Party Tips

Planning Your Party

Party games

It’s always a good idea to let the children burn off some energy with some party games.Try a teddy bear treasure hunt (organise a trail with coloured twists of crepe paper hidden in the garden or hall in which the party is being held). Position a teddy bear at the end of the trail with a present or a message relating to the next party game.

TOPICAL PARTY TIPS

PARTY TIPS
Plan ahead because attention to detail will make a difference. Picture the overall style of how you imagine your perfect party. Allow plenty of time to prepare for your party and make a list as well as enlisting family and friends to help out. Get the big things in place before worrying with the smaller details, as these will change as you count down to your party. Children remember what they did at a party, much more than what they ate, what the plates and napkins looked like or whether the house was spotless.
Good party times ar 1-3pm or 2-4pm to fit in with a finger food tea party. For little ones try 10-11.30am is a good time as you can fit it around their nap.
Create a fun party atmosphere with colourful decorations, balloons and music. Creative lighting can really enhance the party atmosphere. You can replace some bulbs with coloured lamps.
A theme is always a good idea, whether its a fairy, princess, pirate or cowboy theme, it will help organise your own thoughts. It could even be themed around your childs favourite colour you can then plan all of your party supply purchases, party games and decorations around that theme.
If you are re-creating the teddy bear picnic event, why not decorate the rooms with tree branches and foliage, so that it looks just like a scene from those teddy bear woods. You could put coloured lights in the branches and add some stuffed teddy bears to create that partry magic.

BIRTHDAY PARTY INVITATIONS

For children under 8 years old, the suggestion is invite as many children as the child's age plus one. Some parents choose to add 1 or 2 to this equation. Only you can know your limits. This will change as the children get older..

Obviously this is just a guideline. Before you begin to plan your party think about your limits, if you feel overwhelmed by a just a few children in your home, you will want to keep your party on the small side. It will actually be more fun, because you'll feel more relaxed.

Parties for very young children, more often than not will include family members; cousins, siblings etc. As your child gets older, invite only your child's closest playmates.
They already know each other well which makes the party so much more fun!
Dont forget at Be My Bear all the party invites include invitations, and these can be ordered in advance of the party as well in case you need to know numbers before you place your order.
PARTY BAGS
There is so much pressure on parents these days to provide goody bags but the beauty of the Be My Bear party kit is that there is no need for them! All the children go home with a gorgeous teddy bear or animal friend they have made themselves the best goody bag of all!
PARTY GAMES
Even though the bear-making aspect of the party is the main focus of the day, it is always fun to include some traditional bear-related games or activities in the party schedule.
Traditional children's party games are generally loved by kids of all ages. However, remember to keep in mind that kids party games usually need some supervision so you might want to think about asking for a little help.
And dont forget the prizes! Chosen with the children's ages in mind these of course need only be inexpensive little gifts - perhaps a small toy, finger puppet, sweets, colouring book or hair bobbles - and although if there are a lot of children at the party it might not always be possible its a good idea to try and make sure that each child wins a little something.
Nevertheless whether you choose to play pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, hot potato or treasure hunt, party games are always great fun to play and sure to make your kids party a happy and memorable one.
TREASURE HUNT
Treasure hunts are great fun, the children could always find the bears they are going to make which also avoids any arguments! Alternatively gifts such as wrapped sweets or chocolate coins - hidden around the party room or garden, or played with easy picture clues.
For older kids you could divide them into small teams and then give each team a set of clues or riddles to solve so that the teams knows which set of clues to follow.
PIN THE NOSE ON THE TEDDY
For this alternative to the Pin the Tail on the Donkey kids' party game you will need a large picture of a teddy without a nose - though dont worry about the missing nose if youre using a poster - and a nose made of cardboard, paper or felt.
To play, blindfold each child in turn, turn them around a couple of times, point them in the right direction, then tell them to pin the nose on the teddy - write their name at their chosen spot. After all the kids have had a turn the one whose name is nearest to where the nose is supposed to be wins the game, and a small party prize.
DUCK DUCK GOOSE
Duck Duck Goose is a popular party game for young kids.
To play, first sit the kids down facing each other in a circle. Then choose one child - this is usually the party boy or girl - to be it. He or she then has to walk around the outside of the circle tapping each of the other kids in turn lightly on the head and naming them a duck. This goes on for a few moments until the child taps one of the children and says goose instead of duck.
At this point the 'goose' stands up and chases the birthday child once around the circle trying to tag him or her before they sit down in their (gooses) place.
If the birthday child is tagged then they are 'it' again. If not then the 'goose' becomes the next 'it' and starts the game again.
This game can be played until the kids get fidgety or they've all had a turn at being 'it'. Don't forget you can change the name of the game from duck duck goose to any other animals such as teddies or those animals which the children have made at the party.
MUSICAL CHAIRS
To play this popular kids game first a row of alternate facing chairs - one for each child is set up. The kids then sit on the chairs and music started. When the music begins the kids all stand up and walk in a line around the row of chairs, meantime one chair is taken away.
When the music stops each child has to sit down on a free chair and the one without a chair is 'out'. This continues until there are 2 kids left in the game but only one chair. The one who manages to sit on the last chair when the music stops is declared the winner and receives a small party prize.
PASS THE PARCEL
Securing each layer with tape, wrap a small gift in lots of layers of paper. To play the game have the kids sit in a circle; play a music CD - for little ones nursery rhymes or popular children's songs are a good choice then every now and again stop the music; the child thats holding the parcel when the music stops then has till the music starts again to unwrap as many layers as he or she can before they have to pass the parcel on again.
The one who unwraps the last layer and reveals the hidden gift wins the game and the gift.

