Oh no, Legos!!
One of the great things about having a Lego party, is the lack of supplies available. You can't just walk into your local party store and buy Lego plates and Lego napkins and order a Lego cake and Lego balloons. There are a few Lego theme specific items out there, but not much. This proved to be a fun crafting challenge for the boys and me.
First of course, were the invites which I covered in a blog below, but what then? Googling Lego parties brought up LOTS of resources and I looked at as many as I could and began formulating ideas. By the end of very long evening of sitting at this desk, I had a plan! Here is what I did.
#1- I wanted to make Lego crayons. Having made molded crayons in the past, I knew this would be a great activity to do with the boys. Originally, I had planned to make my own Lego molds like SFHandyman on Instructables, but found out that my local Lego store had molds. As much fun as it would be to make my own silicone molds, I knew I might run out of time, so I went with pre-made molds instead. I made sets of four crayons each for each goodie bag and kept on plowing away at my other ideas.
#2- I wanted to make Lego candies. Using the same molds, I made lemon, orange, vanilla and gummi sour raspberry Lego blocks and Lego mini figures. The sour gummi recipe was from The Ultimate Candy Book and were a cinch to make. I wish I had made more! The lemon, orange and vanilla candies were made with Boyajian oils. Since I could only make 28 candies at a time, I was able to make a variety in the week prior to the party. I added homemade marshmallows to the candy tray since they look close enough to bricks as well. (On the marshmallow recipe, I double up on the vanilla!)
#3- We needed some Lego themed entertainment at the party. In addition to a bouncer, I wanted to have our Legos out to play with... this is after all a party for 4 and 6 year olds. But, not everyone is in to Legos, so I also made a coloring page. I found this cute doodle made by Ryan at Doodle Masters and changed it into an outline to color. Another free font for coloring and I was set with coloring pages.
We also had a Lego tower building contest... whichever party-goer made the tallest tower, went home with this Lego frame, made with a wood frame from Michael's that I painted and stamped the same as the invites.
#4- We needed decorations! Rolls of crafting paper have so many fun uses! I made two 2 1/2' by 12' long signs saying "Happy Birthday" and one of my kids' names. We hung these with primary colored streamers in the house. Our outdoor speakers piping Dan Zanes and a bubble machine helped add atmosphere to the back yard.
#5- We needed to make goodie bags! Again, the lack of Lego branded items worked in my budget-minded favor here. I bought these bags on sale at Michael's and then customized them with each party guests name. Actually, I shouldn't say "I" because both Em and Ro helped with this as well. We cut card stock into 1 inch strips, added the foam letters, and then affixed each name with Zots 3D dots. A few more treats and a thank you tag for each bag and we were set to go.
I think that is about it on how-to and steps and resources. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Everything I made was for personal use only and never sold... I just need to make that clear for the Lego legal side of things. :-)
Happy Lego Parties Everyone!
