Volunteer Appreciation

This is a candy bar my girlfriend Stacey wrapped in scrapbook paper as a token of appreciation to our PTSO Board members.

"Volunteers are seldom paid; not because they are worthless, but because they are PRICELESS!"

Gory Lunch

For  a Halloween class party one year we decided instead of serving the traditional pizza for lunch, we would make this lunch extra special.
For the main course we had spaghetti, which we labled as guts.  We also served hot dog mummies, hot dogs wrapped in cresent rolls.  Some great sides included scabs(craisins) and a watermelon carved as a brain.
To decorate the tables I got a blood dripping table cloth, skulls, rats, spiders, and gummy worms.
For the beverage, we served a caldron of fruit punch(with a bag of candy blood hanging from it).  I also added some dry ice.  I learned the hard way, next time put the dry ice below the caldron in a seperate dish, it froze our fruit punch.

Winter Wonderland

For my daughters Winter Holiday class party I decided to have it be a "snow theme".

To get everyone in the spirit, we read a book about snowmen.   There are a ton of books about snow and snowmen out there, so just choose the one you like best for your group of kids.

Next, we made snow globes.  I collected baby food jars from several of my friends, any size will do.  There are a variety of things you can put inside but we decided on the Arizona Snowman.  I got foam from our local craft store and cut out carrot noses, scarves, top hats, and black coal for the eyes and nose pieces.  We just added the foam pieces, water, and silver glitter.  Before we put the lids on, I put some E6000 glue around the inside of the lid to help keep it shut.  Note, hot glue gun does not work, trust me :)!

Another activity we did that was by far the funnest thing I have ever done at a class party, was have a snowball fight.  How can you have a snowball fight in Arizona inside a classroom?  Paper.  Each child got 3 pieces of white paper which they crumpled into a ball.  The class was divided in half, one on each side of the room.  They had 1 minute to have the snowball fight.  Whichever side had the least amount of snowballs on their side after the minute was up, won.  The kids loved it as well as the adults.

Some other ideas are to cut out snowflakes from paper or decorate foam snowflakes.  They usually have foam snowflake kits at your local craft store.

Usually we have a treat during the party, what better thing to have at a snow party then snow cones.  These were a huge hit.

Please share my blog and ideas with others.  If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, let me know.
Thank you for visiting my blog.

Hollywood Party

For my daughters 4th grade end of year party, I decided on a Hollywood theme.

At Party City I bought a Hollywood Style Banner that you could create yourself.  The letter stickers looked like lit up lightbulbs.  See link.  http://www.partycity.com/product/hollywood+giant+personalized+sign+banner+20in+x+65in.do?sortby=ourPicks&pp=60&size=all&navSet=110446

On the banner I put "Mr. Doutrich's Hollywood Party!"  I had a red plastic table cloth taped to the carpet as our "red carpet!"  The kids lined up on the red carpet and were handed a ticket to our movie premier, "Scooby Doo Goes to Hollywood."  While the kids were waiting to get into the movie, one by one we had them stand in front of the sign so the paparazzi could get pictures, several parents had cameras!  I bought props for the children, a top hot, sunglasses, feather boa and a cane, the kids really hammed it up!
 

Celebrity!



Rock Star!



Me goofin' around!



Inside the classroom I had some other hollywood type signs hanging around. The chairs were lined up movie theater style.

Before we viewed the movie, we had our award ceremony.  I came up with a list of awards the week before and had the teacher decide who would get which award.  I then had him pass them out.  Here is a great link for these awards.  http://www.ehow.com/how_5789410_use-names-present-student-awards.html
Along with the award, we presented a movie size box/bar of candy.  For example if the child received the "Dove Award", for always keeping class peace, we gave them a giant Dove bar.  We opted not to serve popcorn since the kids had candy, but popcorn is a great idea too!  The last award was presented to the teacher, this is a good time to give them their end of year thank you gift.

After the award ceremony, we then played the movie for the kids.  After the movie, they played various games in the classroom: bowling, hula hoop, bingo.

If you have any additional ideas, questions or comments, please let me know!

Willy Wonka Party

Before I tell you details of the party, I have to give thanks to the teacher for putting up with my crazy ideas.  Also thank you to all the parents who helped out with supplies and during the party.  None of this party would have been possible without all of them!

