I had come across a fun blog called Giverslog that had a post about "Happy Mail" and this is what inspired me for Big Brother's invitations. I bought large M&M tubes and removed the outside label and emptied the mini M&M's. Made a Smore's trail mix with Golden Grahams, mini M&M's and mini marshmallows and filled them back up with this mix. I then made a small tag that went inside the tube with the party details. The outsides got a small label with the invite rhyme and I sealed the tops with fun packing tape. I then took them to the post office for postage and sent them out. Everyone received the invites with no problems and they made quite a statement.
For decoration I was able to pull some old red lanterns from my fishing/outdoor master bathroom and also got lucky and found 3 more at TJMaxx. I made a bunch of camping themed signs from cardboard and white paint. They were simple to make and turned out so cute. I also used red checkered tablecloths.
Each kid that came to the party got their very own headlamp and a set of binoculars I made from toilet paper tubes. I got my headlamps from Outdoor Adventure Kids and the kids loved them! The binoculars were a hit as well and so easy to make. I stapled two toilet paper tubes together and then glued colored paper around the ends to add some dimension. I then glued a small piece of cardboard across the tubes and glued a small bottle cap to the top for an adjustment knob. I braided embroidery floss to make a neck strap. So fun to see the kids running around with their binoculars and headlamps.
For the past couple of years we have had Big Brother's party in the morning because our yard just gets too hot. So we do a full breakfast that goes along with the party theme. This year I made egg, bacon and cheese breakfast burritos with salsa and sour cream and had watermelon slices and juice. As always the food was a hit.
Cupcakes were smore's cupcakes. Chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling. Topped with chocolate fudge, marshmallow fluff and graham cracker chunks. A coconut covered marshmallow on a stick and a green gummy frog. Big Brother loves frogs so we decided to tie them in this way.
This year Big Brother wanted a pinata. So together we made one out of cardboard. I punched holes around the edges and then used a small string to tie the sides together. I also scored the cardboard to help make the process a bit easier as the kids are all 5 and under. My hopes were that the more the pinata was hit the strings around the edges would continue to pop out and let the goodies fall out. It did still take a little bit but it did start to break down as I had hoped and the kids had a blast.
The party turned out great and we had so much fun. I have one happy 4 year old. Now it's time to start planning the next party!
Happy Birthday Big Brother!
