Things You'll Need:
- brown craft paper (purchase a large roll at home improvement stores like lowes)
- green paint
- red paint
- black paint
- Yellow poster board
- wooden dowel
- styrofoam ball
- black paint
- yellow paint
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Step 1
Decorate the party room to look like the land Where the Wild Things Are. You can make trees by crumpling up large wads of the brown craft paper, in long wad-shapes. Don't wad it up too lightly. This will be the trunks of the trees. Make them approximately 3/4 the height of the wall. You can affix these to the wall by using strong double-sided tape.
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Step 2
To create leaves for the trees, first paint long pieces of craft paper green. Once the paint dries, cut it into strips, then cut notches and fringe out of the strips. This doesn't have to be perfect or accurate... you simplply want to give the leaves some dimension, so it doesn't look like just strips of paper. Once you have dozens of these strips, gather one end of them all together. Affix the one end, like a pony tail. Attach this attached end to the wall, above a trunk, with the end facing down. Arrange the strips of leaves so that they cascade down. Repeat for each tree trunk.
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Step 3
Use craft paper to sketch a small life-size boat (child size). Paint this red, and outline/accent it with black paint. Paint the name MAX on the side of the boat. Attach this boat to the wall.
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Step 4
If you're artistic, sketch images of the Wild Things and attach these to the wall. If you're not artistic, print images out with your computer, as large as possible.
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Step 5
Make a crown for each child out of yellow poster board. Use your child's head as a measurement (unless your child has an unusually large or small head). (Yes, there's only one King of the Wild Things in the book, but at your party, all children can be Kings [or queens].)
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Step 6
Create a scepter for the birthday child by painting the dowel black and the Styrofoam ball yellow. Push the dowel into the ball. Remove the dowel, pour some craft glue into the ball's hole, and replace the dowel.
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Step 7
If you are going to have a bakery make the cake, save an image of where the Where the Wild Things Are onto a CD ROM, and have them make an edible print out to put on the cake. If you will be making your own cake, consider making the cake in the shape of a crown. If you prefer to just make a sheet cake, write something like "Happy Birthday to Our Little Wild Thing."
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Step 8
Play active games. Have a dance off and give a prize to the most creative dancer. Have the children howl like wolves, and give a prize to the best howler.
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Step 9
Serve fun, wild food, like "wild strawberries," and "wild Cherry" flavored soda. Write the words "Wild Thing" on each of the drinking cups.
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Step 10
Play movie-inspired games, such as a "dirt clod" fight, using styrofoam balls or wadded up pieces of paper.
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Step 11
Play music from the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack while the children eat and play.
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Step 12
Dress your child as "Max," by making him or her a "Where the Wild Things Are" Max costume. Take photos of each of the party attendees posing with your little Max, and give the photos to each of the kids as a parting gift.