If you have the party at home, you can show little snips of the movie before each party game.  Since ours was at school, I spoke with the teacher ahead of time asking if she could show the movie the day before the party so the kids would really understand the concept.  Our teacher gladly agreed, it was our end of year party so there usually is not a lot going on the last week.  My wonderful friend Stacey made "golden tickets" just like the ones in the movie.  She then attached one to a Hershey bar for each child and then re-wrapped in scrapbooking paper, crimping the ends with a "scrapbook paper crimper" which you can find at your local hobby store.  Make sure to measure the scrapbook paper longer than the candy bar so you have extra paper hanging over the end to crimp it shut.  She suggested you put a piece of double sided tape on the inside before you crimp to hold it better.  She then made a label for the candy bar to go with the teachers name.  For example "Norbergs Nutty Bar"or "Davids Divine Chocolate"!  Each child was given a candy bar after the movie to see if any of them were the lucky winner of a golden ticket.  Of course they all got one and it was an invite to the end of year party, worded very similar to the "Golden Ticket" in the movie.  She found the wording and the font online.

This candy bar was used as a thank you but it gives you the idea of what the wrapped candy bar will look like.  This was a kit kat, I recommend a hershey bar for the Wonka party!

The Golden Ticket!

As you will see, many details of the party are based on the movie.  The contract pictured below has some ideas from the movie and some of our own.  My friend was able to print it large at the local office store and simply glue to a gold poster board.  I made some feather pens for the kids to sign with and each child got a bag with their name on it to fill with their goodies they received throughout the party. 



Contract they signed before they entered the classroom!



Treat bags for each child to collect their goodies and feather pens to sign the contract just like in the movie!



This was all done outside the classroom, both inside and out were decorated while the kids were at lunch and recess. I forgot to mention, I dressed up for the party.  I had knee high polka dot socks, a Hershey t shirt and a polka dot top hat.  I was Mrs. Willy Wonka, the kids loved it.



This is part of the factory tour and my silly outfit!

Decorating

I had brightly colored mismatching plastic table clothes on the desks which were pushed together in rows.  On each desk there was a plate, napkin and cup in other bright colors.  Each child also had a polka dot cellophane bag to fill up at the sweet shoppe(read on for details).  I also had polka streamers hanging from the ceiling.

Factory Tour

The first part of the party in the classroom was a tour of the Chocolate Factory.  First stop, the edible wall paper.  I had those candy buttons(the ones on a piece of paper) taped to the white board.  Each kid was allowed to pull off a strip of wallpaper and test out a few dots, then put in their goody bag.  Next stop, the everlasting gobstoppers.  I just had boxes of gobstoppers.  I gave each child about 5, they could eat one then and

 put the rest in their bag.  Then, onto my candy cane tree.  I had a fake tree adorned with candy canes.  Each child could take one off the tree and put it in their bag.  Next was the chocolate river.  I had a chocolate fountain with brown streamers coming out of the tiers.  Out of one side of the bottom tier I had a long piece of brown butcher paper, crinkled and flowing like a river.  I taped giant Hershey bars to it and explained to the kids this river helped stir all the chocolate for my factory and later on they could go fishing in it.

The last thing I showed them was Wonka's Sweet Shoppe.  I had that painted on a piece of fold poster board hung on the wall.  One counter below I had about 8 different size and shape glass jars( I got these at my local craft store when they were on sale, 50% off).  I told them if they all behaved for the party, they could visit the candy shop. 

Here they are in line getting "Everlasting Gobstoppers!"

 

I decided on this idea months earlier, so I sent an email out to parents to buy candy on clearance after holidays.  We were also able to get lots of candy from the dollar store as well.

Games

We had jawbreaker bowling in which we just used a plastic bowling set.

We had a bubble gum blowing contest, based off of the character from the movie Violet Beauregarde.

Bubble gum blowing contest!

More bubbles!

The kids got to fish into the chocolate river, based on the character Augustus Gloop.  They all got 3 turns in which they pulled out a gummy worm, a Swedish red fish and a mini Hershey bar.

We also had a gobstopper bounce where we bounced brightly colored ping pong balls into polka dot buckets.

They also did a gobstopper toss.  I had a board with holes in it where they had to throw the plastic balls through.

We then went outside and had our fizzy lifting drink, based off the character, Charlie Bucket.  The game aspect of it was a burping contest, that is what Charlie had to do to get down from the ceiling after he drank it.

Next we had a golden egg spoon race.  This was based off the character Veruca Salt.( we watched the original version of the movie)

Once we got back in the classroom, each child looked under their seats to look for a golden ticket.  Each child who had one got to pick a treat from my candy stash up front.I had large swirl lollipops, Wonka bars( bought at our local grocery store), various candies parents had sent in, giant choc. bunnies from the Easter clearance and much more.  As I drew names out of my polka dot hat to get candy prizes, the other kids, one row at a time, visited the sweet shoppe(with parents supervision and help of course). In the sweet shoppe, we had, candy hearts, gumballs, pixie sticks Hershey kisses and so on.  

Some ideas for the party I came up with on my own, but some I got from this site, check it out for more great ideas!

http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/willy_wonka.html

My inspiration!

These are my two beautiful girls, Alexis and Madison!
 I have been helping plan the
 parties for their classes since they were both in Kinder!