The Wizard of Oz Extravaganza!!!

In November 2010, on a cold fall West Virginian day in the mountains, a little girl's dreams came true.  Dorothy came to her house. 

It's more than a movie for us.

I'll share that story with you soon, but for now...

Welcome to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz :)

My daughter's 4th Birthday was The Wizard of Oz, complete with the entire cast of characters (kudos to Build a Bear for releasing the line), and fun food themes :)

I made her invitations using my scrapbook software on the computer.  The inside had pictures of the characters from the movie and said "Come over the rainbow and follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City" with our address following.  "If you get lost, contact the Wizard ..." with my phone number.  "Dorothy and her friends are excited to see you on Date & Time". 

As guests arrived, we had a "waiting station" where you could color pictures of the characters. I printed them off from online (and will post them at the end of this post).  This kept the kids outside and entertained until everyone arrived for the "movie walk through".  The party baskets on the table were the "gift bags".  Each child was given an empty basket ... they would fill it with a coordinating prize as we met each movie character! 

We started by meeting Dorothy. She invited the kids to go on the adventure with her, and said, "We can't meet the Wizard with sticky hands!" as I passed out sparkley red hand sanitizer pocket bacs and glittery holders (from Bath and Body Works, of course!).

Next, we met the munchkins (two sets of the Barbie munchkins). They were shy and hiding (just like the in the movie!). The kids had to find them in the bushes and grass and then were rewarded with a lollipop.  (I found large swirl lollipops at a local candy store) The munchkins then told them to "Follow the yellow brick road!". And so we did.  We climbed the stairs on the yellow brick road (plastic table cloth on a spool, duct taped to the concrete steps).

Glinda was waiting for us at the top of the yellow brick road. I asked the kids how Glinda travelled from here to there, and when they screamed, "BUBBLES!", I passed out Magic Bubbles. (I purchased bubbles from the Dollar Store and made custom labels on my scrapbooking software).

The first friend we met was the Scarecrow. We talked about how mean the apple trees were to Dorothy and Scarecrow, and now we have a chance to get them back!!! The kids threw balls at the apple tree (homemade cornhole game) and then received apple gummies.  Note:  This game was put together about 10 minutes prior to guests arriving ... I knew what I wanted to do, we just kept forgetting it!!!  So it looks slightly more ghetto then I would like, but it's ok :)

We travelled over to the Tin Man who still didn't have a heart. So the kids played Pin the Heart on Tin Man (my husband cut him out of a cardboard box and wrapped him in tin foil). The Birthday Girl actually won this activity! Everybody got their very own heart stickers and then it was off to the next station ....

We found the Cowardly Lion hiding in the "woods" and gave him our best lion growl ever! After all the loud growling, I said, "OH NO! You scared the lion poop out of him!" and handed out lil' bags of "poop" (milkduds and raisenets). This was by FAR the kid's favorite. They not only got to say "poop" but "eat" it too!!!!

After all the giggling subsided, we made our way to the Emerald City (my front porch) where Dorothy thanked everyone for going on an adventure with her, and said, "You have made it to the end of the rainbow ...." as I handed out Skittles.  I decorated the porch with silver and green balloons and sparkley green hanging decorations (from the Dollar Store, most likely for St. Patricks Day). 

I brought everyone inside and since the hotdogs weren't ready yet, we opened presents first!

My lil' Dorothy really really REALLY wanted a Dorothy Barbie for her birthday. Best reaction ever.

Time to eat! I used our McDonald Happy Meal collectible dolls with my place cards since every item was "themed". We have two sets of these cute lil guys ... one sits on her bookshelf, while the other is played with every.single.day of her life!

Scarecrow's Garden ... veggie and fruit platter!

Cowardly Lion's Maca-RAWR-oni and Cheese. (You have to say that one outloud)

Tin Man's "If I Only had a Heart to Clog" Potato Chips ... What? It was funny.

Glinda's Wand-wiches (ham and turkey sandwiches cut with a star shaped cookie cutter with pretzel sticks as the wand).

Munchkin Mix - rainbow Goldfish, rainbow marshmellows, M&Ms, and trail mix all tossed together in a bowl of yumminess :) { There's no picture of the yumminess because it included nuts and there was a child present with nut allergies, so the lid was kept on TIGHT }

Tiny Tornadoes - Bugles! Don't they just look like tiny tornadoes?! So fun!

Professor Marvel-ous Hot Dogs ... Prof. Marvel was roasting hot dogs when Toto stole one away from him :) And these my friends, were quite the marvel-ous dogs, indeed :)

Only you wouldn't know that. Because there are no pictures of them. Because the minute that charcoaled-crispy-smoking aroma entered our atmosphere, we were on them like donkey kong! 