Party Food

Birthday cakes for teddy bears

You may also like to add an extra special ingredient to your party – decorated cupcakes to celebrate the birth of the new teddy bears.
Buy some plain cupcakes and a variety of cake decorations such as hundreds and thousands, jelly tots etc, ready-to-roll icing, candles and candle holders.
Each child can then create their special cake and after the birthday girl/boy has blown out the candles on her cake, every child can do the same with the specially decorated cake for his/her teddy bear.

Teddy bear's' picnic

Serve up a teddy bear's picnic to complete the experience. If you're feeling adventurous you can recreate the woods using branches and leaves at home or at your hired venue. Sit the children (and their teddy bears!) round a checked tablecloth at the table or on the floor. You can use teddy bear cutters for the sandwiches or sponge cakes. And don't forget a teddy bear cake for the birthday girl or birthday boy!

Party Activities

Hunt the teddy

Here are a couple of extra party ideas from one of our customers. There are 10 teddy pictures hidden around the party room, each teddy picture (or real teddy if you prefer, but might be harder to arrange) has something
different on it, either a hat, bowtie, glasses. Each child has a sheet with 10 pictures of the teddy on it. The child needs to find each of the pictures
and draw the item that is on the picture on one of the teddy pictures. When the child has found all the teddy pictures they win a prize.
We are doing this game to see who gets to choose which teddy to make first.
As they finish the hunt they make a line and one at a time are allowed to choose a teddy skinas I have ordered different ones.

2. Make a bear (this is along the lines of the beetle game)

You have to cut up a picture of a teddy enough for all the children to each be able to put it back together again. You roll a dice and each part of the teddy is assigned a number.
6 = body
5 = head
4 = ears
3 = arms
2 = legs
1 = face

Obviously for the arms, legs and ears they will have to roll that number on the dice twice to get all the parts or you could make it easier by allowing them both arms, legs or ears.

The first one to complete the teddy is the winner. For older children you could make this game into a take home craft by having holes in the arms, legs, head, ears and body and using split pins attach the parts and then the teddy is moveable and complete.

Teddy Bear says

On the command (from the list below) the children have to do the appropriate action. After a while, start removing the last player to comply, until one remains.
Honey (Run to one side of the area)
Winnie the Pooh (run to the other side)
Paddington Bear (Stand to attention and Salute)
Marmalade (Lie on the floor)
Rupert Bear (run on the spot)
Grizzly (Sit cross legged on the floor -ready for lunch)
Baloo the Bear (Climb a tree, stand on a chair - anything so that you are not on the floor)

Teddy Bear Treasure Hunt

Start the party with a teddy bear treasure hunt - children can search for the teddy bears they will be making; older children may prefer cryptic clues with markers en route.

Miscellaneous Tips

Remember to......

Make sure you have plenty of pencils and felt tips available for the birth certificate. It is always a good idea to fill the details in in pencil first to avoid mistakes – the children can then go over it with felt pens. Try to ensure that they choose an individual name for their teddy bear, rather than copying each other. They can then call out the names of their teddy bears.