The Play-Doh Party

We've recovered from the party and are ready to tell the tale.  George's Play-Doh party was a huge success with lots of pictures and stories to share.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to our dear friend Candi for taking the party pictures.  George's frosting face grin captures the joy of it all.... 

The Theme:  First, some background on the party theme.  After Zack's water party in July, George decided he was having a play-doh party for his 4th birthday.  He never wavered from that choice and was very helpful in the planning.  He's ready to be a party planner!  I bought play-doh over the past few months and party gear in bright primary colors, nice and simple. 

Party Preparations:  We built a Play-Doh Factory in the garage for the kids to play and build with play-doh.  We had a long table with no chairs around it and two little kid picnic tables.  I printed off "fresh ideas" pictures from the Play-Doh website and glued them to cardstock to make "idea cards" for the kids to use to build different things.  We also set-up a card table to hold the entries for the best play-doh model contest.   

Joe built a Play-Doh machine complete with real smoke and music (Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine). 

We made our yellow Cat hard hats into Play-Doh hard hats.

George loaded up the monster goodie bags with play-doh, a cookie cutter and candy.

George went with me to order the cake, he wanted a cake with balloons on it. 

Each child made their own "Official Play-Doh Tester" name badge when they arrived so they were allowed to enter the factory. 

It's not a party without balloons.  We picked these up for $1 each at the dollar store.  Thanks for the tip Aunt Julie.

Party Time!: The party kicked off at 11 a.m. with a total of 41 people in attendance, 23 kids and 18 adults including the Swayne five.  Check out the slideshow (click here) to see all the fun.  Kids and adults, big and small, all had fun playing and building with the play-doh.  A few kids barely took a break for pizza and cake.  The contest for the best play-doh model had many entries and lots of interest.  We gave out two prizes but easily could have given away more prizes.  The creativity and effort were outstanding. 

Way to go George on thinking up a fantastic and fun party.  It really suited kids of all ages and it was fun to pull together.  I would highly recommend it if you're looking for party ideas.  Thank you to everyone who came and made it such a special day for George. 

The last time we watched the Winter Olympics, George was a brand new baby boy.

                                     

                                     

Happy 4th Birhtday George!