How to have a Wiggly Birthday Party (The Wiggles Theme)
Jun 01 '04
The Bottom Line Its a Wiggly Party - Have fun :)
We're a Wiggles family, and you guessed it - for my son's 2nd and 3rd birthdays we had Wiggly Parties. I'm betting he'll want Wiggly parties til he outgrows the Wiggles which may be in a year or two, who knows. Until then, Wiggle on!
You can have a Wiggles birthday party very affordably by making all your own decorations, or you can purchase some premades which are beginning to pop up at places like your local "Party City" or other party store. Decorations can also be purchased online. There's more variety in their homeland of Australia but many of these items can be purchased on ebay, or of course from The Wiggles Online Store.
Invitations
Here's where you can be really creative, but I'll tell you what we did. One year we made the invitation to look like the DVD cover for Hoop-Dee-Doo.. Its a Wiggly Party, and your invited. Inside were photos of Alex from various Wiggles shows he'd attended and dressed up as The Captain Feathersword (from Halloween). Then, the following year we did a Dorothy the Dinosaur invitation using foam shape cutouts on the outside to look like Dorothy's head, with googly eyes and of course a silk rose in her hat. Inside was the party info and a photo of Alex from the Dorothy the Dinosaur show with his tail and Dorothy hat on.
Ambience
To set the mood for your Wiggles party its pretty simple. We simply pop in a Wiggles DVD and let that go in the family room. Any Wiggles VHS or DVD will do, but perhaps the most appropriate is Hoop-Dee-Doo! Its a Wiggly Party. You could also put in one of their CDs into a boombox if you don't want the TV going.
The Decorations
The first year that we had a Wiggles party there were basically no Wiggles party decorations available here in the US. So, I had to make some and it was easy. Simply pick from the Wiggles colors: red, blue, yellow, and purple and go to town. Party supplies are readily available in these brights so either pick one color or mix and match from all of them for your napkins, cups, plates, utensils, table cover, etc. I got a roll of streamers in each color and hung them up in our eating area and in the party room. I also got a dozen helium filled balloons in Wiggles colors plus a few extra (Green for Dorothy), etc. I found a website (link included at the end of the review) that had a lot of Wiggles stuff that could be printed out and attached to balloons, placemats, etc. This was a huge timesaver for me.
Last year, I found Wiggles plates, napkins, cups and mylar balloons at my party store so I mixed and matched those with my homemade and handpicked stuff. The premade stuff is cute but pricey and honestly not really necessary. I thought it would be fun to have a little bit of it - though I knew my son didn't care either way.
You can easily make a centerpiece by purchasing a generic Happy birthday or balloon themed honeycomb centerpiece. Then, print out your favorite Wiggles picture or clipart (readily available all over the web or from The Wiggles website and mount it in the middle of the centerpiece with some clear tape.
The Hats & favors
So, now, they do sell the cone shaped paper hats with the wicked elastic bands (ouch) in a Wiggles theme at party stores. But, being that we love hats I decided to go to town here. My son has a few Wiggles hats of his own including a Dorothy the Dinosaur hat, a Pirate's Hat (for Captain Feathersword) so those were available as choices. I also picked up a few cheapo pirate hats and top hats for other kids to wear. The top hats look just like the magician hat the Greg Wiggle wears.
To make a dorothy the dinosaur hat you can purchase inexpensive green ballcaps and then decorate them with fabric paint, foam pieces, google eyes and fake flowers. This is a fun and fairly inexpensive activity kids can do and then take it with them when they go. Likewise, they can Make a pirate hat by cutting construction paper and then gluing on a feather (found at local craft stores).
The Food
Since we know that The Wiggles (especially Anthony) love to eat and have several songs about food - this is easy. We served the following:
-Fruit Salad (yummy yummy)
-Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes
Recipe from:http://www.thewiggles.com.au/faq/honeycakes.html and listed at the end of this review
-Rosy Posy Tea (ice tea or any fruit punch or juice drink), served in green paper cups decorated with yellow dots and a handle made to look like a teacup.
-Cold spaghetti (made into a pasta salad).
-Pizza (not necessarily a Wiggles food, but easy kid food - I ordered it from a local joint and had my parents pick it up on their way over).
Games/entertainmment
As mentioned previously we had Wiggles playing on both our TV and in a CD player in another room. When it was time to do the games we also had a surprise visit from one of The Wiggles, or at least the kids thought it was. My cousin who is a good sport, young man in his late 20's dressed up in a pair of black pants and a blue shirt and posed as Anthony Wiggle. The kids were thrilled by this and I paid him off with 20 or so bucks and feeding him some pizza.
Other games to play are:
Hot Potato using a brown paper bag stuffed with paper that the kids have to pass between each other. Whoever has the potato when the music ends can either be the winner or be eliminated and it can play like musical chairs. (You can also play this with the actual Hot Potato Toy (from Spinmaster) if you have it).
Depending on the age of kids, you can also do Wiggly Musical Chairs played with any Wiggles music. My son doesn't really "get" musical chairs, so we didn't do this.
One year, I made a Pin the Tail on Dorothy game just like pin the tail on the donkey. Another time I printed out a large dorothy and had kids try to put the roses in her cap, just for a little twist on it.
Other game ideas could be a fishing game with Henry the Octopus, a Dance contest, or even a treasure hunt with a Captain Feathersword theme.
The Cake
Yes, you can purchase one of those candy edible decorations with Wiggles. But, I prefer to do something a bit "more" than that. I actually took a printout of a Wiggles photo and brought that to my local Wegmans (grocery store) bakery and they sprayed it onto the cake using a special technology they have to put pictures on cakes. Or, last year I purchased some Wiggles figures from my local Target (in the toy section) and put them on a cake that I decorated myself to look like Wiggles world. Not for my son's birthday but another time I decorated cupcakes with green frosting and made them look like Dorothy the Dinosaur. Have fun with your cake!
The Goodie bags
Since kids like to take away things from the party here are some of the things I've included in the goodie bags:
-Wrapped up Crunchy Munchy Honey cakes in saran wrap, tied with a ribbon and a print-out of the recipe (for the moms & dads).
-a pouch of Brach's Wiggles Fruit Snacks
-The hat they made
-Wiggles Coloring Sheets (printed out from http://www.thewiggles.com.au/GAMES/colourin.html) & a pack of crayons from the dollar store
-Playdoh minis in Wiggles colors
-A sheet of Wiggles stickers
-each child can take a balloon with them
Overall
This is your Wiggly party so have fun and get creative. Since we've now had a couple Wiggles parties I'm thinking of really getting creative for the next one and doing either a Wiggles Space theme or Wiggles Western theme based on some of their newer videos. You could even have a Wiggles "Beach" party, ala Wiggle Bay.
References
A great website with printables, ideas and more!
http://www.evanandcalumssite.homestead.com/Wiggly_Party_Ideas.html
Directions for Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes
Ingredients:
3 cups muesli flakes
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup coconut
125 grams butter
2 teaspoons honey
3 tablespoons milk
Method: Combine muesli flakes, sugar, coconut and sifted flour in a bowl and mix well.
Heat butter, honey and milk. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well.
Roll into balls the size of walnuts and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160 - 180 degrees C (300 - 350 degrees F)
for 15 - 20 mins or until golden brown.
Cool on trays.
The Wiggles Website (for clipart, coloring pages, and more)
www.thewiggles.com
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