How to plan a Backyardigans birthday party

The Backyardigans are a group of five friends who use their imaginations and transform their backyard into different worlds. If your child likes the Backyardigans, he or she will love a Backyardigans themed party and so will all of his or her backyard friends.

There are a variety of colors that can be used for your decorations and other party supplies: blue for Pablo, pink for Uniqua, yellow for Tasha, orange for Tyrone, and purple for Austin. Purchasing a few specialized Backyardigans items and then complementing them with the solid colors that I mentioned above will save you money.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Invitations
• Decorations
• Food/Cake
• Planned Activities
• Goody Bags

1. Invitations:
   
   You could create customized invitations by finding some photos of the Backyardigans on Nick Jr. and adding a picture of your child. Here are some examples of things you could write on the invites:
   
   Please join us for some backyard fun, Tasha is turning one!
   Adventure is in store for you, Tyrone is turning two!
   They'll be so much for you to see, Pablo is turning three!
   We're celebrating in every way, Austin is having a birthday!
   
   Rather than making the invitations yourself, you could also purchase Backyardigans invitations from different online sites.

2. Decorations:
   
   Since the Backyardigans takes place in their backyard, the ideal place for a Backyardigans party is outside in your backyard. If that is not possible due to weather, how about bringing the outside in. Create paper flowers and trees or buy plastic flowers to put around the room.
   
   Purchase one or two Backyardigans balloons and put them together with some solid color balloons. Buy green tableware that looks like grass. Then create paper houses out of cardstock that resemble each of the five Backyardigans houses. On the show, they don't actually show each house, but from the houses that I've seen, it appears that Tyrone's house is orange, Tasha's house is yellow, Uniqua's house is pink, Austin's house is purple, and Pablo's house is blue. Put those on top of the green table and add the Backyardigans beanie babies next to their house. What a creative table!
   
   Check out Nickjr.com for some other items that can be used as decorations. Enlarge and print out pictures of each of the Backyardigans to hang on the wall. You could even print them out in black & white and let the children color the pictures. Also on Nickjr.com are the words to the Backyardigans theme song, as well as, other songs from the show. These lyrics could be printed and hung on the wall. In addition, if you have some of the Backyardigans books, you could photo copy some of the pages and hang them on the wall. If you do not have any of the books, rent them from your public library.

3. Food/Cake:
   
   Again the Backyardigans takes place in their backyard so you could do a barbecue with hot dogs and hamburgs. Other food choices, based on snacks that the Backyardigans have at the end of the episodes include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, gold fish, and chocolate pudding.
   
   Another idea is to have fruit salad or parfait with pineapple for Tasha, cantaloupe for Tyrone, strawberry yogurt for Uniqua, blueberries for Pablo, and Raspberries for Austin. This would also make a great activity for the guests. Have the fruit already cut into bite sized pieces and ready for the guests to make their own parfait.
   
   Nickjr.com has a recipe on its website for a Pablo cake, as well as, cupcakes that you can make. You could also do a sheet cake or round cake depending on how many guests you're having. Use green frosting on the top to look like grass and purchase the Backyardigans cake toppers.

4. Activities:
   
   A great activity for a Backyardigans theme and children in this age group is pretend play. Have boxes setup filled with different outfits for dressing up. The children will have a great time becoming a pirate, princess, or cowboy, just like their favorite Backyardigan. You could purchase the Backyardigans masks to include in the dress up box, as well.
   
   The Backyardigans also sing quite often, so you could have instruments for the children to use to sing and dance with a Backyardigans CD.
   
   There are a lot of Backyardigans books. If you have any of them, put those out for the children to read or have story time during the party. You could also make copies of pages in the books, and let the children make a collage, birthday hats, or bookmarks.

5. Goody Bags:
   
   You could get solid color bags in the Backyardigans colors and fill them with playdoh and cookie cutters, bubbles and stickers or forget the bags and give each child a coloring book and crayons. Nickjr.com has Backyardigan coloring pages that you could print to create customized coloring books. Use a piece of a cardstock to create the front and back cover and add the coloring pages. Use a hole punch to put holes in the side and tie with ribbon.

6. Other Related Themes:
   
   These are some examples of some of the adventures that the Backyardigans go on. You could use one of these related themes for your party.
   "Surf's Up"
   "The Tea Party"
   "Pirate Party"
   "Polka Palace Party"
   The Backyardigans use their imaginations and transform their backyard into spectacular adventures. The imagination is not only for children. Use your imagination and plan a spectacular Backyardigans birthday party!