Wizard of Oz Birthday Party

Being from Kansas, you can hardly escape the Wizard of Oz. When one of our customer's brought in his food van for my dad to work on, my boys became interested in all things Oz. It's no wonder they were curious because the paint job on this is seriously AMAZING- the ruby slippers are even glittery!!

One rainy afternoon I let them watch the Muchkinland sequence.They were mesmerized and the obsession began. Mayer started carrying around a Wizard of Oz book, which he even insisted on sleeping with! They love listening to the soundtrack, especially "If I Only Had A Heart" and "The Lollipop Guild."

Tate decided he wanted a Wizard of Oz birthday party. I started looking for ideas, but everything I found was for girls and centered around Dorothy and the ruby slippers. I wanted a more gender neutral theme. It was a family party, I also knew it had to appeal to multiple ages because the kids ranged in age from 2-9. I centered the games around Dorothy's three friends- Scarecrow, Tinman and Lion, and the Munchkins.
Since I didn't invitations made until the Monday before the party, they got sent via text to family members. (They had all been notified of the date ahead of time.)

 

The first game, "Pin The Heart On The Tinman," was the only idea I borrowed (though I can't remember where I saw it). I found a picture of the Tinman and enlarged it 200%. I cut out a bunch of hearts and had each participant write their name on it. Even some grown ups played!

The next game was, "Brain Game: Stuff A Scarecrow." I split the kids into 2 teams. We needed one more to make them even, so my dad volunteered. To find their supplies, they had to answer a riddle.
"The Wicked Witch of the West's Flying Monkeys have taken apart the Scarecrow! To put him back together again you need to find him."
Team #1's clue: "The Scarecrow hangs out in a cornfield. Look near where you'd find the Collins' crop yield." (Answer: The garden)
Team #2's clue: "The Scarecrow is afraid of fire. Look near where you'd find something to make your bonfire higher." (Answer: The Woodpile)

Team #2 had trouble opening the garden gate but still managed to win. I also gave them the harder clue because they had the oldest team member, though I don't think he helped them too much.
Team #1 had some trouble figuring out how to get the newspaper apart  to use as stuffing. I told them to pull it apart and crumple it up. They took me literally and started tearing the newspaper apart into small pieces. The grown ups sitting on the porch tried offering suggestions, but they still had trouble.
The third game I came up with was the "Cowardly Lion Courage Training." I set up an obstacle course in the backyard. I should have done it as stations as a group instead of sending the kids in waves. It became mass chaos and I couldn't get any good pictures! Even with adults directing them to the next station, it was still confusing. Lesson learned! Here's what they did:
#1- Spin around 3 times like a cyclone and say, "oh!" when finished
#2- Stand in the hula hoop, sing and dance like a Lollipop Guild Munchkin
#3- Slide down the Yellow Slide into a pool of corn
#4- Apple Toss
#5- Roar like the Lion
#6- Crawl under the Flying Monkeys
#7- Throw a water balloon at the Wicked Witch
#8- Steal her broom and ride it to the Wizard
#9- Run "home,"  click your heels 3 times and repeat, "There's No Place Like Home!"

I loved how the Flying Monkey turned out!

 

None of us got a picture of the slide and corn pool. :( You can sort of see it in the background of the monkey pictures. The kids really liked sliding into it. We borrowed a 50 lb bag of corn from my brother and sister-in-law's chickens, though I don't think they got all 50 lbs back and thankfully no one was allergic to corn! When they completed the course, they got a "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" mini cupcake. (If you know what all of the 9 stations signify, then you are a true Wizard of Oz fan and you should celebrate with your own Ding Dong!)
I didn't do very well on other decorations. I made a playlist from the Wizard of Oz soundtrack and it was playing on repeat in the background. We had the Wicked Witch of the East's legs sticking out from under the house.

My brother helped Tate draw the Yellow Brick Road to the driveway. (One niece wore her sweatband and the other wore her cleats because they knew there would be an obstacle course!)

And that was it on decorations. I forgot about the cake and gift tables because I was so concerned with the games! We had a rainbow cake.  The idea came from here. Of course didn't turn out as we planned- cakes have been a problem for me for the last 5 years- but it tasted good, which is all that really matters anyway.

We also had Melted Witch Punch:

It was SUPER sweet! The recipe I found called for Kool-aid, ginger ale, white grape juice, sugar and lime sherbert. I left out the grape juice and should have omitted the sugar too!
Happy 5th birthday, Tate!! I hope you had an Over the Rainbow good time!