is hard to believe he is 5 already, and will go to Kindergarten next year!!!  I have been busy getting ready for his birthday party in a couple of weeks.  He wanted to have a Team Umizoomi birthday.   Great little show on Nick Jr. for kids focusing on early math skills, but there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING out there party-wise.  In fact, the only thing I have ever seen in the retail market with Team Umizoomi on it are some Pre-K math kits with workbooks and a DVD.

Super-Mom to the rescue!   Thanks to several google searches, pinterest, and some personal creativity, we have a pretty rockin' party coming together!!

Party Favors:
I printed labels with images from Team Umizoomi, and stuck the labels around bottles of bubbles, cans of play-doh, and wrapped them around a small chocolate for all the kids.  I also made a bottle cap necklace for each of the kids with a Team Umizoomi photo in it.

To make the necklaces, I used printed images, a package of bottle caps, a 1" circle punch, and Glossy Accents.  (Diamond Glaze & Crystal Lacquer are the same thing.) 

Punch out the images and glue them inside the bottle cap with a bit of Glossy Accents.  Then cover the entire image with a good layer of Glossy Accents.   They will take about an hour or so to dry completely, depending on the humidity where you are.  Punch a hole in the top of the bottle cap.  Make the necklace by putting a jump ring in the hole and attaching the bottle cap to a string, ribbon, or metal necklace.   Cute & easy!  Mine are not quite dry yet in the photo, so they still look a little "foggy".  Once it is really dry the Glossy Accents is completely clear. 




Games:
I used more printables from the Nick Jr website for the games.   We are going to have different stations for each of the characters.  Milli's Measurements, where the kids will get to measure themselves on a height chart & compare.  Who is tallest?  Who is smallest?  Geo's Shapes, where the kids will get to make pictures with shapes (think Tangrams or Playful Patterns).  Bot's Bellyscreen, where the kids will take their photos on a green screen.  I will put their faces in Bot's bellyscreen and mail the photos to them after the party as their thank you notes.  We are also going to have a scavenger hunt for various shapes & numbers.    At the snack table, kids will find shaped snacks and part of a pattern, where they can finish out the pattern with their snack shapes.




Cupcake Toppers:

Hunter wanted cupcakes for his birthday, so I found some cupcake papers with polka dots that match the color scheme, and made these adorable cupcake toppers using some scrapbook paper & printables from the Nick Jr website.

First, I cut scrapbook paper into 2 inch strips.  (You will need 2 strips for each rosette.)  Using a scoring plate, I scored every inch, then flipped them over & scored on the 1/2 inch.

After the strips are all scored, I attached the ends of 2 strips together.  Put adhesive on the "valley" end of one strip, and attach it to the "mountain" end of another strip.

After you get all of the strips glued together, accordion fold them along your score lines.  (Remember making those little fans & stuff as a kid?  Same technique.)

Here is my pretty rainbow of folded strips.  :)

If you are making cupcake toppers like me, glue a toothpick to one end of the strips at this point. If you are making medallions to use on cards or a scrapbook page or other project, skip this step.

Now, you need to glue the ends together, just like you did when making the long strips.  Glue a "valley" end to a "mountain" end. You will end up with a circle like this.  (For you cupcake people -- one of your ends will have a toothpick sticking out of it, which is not shown in this photo.)   





Now, take your circle and flatten it on the table.   I filled the center hole with hot glue.  If you do this, it really strengthens the medallion.  (Remember, I am making cupcake decorations for a bunch of 5 year olds!  I wanted them to be super sturdy!!)  If your medallion is going to be attached to a card or something, filling the center is not necessary.  If you DO fill it, I would suggesting using a non-stick craft mat under your work area.  

Cut out whatever you are using to decorate the center of your medallion.  I am using printables from Nick Jr. that fit my Team Umizoomi theme.
Decide if you only need an image for the front or if you want an image for front and back, based on what your project is for.  For my cupcake decorations, I wanted an image front and back.
I also suggest gluing your decorations to the flattened medallion with hot glue if they will be handled a lot. If not, most any adhesive will work fine. 

Here are my finished cupcake decorations!
Umifriends on the front, and the number 5 on the back.  The finished product is about 4" across, which is pretty big for a cupcake, but the little man said he wanted them big, so that's what he got!  :)

The big party day is still a couple of weeks away, but I will be sure to post some photos afterwards!

Birthday Bandit

Sunday, February 1st -- Hunter's 2nd Birthday!! Yea! Oh, yeah, and then there's the Super Bowl too... Every year for the last 7 years or so, we have had a super bowl party, except one -- the year Hunter was born, we brought him home from the hospital on Super Bowl Sunday. So I guess that every few years his birthday will probably land on the same day as the Big Game. Oh well -- two parties in one day never killed anybody, right??

So I was baking the cake & cupcakes for the birthday party -- Veggie Tales of course -- the boy is obsessed! (If you are not familiar with Veggie Tales, get educated: www.bigidea.com) I baked the cupcakes & had them cooling on the kitchen counter. I left the room for just a minute or two, and come back to this...
Now, being a semi-intelligent mother of two boys, you would think I would realize that this was not going to be an isolated incident. However, I was trying to prepare for two rather large parties at the same time, so I told him to leave the cupcakes alone, moved the step stool to another room, and went off to do something else. When I came back, he had brought the step stool back into the kitchen and...yep... two cupcakes -- one from each pan -- slightly molested by the Birthday Bandit. Thank goodness they were the cupcakes and not the big cake! After a few pictures (that I think will make a great scrapbook page) the Birthday Bandit was ousted from the kitchen, along with his trusty step stool. Once again, Mom prevails, and the party must go on. I turned the cupcakes into French Peas, and the 9" round cake into Bob. I think they turned out pretty well!

Both parties were a success. Congratulations to the Steelers & their fans. Personally, being a Chiefs fan, I didn't care so much about the game this year. Oh well... maybe next year, or in thirty years, or something... but I'm not holding my breath.