Charlotte's Monster Party

This year when we were browsing pictures of birthday parties online, Charlotte was excited by the mermaid/under the sea party among others...but when she saw the idea of a monster party, that was it. I asked her every few days to be sure she really did want a monster party. And sure enough, her mind was made up! (She made sure to include the important caveat that it was a "nice" monster party...no scary monsters here!)

So off to the planning board I went (thank you world wide web). And here's what we came up with!

Thanks to picmonkey (no photoshop skills here) I pulled off a quick invite and had fun making some envelopes.

(Inspiration here and here).

No party is complete without decorations! Charlotte and I collaborated on the three hanging monsters downstairs. I drew monster faces on the balloons and whipped up a birthday banner.

I wanted Charlotte to be as involved with the party preparations as possible, since, after all, it was her party. So I asked her to draw some pictures of monsters and then I cut them out and used them as part of the birthday banner. I was so impressed with how creative she was and was really glad I asked her. They turned out way better than anything I would have come up with!

Growing up, my mom often incorporated some kind of headband or dress-up aspect to our parties, so I thought it would be fun to have the kids wear monster headbands. With a little felt, yarn, and glue-gun, these beauties were born.

(Inspiration here).

At the start of the party, I had out coloring sheets and crayons for the kids to work on while we waited for everyone to arrive.

(Coloring sheets here and here).

Then it was game time! We played "feed the monster" (aka bean bag toss), "Monster, Monster, Boo!" (aka Duck, Duck, Goose), Monster and Cookie (aka Fox and Hen which I had never heard of but thought it might be fun...turned out it was a little tricky for the kids, but fun nonetheless), Pin the Eye on the Monster, and a Monster Eyeball relay race (aka ping pong ball on a spoon).

(The kids were delighted by Mitch's antics. So cute to hear their laughter.)

Somewhere in between the games, Mitch captivated the children by reading "There's Nightmare in my Closet." Only time during the whole two hours that everyone was focused on the same thing. They loved it.

For the craft we made paper bag monster puppets. I cut out pieces that could be used as eyes, mouths, horns, etc. and the kids glued, colored, and decorated to their hearts content. 

Then of course, time for cupcakes and water (lame, right? :) 

(Inspiration here and  here).

4 years old!

After presents and free-play, we sent the kids home with some favors.

Eyeball cookies, monster pencils, and these cute little zipper pouches I found at Michaels. I used the paper bag puppets as the favor bags, and of course, the kids all got to take home their heabands too!

(Inspiration here and here).

And there you have it! A happy 4th birthday for one NICE little monster!