Thomas's Skylanders Party

We had a blast planning Thomas's Birthday Party, and we have had alot of ideas that other people may like. 

Our party layout/ideas:

When kids came in, we gave them a "map" of the "skylands" along with a "passport".Try to make it fun for everyone, not just the kids. Around the house and yard, have a variety of non-challenge elemental stations around the house, for parents and kids to play and fidget with while waiting for their turn, or just to 'explore'. Great way to arrange snacks and food around the house!

Sneak Peek: For the Parents! We are making our own SKYSTONES Game for parents to play while the kids run around. Using 1.5" Square wood cutouts, Transparency Paper, and clear glue, we are making several sets of playable skystones!

Skystones Update!!!!

Okay, so the transparency papers was all well in good, but our glue idea was not the best. After awhile it would lift from the wood...probably because we live in Texas, and its humid. So...with little man's birthday only 1 month away. PLAN B! And we love it so much better. 

We still had 200 wooden blocks from: 

ttp://www.craftparts.com/112-316-wooden-square-cut-out-p-1910.html

But then we bought these clear injet pre-cut labels from: http://www.onlinelabels.com/Products/OL6300CK.htm

It worked PERFECT! We got a bit more crazy and got some metallic paint. The slight shimmer appears through the label and makes it looks very clean. For areas that went slightly over the wood piece, a quick straight razor was used for a clean finish!

HATS GALORE!

If you have ever played the game...you know that there are side quests for hats. Well we found a whole bunch of cheap hats, and the kids had a blast trying them all on :)

SKYLANDERS PASSPORT CHALLENGES

Passports will have a square for each element.  When they complete the challenge for that element, they get a sticker or stamp in their passport. Each skylands are had a "power-up" so they could munch and play. It is just so difficult to get kids to sit down and eat at these things. Goal was to make it par for the course.

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ELEMENT: Tech

POWER UP: Drill Srgnt's Golden Gear Pineapples

ELEMENTAL CHALLENGES:

*SPROCKET'S SLINKY RACE  

-Get several cheap slinky's, and make an easy stair like structure. Jeff is quite handy and built ours from a pallet.

* TRIGGER HAPPY GOLDEN CAN SHOOT

- Gold painted nerf or ball guns. Gold Painted Cans would have been great...lacked time.

Line up on shelf for a shoot-out western style.

Other Ideas: Maybe a electric set like : http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-MX-902-Action-Kit-Lab/dp/B000IXPYRI or magnetic gears or something :)

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ELEMENT: Water

POWER UP: Slam Bam's Ice Pops / Zap's Fish Sticks?

PLAY-AROUND: Water Tornado's

ELEMENTAL CHALLENGES:

*GILL GRUNT BUBBLES

Get a few bubble blowers, rope of an arena, battle! We got all the kids cover shirts so we would get their clothes too messy.

*SLAM BAM'S PENGUIN RUN

We were originally going to get Water Globe kits for all the kids...but we were short shipped. So we grabbed Thomas's Penguin Run Game and made it an event :)

Other Ideas: Water Globe Kits or something using artificial snow?

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ELEMENT: Undead

POWER UP: Hex's Brew?

Bone Pretzels/Marshmallows (http://spoonful.com/recipes/new-funny-bones)

EyeBall Lollipops

PLAY-AROUND: Spider Jump Ups from Oriental Trading

ELEMENTAL CHALLENGES:

*CHOP CHOP'S MAZE 

-Make an indoor or outdoor maze! Maybe make it a spider hunt, by placing colorful fake spiders all around.

* EYEBRAWL'S BULL'S EYE

- Lots of Halloween Stores have sticky eyeballs. Place a target, Have fun slinging eyeballs.

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ELEMENT: Magic

POWER UP: Wrecking Ball Watermelon

PLAY-AROUND: Double Troubles Magic Runes.

Setup white wrapping paper on the wall and had several Crayola Tri-Color Markers ready.

ELEMENTAL CHALLENGES:

* SPYRO'S SNAPSHOTS

-Backdrop + Camera

* POP FIZZ POTION LAB

- Mentos and Diet Coke! Along with other flasks to change water colors, or fizzes

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ELEMENT: Life

POWER UP: Stump Smash Branches? Veggies!

ELEMENTAL CHALLENGES:

* SHROOM-BOOM SLINGSHOT

Cheap dollar store sling shot. Used bean bag targets. Marshmallows for Ammo!

* TREE-REX GARDEN 

- Plant a small tree or flower. Gather seeds, soil, and container. We plan on using clear 12oz cups with lids. Turning them upside down after gluing the lid on. Cutting a hole in the bottom of the cup, as a place to drop in the soil, etc...making a mini-terrarium. Maybe adding a dash of Crayola sand for color! (PS - this is another great take home gift!)

Check the sign. Easy was Flowers, Normal was cucumbers and strawberries that hadn't sprouted yet, Expert was seeds 

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ELEMENT: Earth

POWER UP: Prism Break Pretzels? Terrafin's Dirt Cups? (using gummy sharks instead of worms!) Rock Candy?

PLAY-AROUND: Kaleidoscopes!!!

ELEMENTAL CHALLENGES:

*PRISM BREAK'S GEM DIG

- Little bit of regular sand, little Crayola sand, and alot of gems, gold coins, and good messy fun.

*BASH'S ROCK DROP

- Jeff built a toddler sized plinko board!!

Other Ideas : 

DINO-RANG FRISBEE - Done with $1 Store Frisbees or boomerangs.Maybe make a range, or just have a good time throwing them around!

CRUSHER'S HAMMER BELL  -This will be tough for us to do, but may be a good idea for someone else. Think Stong-Man! The hammer and bell game! http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2280604

FLASHWING DIAMOND DISCOVERY -Break open geodes?

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ELEMENT: Fire

POWER UP: Hot Head's Pizza Bagels? Hot Dog's Mini Corn-Dogs?

PLAY-AROUND: Litte FireCracker Poppers

ELEMENTAL CHALLENGES: 

* ERUPTOR'S FIRE LOBS?

-Red Painted Confetti Eggs...Yes...I let 15 kids egg my house. 

* IGNITOR'S LAVA-LAMPS?

-Home-made Lava Lamps using Oil, Water, Food Coloring, and Alka Seltzer

Other Ideas: 
FLAMESLINGERS BOW SHOOT -Cheap Bow and arrow sets with fake fire arrows

SPARKLERS -Fun, but potentially dangerous depending on the kids.

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ELEMENT: Air

POWER UP: Whirl Wind's Cotton Candy

PLAY-AROUND: Lightning Rod's Hideout

Thomas has a “castle-fort” in the backyard. We will take an extension cord and plug in several Plasma Balls (Tesla Balls), and Lumen Discs. The Bottom half of the castle is perfect for this! They will have to go into the hide-out to reach Warnados’ Airplane Launcher. 

ELEMENTAL CHALLENGES:

* WHIRLWIND'S FLIGHT PLAN

-Paper Airplane Making Station. We also have an electric launcher!

*JET VAC'S CHOMPIE LAUNCH

-Jeff got creative with plastic pipes, air compressor, and nerf balls painted green. Safety may be an issue for some!

 Other Ideas:

SONIC BOOMS ???? -Something Noisy. Megaphone maybe? Some ideas snagged from other great minds. 

FLYNN'S HOT AIR BALLOONS -Helium Filled Balloon, yarn, mini paper baskets