Teddy Bear Birthday Party

by Leslie Lobdell in Arkansas

(After seeing adorable pictures of Leslie's son's birthday party, I asked her if she would write an article to include in Heart to Heart, and here it is!)

A teddy bear party is a great theme for a younger child's birthday, and an easy theme to carry out.  There are so many things you can do with decorations, food, games, and party favors.  We gave our son a teddy bear party for his first birthday and everyone seemed to have a blast.

For decorations I found teddy bears and the number "one" on clip art and printed them out on construction paper.  I cut them out, punched holes in them, and hung the decorations from the living room and dining room ceiling by thread.  The bears and number 1's were also taped on the walls around the house, mainly at eye level for the little kids that would be coming as guests. I also cut out paw prints from brown construction paper and taped them on the driveway and stairs leading into the house.  Stuffed teddy bears, gathered from all around the house, were used as decorations placed on end tables and entryway tables. One stuffed bear sat on the food table with a Burger King crown with a number "one" glued in the center.

Plates, napkins, a balloon, stickers, and a candle were all ordered Online from "Birthday in a Box."  You can find so many party supply stores that offer teddy bear decor.

I made a homemade teddy bear cake. The pan was purchased with a coupon from Michaels for about $8.  I also had a small teddy bear cake pan that was bought for 69 cents at a discount store. The smaller cake was all for the birthday boy to dig into :-)!

For snacks we had gummy bears, Teddy Grahams, and chicken salad and peanut butter and jelly "bear" sandwiches.  I cut the sandwiches into bear shapes with a cookie cutter.  You could also offer an assortment of "bearries"-strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or other treats with honey, since honey is the choice food of bears!

Since most of the guests were under three years of age, we had to be creative with the activities.  I asked each child to bring his/her favorite teddy bear.  An area was set up in the living room to take a picture of each child with his/her teddy bear.  They sat on a brown furry rug with a teddy bear, with number 1's behind them, and stuffed teddy bears on either side.  Extra copies of each child's pictures were given to them as memories of this special time. 


We also had the children sit on our area rug and we read two simple bear books to them, somewhat of a "storytime."  Then we played a game similar to musical chairs.  We had paw prints taped to the floor in a circle. But one paw print had a red piece of construction paper taped to it.  This was the winning paw print.  When the music was played, the children walked (or were held by their mommies!) around the paw prints. When the music stopped, whoever was on the winning paw print, received a prize appropriate to their gender/age.  Some free play at a party is also good for this age group.

Each child received a gift bag on their way out.  Ideas for this would be a small teddy bear, play dough, bubbles, finger puppet, crayons, or teddy bear stickers.  There are many free coloring pages of teddy bears/birthday teddy bears on the Internet that you can give the kids.  The adults could be given a jar of honey and a printout of the history of the teddy bear, which began with Teddy Roosevelt, interesting!

Overall, it was an excellent choice for a birthday party for our one year old son! We were very pleased and impressed with the compliments we received.