My husband and father are excellent grillers. I would eat anything off the grill as long as their hands have graced it with their magical grill mastery touch. Even road kill. Probably a possum.

I've totally abandoned the yellow brick road here.

And now I want a hotdog. : /

Moving right along ... I had great intentions of making the witches brew { green punch with black witch hats floating in it } but time escaped me. Soda sufficed. I'm sure Dorothy wouldn't have cared much.

And what do we do after stuffing our face?! Stuff it some more, of course! With CAKE!

I purchased a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting at Sam's Club ... two bags of lemon heads from the dollar store, and a few boxes of gum balls from Target's $$$ section. We used the McDonald's collectible Dorothy as the centerpiece and went to town with the yellow brick road! I thought the rainbow colored gum balls would add a nice touch, and her sparkly number 4 candle doesn't look too bad either!!!!

We had the movie playing in the background on mute and the musical soundtrack sang throughout the party.  I was quite pleased with the turnout and all of the planning went off without a hitch!  I did order quite a lot of items, but I was also able to craft my way around some of the more expensive items ;)  This party happened in 2010, long before Pinterest showed up in every housewive's feed, so a lot of these ideas were pulled from several different blogs.  SO much fun to plan, and my Lil' Dorothy absolutely loved it :)

 

 

Here are the coloring templates I printed off for the kids to color at the waiting station :)

And remember ... There's No Place Like Home : )

As Seen On Pinterest ... Banana Sushi

Sushi is the way to my heart!  When we moved into our new house and I was in the middle of unpacking 2,000 sq ft while entertaining three small children, my husband surprised me with three trays of sushi :)  Yea, he's a catch ;)  My mini's, on the other hand, do NOT like sushi.  Until now.

They are a fan of bananas.  They love rice krispie cereal.  They are kind of obsessed with peanut butter (that must be genetic, they most definitely get that from ME).  Put all three together in a cool "grown up" way and they're all over that like white on rice. 

Step 1:  Peel banana and smother in peanut butter.  Warning ... this is ridiculously messy.  You might have to lick your fingers ... just saying.

Step 2:  Pour rice krispie cereal onto a plate and roll the smothered banana on them. 

Step 3:  Cut thick pieces and arrange in a log like form, just like a sushi roll :)

Step 4:  Pour a big glass of milk and let your taste buds dance :)

I also want to try this with cocoa krispies cereal ;) 

Happy Pinning !!!! : )

As Seen On Pinterest ... Homemade Crayons

I live with three tiny artists who not only love to color, but also break their coloring utensils into crumbley bits. Broken crayons are my arch nemesis. What to do with all of those unusable crayon crumbs?

Hi, Pinterest. How you doing today? Oh, crafting? Yes, please. Thanks ever so much!

Step 1:  Peel the wrapper off of dead crayon.  Chop larger pieces into tiny pieces. 

Step 2:  Place broken crayons into muffin pan ... I used the tiny muffin pans and coordinate my colors together:  all reds/pinks together, all shades of blue together, etc.

Step 3:  Bake @ 275 for 10 mins.  Let cool completely before popping them out of the tin. 

Step 4:  Color away!  Rainbows unite!!! 

Happy Pinning!  :)

As Seen On Pinterest ... how to safely remove a stuck ring

Let's be real. I put on a few pounds since my beautiful size 2 wedding day eight years ago. And by a few I mean more than 10. Definitely more than 20. We don't have to get THAT real, but you get my point. The waist band grew. I "upped" the jean size. We graduated into (cough cough) double digits. The ring band, however, remained the same. Fast forward to the present day ... you've got one heck of a STUCK ring!!!

{ Wedding Day, September 4, 2004 }

{ Skinny finger ... no problem ... HA oh what was to come! } Enter Pinterest. Thanks to some dental floss, baby oil, a few tears, and a whole lot of patience, the ring came off :) It's on it's journey to be sized, just one lil' size up in the world, but nonetheless, it was needed!

Here's the nitty gritty: Step 1: Soak your hand in ICE COLD water for a few minutes ... when you either feel the urge to pee or just can't take the cold anymore, elevate it above your head for a few more minutes. This is all to reduce the swelling. Step 2: Wrap the dental floss tightly around the nuckle to compress your skin. Step 3: Slather that baby oil on!!! Mine was coconut scented. Yummy. Step 4: DO NOT PULL AND TUG. Simply rotate the ring around and around and around and repeat repeat repeat repeat. Don't give up. I did this several times and then voila! It just popped right off! Step 5: Massage the swollen tender finger and do not try to put the ring back on ... cause that's just silly. Happy Pinning! :)