Before I get completely distracted by shiny objects (like new online crochet mags?) let’s get some more birthday party posting up.
So let’s say your kid has fixated on a birthday party featuring Perry the Platypus. Aside from plastering pictures of the secret agent around your party, what can you do?
We had three Perry the Platypus/Agent P-themed games and activities at our party. First:
the $2 piñata. What you see before you is Doofenshmirtz’s FUN-AWAY-INATOR, programmed to steal toys and candy from the Tri-State Area, so no one can have any fun. I made it from a paper bag and some crepe paper, following the tutorial on Infarrantly Creative. Of course, I decided not to ruffle the crepe paper (I decided that ruffles and “-inators” did not mesh well) but it still looked gorgeous. We cut two robotic arms out of shoebox cardboard and taped them to the bag, then wrapped them carefully with crepe paper as well. As you can see, it looks awesome.
The tutorial did not give any suggestions for the bottom that I saw, but I just stuck some more crepe paper on it. No problem.
The one thing that took me by surprise was how much glue this needed. I mean, if I had thought about it I would have realized that basically making a line of glue around and around a paper bag an inch apart all the way up would use a lot of glue, but I didn’t. Just make sure you have plenty of extra glue sticks when you sit down to make it.
Also, this is REALLY sturdy. I was worried that the kids wouldn’t each get a turn to hit it, but I shouldn’t have been concerned. Five kids each took three turns of three hits each (with a cheap plastic bat, admittedly) and my husband still decided to “help” a little to speed it up.
Okay. We also played Doofenshmirtz and the Secret Agents. Each kid at our party got a ‘Secret Agent Hat’ so they could be secret agents. For the game, we got out one of Greg’s long-sleeved white dress shirts to be the ‘lab coat.’ One child was Doofenshmirtz, and the rest were secret agents who danced around while Greg played the Agent P theme song over the stereo.
When he stopped the music, ‘Doofenshmirtz’ would whip around and try and catch the secret agents with their hats on. (The secret agents, of course, tried to get their hats off fast enough that he wouldn’t know they were agents, and think they were just animals.) Then we went again. The last agent standing got to take a turn as Doofenshmirtz. This game was a fantastic hit.
Then of course, we played “Put the Hat on Perry.”
It’s basically just pin the tail on the donkey, but with hats and a platypus. Also, no pins. We used tape. The kids (4-7) were just the right age for this game – old enough to do it blindfolded, but young enough that the results were comical. Everyone laughed and had fun.
So there you go! Help Perry find his hat, hide from Doofenshmirtz, then destroy the Fun-away-inator and restore fun to the Tri-State area. It was fun!
