Moshi Monster 6th birthday party

Has it really been a month since I last posted anything? The silence was due to me working hard for Sophie's 6th birthday and party, but now that it's all over I can get back to normality (?) and give the low down on the fruits of my labour...

Sophie decided some time ago that she wanted a Moshi Monster party and no amount of persuading could get her to change her mind! So after trawling the net and being singularly unsuccessful in finding any ideas to "borrow" I had to create a party from scratch.

I was lucky that Moshi Monster party plates/cups/napkins recently became available and our local Sainsbury's stocked them at a better price than most of the online party companies. But I begrudge paying for invitations, especially when you only get eight in a pack and Sophie wanted to invite 20+ kids. So, as in previous years, I created my own. They seemed to be a big hit with the invitees!

So, the party went something like this (and thanks to our in-house party entertainer Jase who did a fantastic job as always in running the games and entertaining the kids - saves us a fortune not having a "professional" entertainer!) ...

Hanging dougnut game
As the party was straight after school on a Friday I knew I had to get food into the children as soon as possible, so we started with a really old game that has the children trying to eat a ring doughnut hanging on a string, without using their hands. This was the first time the children had done this and they really enjoyed it. I think most of them embraced the challenge and I didn't see any cheating!!

Find the Moshling game

I found some good quality images of moshlings which I put onto a check list for each child. I included the moshling names, as not all the children know as much about moshlings as Sophie does. They then had to find the small pictures of moshlings hidden around the room. Some were obvious, others downright tricky but they all seemed to find them in the end.

Once the game was finished, I collected the check lists and then handed them back out at the end of the party for them to put in their party bags and keep.

Pass the Parcel

I still haven't been brave enough to not put a prize in every layer and this meant that the game went on for what seemed like an eternity. If (and that's a big IF) Sophie has a party again next year, I swear that I will only do a small number of layers and put forfeits in some of the layers (after all they should all be able to read easily by the age of 7).

Oddie, Hansel and Cutie Pie (also known as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred)
We didn't get a chance to play this game, which was a shame as I wanted to see how well the children managed to understand the game but I thought I would include it here in case anyone else wants to borrow the idea.

The children forms teams of three and each member of the team calls themselves either Oddie, Hansel or Cutie Pie. The teams form a large circle with a bean bag in the middle. One name is called and that person has to run around the outside of the circle back to their team who join hands and make an arch. The running team member runs under the arch and tries to get the bean bag before anyone else. That team wins a point. First team to 3 points wins.

In addition to the organised games, I set up a couple of tables with some Moshi Monster colouring sheets and colouring pencils and a selection of temporary tattoos so that the kids had something to do when they had finished their doughnut challenge and Find the Moshling hunt.

The party bags were very simple this year and included:

- a pack of Moshi Monster Mash up trading cards (bought from The One Stop Moshi Monsters Shop with a fantastic 10% discount courtesy of Mummy Bird)

- a postcard from a booklet of Moshi Monster postcards

- and a selection of traditional sweets: black jacks, fruit salad, sherbet and mini love hearts.

The party seemed to go well and all the children seemed to have fun (apart from the birthday girl having a few meltdowns - but hey, who doesn't cry at their own party!) and they did really enjoy the Find the Moshling game and the doughnut game. I don't think I would do another party after school on a Friday ... I do think at this age that they were all tired and that it did impact on the children's behaviour/attention spans.

Next, the cake ...

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.