Teddy Bear Party

Materials: Brown construction paper. Teddy bear cookie cutter or stencil. Felt tipped markers. Scissors.

Trace the cookie cutter or stencil onto the brown construction paper. Draw eyes, a nose, mouth, ears, a bow and buttons with the felt-tipped markers. Write party information on the back of the bear.

Come have a beary time, at our Teddy Bear celebration. Bring your grizzy appetites, with our Bar-B-Que temtations.

Location: Smith's Cave (address). Time: Sundown.

Make bear paw tracks coming up the walkway to the front door and welcome your guests to a "grizzly" good time.

Photocopy a coloring book teddy bear on light brown copy paper and write the party information on it. Ask each guest to bring a favorite teddy bear.

Use nature as an inspiration for your decorations. • Small twigs, colorful leaves and large candles can me matched up to make a great centerpiece for your table. Use bamboo placemats to adorn your table and wrap your utensil in natural vines.

• Snuggle bears in baskets. Place a bear on a child's tricycle. Put bears in trees. Hang up bear posters in the party room.

• Spread out a checkered tablecloth and picnic basket on the ground-or for an indoor party, on the floor.

• Suggest a backwoods environment with container plants or oversized foam-board cutouts of berry bushes and trees (make one with a beehive).

• Turn a big appliance box, a table covered with a floor-length cloth, or a pup tent into a “cave” for kids to crawl into. • Set out plates of teddy bear graham cracker cookies for anytime snacking.

FAMILY OF BEARS

Many people enjoy stories about bears. Just think of Winnie the Pooh, The Berenstein Bears, or Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

After dinner, sit down with your guests and ask who has seen a bear in person and where. Let them talk about their experience. Guests love to reminisce about interesting things they have experienced in their lives. See which guest knows the most facts about bears.

Some bears you may be familiar with are:

Giant Panda, Dwarf Panda, Florida Cave Bear, American Black Bear, Brown Bear, Grizzly Bear, Kodiak Bear, Koala Bear or Polar Bear.

Other bear lingo:

Teddy Bear, Cuddle, Bear tracks, Bear Hugs, Hibernate, Forest, Caves and Honey.

Famous Bears:

Yogi Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear, Corduroy Bear, Berestein Bears,and Smokey the Bear.

GAMES

HIBERNATION: This games is similar to "Red Light, Green Light". Play some of your favorite tunes while your guests "act" like bears. When the music stops they hibernate. If a player moves, they are out of the game. The last bear hibernating is the winner.

BEAR HUNT: Hide a variety of small bears throughout the party room or amoung the trees and bushes. Have your guests go bear hunting. For a variation, you can number the bears and have guests find their numbered bear.

If you want to do something special for entertainment hire a puppeteer and put on a puppet show. Use characters from the story "Goldilocks and The Three Bears" or "Winnie the Pooh."

MENU
• Serve a teddy bears’ picnic on a checkered tablecloth, using brightly colored plastic plates.

• Make mini portions to fit teddy bear-sized mouths.

• Make butterfly sandwiches using a cookie cutter.

• Buy a variety of flavors of Teddy Bear graham cookies.

• Ice Cream Bears: Place a scoop of ice cream in a shallow bowl and add round wafer cookie ears. With red decorator icing in a tube, draw a smile, nose and eyes. Use Chocolate ice cream for brown bears, vanilla ice cream for polar bears and pandas. A squeeze of chocolate sauce behind the eyes creates the panda’s face.

• Appetizers.
• Salads.
• Soups.
• Sandwiches and Spreads.
• Entrees.
• Desserts.

Party Favors • Small teddy bear book. • Story books about teddy bears. • Small antique bears. • Bear paraphernalia. • Storybooks about bears. • Bear stickers, bear note pads, or bear pencils. • Packages of Gummy Bears.