Winnie the Pooh Party

Who doesn’t love Classic Pooh bear? This is a perfect theme for a first birthday or little one’s birthday.

Amount of Time: 5 – 15 Hours
Budget: $150 to $500
Age Group: Under 5
Number of Guests: 5 – 10
Indoors/Outdoors: Either would work well.

Special Notes: This is an especially popular theme for very small children. Everyone loves Pooh. When hosting young kids’ birthday parties, the general rule of thumb is to invite as many guests as the age of your child, but if you use this as a first birthday party theme you may have quite a few more kids than that. If so, this party plan can be expanded to accommodate larger numbers of kids.

Invitations: Decorate white card stock with fun pictures of Winnie the Pooh with his honey pot, or just a Pooh honey pot. Inside, write all of the “Pooh-ish” details. A cute idea is to hand-deliver the invitations attached to a red balloon.
There are pre-printed Pooh invitations that you can pick up at your local party store. Baby Heirlooms has a host of Classic Pooh birthday party stationary as well.

Decorations:

Birthday in a Box has first birthday partyware that perfectly matches this theme.

Blow up lots of balloons and streamers in Pooh colors. Decide if you will go for the Pooh bold colors or the Classic Pooh pastels. Mix in a few Pooh helium balloons as well to keep with the theme. Tie one of these to the birthday kid’s chair.

On the party table, have “honey pots” as centerpieces. You can plant little yellow flowers in the pots, have candies and goodies in the pots, or place little Pooh stuffed animals in the pots—whatever you decide will be fun.

If you are holding the party outdoors, make a sign welcoming the guests to the “Hundred Acre Wood!”

Hang bees and butterflies around the party room.

Crafts:
Have the kids color pictures of Pooh or draw their favorite Pooh character.

Make fake honey out of water, glue, Borax, and yellow food coloring. Mix 1 1/2 cups of warm water with 2 cups of glue and a few drops of yellow food coloring. In a separate bowl, mix 4 teaspoons of Borax with 1 1/3 cups of warm water. Next, pour the glue mixture into the Borax mixture and let the honey form. Do not mix these two together; it forms on its own and then you lift it out of the bowl. Use a big glass mixing bowl so the kids see the honey form. Place the honey into individual Ziploc bags so the guests can take some home with them.

Have the kids create their own “honey pots” out of terra cotta flower pots and different colors of paint.

Games/Activities:
Hire a Pooh character to entertain the kids. This is especially good if the children are age 3 or older. They will appreciate the character.

Buy and/or rent Pooh and other character costumes (Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, etc.). Have the kids dress up as the Pooh cast, and have fun playing together in character form. You could also have them act out a little Pooh scene in their costumes. This would make an especially good photo opportunity, and the pictures you take can later be used in the thank you notes.

For young ones, consider reading a story from The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh. This also makes a great Pooh gift if you are looking for present ideas for a child that loves Pooh.

Play Pin the Tail on the Eeyore!

Have a Tigger sack race.

Play Follow the Tigger. Have the birthday kid lead the pack in a marching parade. Playing Pooh music will add to the atmosphere as well. This can be done both indoors and outdoors.

Have kids guess how many “somethings” are in a container. You can use just about anything, but filling the container with yellow jelly beans would make it look full of honey. The kid who guesses the number closest to the true number in the jar, wins!

Have a bean bag toss. Make a big Winnie the Pooh, and cut out its tummy for the toss.

Read Pooh stories and/or play a short Pooh video.

Have a balloon toss, with the kids keeping balloons in the air as long as possible.

Break a Pooh piñata.

Pooh does love balloons, so buy a bunch of helium balloons, bag them in great big garbage bags, and attach them to the ceiling. You can have a balloon drop, which the kids will love. Each child can take a balloon home as well.

Menu:
Serve honey and peanut butter sandwiches, cut into small Pooh character shapes.

Rabbit always loved carrots. Serve small carrots with a dip.

Enjoy edible rain clouds—basically Rice Krispie treats. If you want them to be “stormy,” dip part of the treat into chocolate.

As little snacks, you can also provide Teddy Graham crackers, Winnie the Pooh gummies, etc.

Cake:
The Wilton company has a great Pooh-shaped mold for baking your Pooh cake.

Amazon.com also has a Pooh cake/cupcake decorating kit

Goody Bags:
Use a brown lunch bag and decorate the outside with Winnie the Pooh stickers or drawings (if you are a good artist!). Fill it with the fake honey, a little honey bear or honey sticks, Pooh stickers, a Pooh coloring book with crayons, small Pooh puzzles, etc. Add yellow tissue paper to the top of the bag to keep in line with the theme.

You could also decorate little honey pots, and put the goodies in the pots for the kids to take home with them.