"Teddy Bear Party"

Today, September 9, is National Teddy Bear Day.  Since Teddy Bears are a big part of my children's life, I dreamed up a Teddy Bear party and invited some friends over to help us celebrate.

When everyone had arrived, all the children old enough for a craft decorated a plain gift bag with a bear face and their names.  I had the younger children's done in advance.

Using the bags to collect the treasures, we went on a Treasure Hunt where I had hidden simple treasures at each hiding place.  

Following the treasure hunt, they took a break and ate the Teddy Grahams they received as one of the Treasure Hunt surprises.  The break was just long enough for me to get my Teddy Bear face ready for them to play "Pin the Face on the Teddy Bear".  You know how those kinds of things look in the end, right?  So we played a variation of it the second time  around where every child got to help be Teddy's Doctor and put the facial features where they belonged.  (And, yes, I know this is no masterpiece of a bear face, but I needed 14 pieces so each child could have two turns and I was running out of options.  Thus the eye brows.  Children generally have a healthy imagination, so they were perfectly happy with this sorry bear.  To them, he probably looked exactly like something they saw in a zoo when they were little or something.)  

We played Hide the Teddy Bear next and each child got a chance to hide their own teddy bear for everyone to find.  While they all had their bears with them, we tried to take World's Nicest Group Photo with ten preschoolers and ten bears.  Yeah, the one in tears is mine.  

The only time things felt a bit chaotic was when lunch was on its way.  That's when our "Day Care" had petty squabbles and enough noise to deafen a jack hammer.  But lunch set things right:

Chicken Nuggets (Bears eat chickens, right??)
Over-sized, Bear-shaped dinner rolls with Honey Butter
Carrots with Ranch
Apples with a yogurt dip

Jello cut into Bear Paw and Puppy shapes

I think they all liked the party-- including the little guy who said,  "It wasn't as fun as I thought it was going to be.  I thought it was just going to be children with no parents!" 

Right. Me and ten preschoolers, ages 2 and up. I don't think so. However, if you want to do a Teddy Bear Party for the children in your life and want to really make it fun, keep that suggestion in mind.  

the Bears and Bags Table

P.S.  By the way, September 11 is National Make Your Own Bed Day.  Wouldn't it be fun to reward the children in your home who do that without being told?