teddy bear party

theme ideas

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise... so pull out your smallest tea sets, the tiniest sandwiches, the teensiest cupcakes, and, of course, your bestest teddy friend.
Spread out checkered picnic rugs and blankets on the ground and decorate with miniature tea sets, miniature plates, miniature cups and saucers, cushions and loads of teddy friends dressed to their best for a fabulous Teddy Bears’ Picnic party – or even for an afternoon tea with a few little friends.
Picnics are ideally held outside – set up in the backyard, or at your local park but they can be just as successfully be set up inside. Make a ‘bear cave’ with some blankets in the lounge and spread out a picnic rug on the floor. Use lots of checks and stripes for a ‘picnic’ feel.
Serve food on tiny dolls tea sets or in individual lunch boxes wrapped in gingham and tied onto a stick to make a swag.
Have lots of little tea sets available for littlies to fill themselves. Fill with watered down-juice or lukewarm hot chocolate. Be prepared for lots of spills, the fun is worth it.
Make miniature party hats out of coloured paper for the teddies to wear.
Provide a basket of play food for guests to choose from and feed their teddies.
Invitations: Cut out a simple teddy bear shape from cardboard. Use a cookie cutter as a template. Draw on eyes, nose and a mouth. Decorate teddies with fabric, patterened paper, or let your child loose to decorate. Write the invitation details on the back.
If you can, find out the name of each child’s bear and address each envelope to the child and their bear.
Don’t forget to ask guests to bring along their favourite teddy bear – and dressed to their best if they like!
Make this easy no sew bear party bag and pop in some homemade play dough and a teddy bear cookie cutter in a zip lock bag. Click here for details.

games and activities

Award teddy prizes: The baldest bear, the oldest bear, the fluffiest bear, the biggest bear, the smallest bear... Just be sure to award prizes for every teddy.
Teddy trampoline: Put all the teddies in the middle of a large picnic rug, parachute or sheet, get littlies to hold the edges and bounce the teddies up and down, around and around.
Bear hunt: When guests aren’t looking, hide all the teddies and then call out loud, “We’re going on a bear hunt and we’re not scared...” Find all the teddies and bring them back to the picnic rug. Younger children might like to hide and find their own teddy.
Teddy masks: Littlies can colour and collage their own mask to wear from paper plates (pre-cut the eye holes).
Sing teddy: “If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure to get a surprise”, “Round and round the garden goes the teddybear”, "Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around"...Play Isn't it funny how a bears like honey. How to play: Sit the children in a circle and choose one child to be Mr Bear. Sit him in the middle of the circle to guard his honey (an empty pot of honey is perfect). The children chant, “Isn’t it funny how a bear likes honey – buzz, buzz, buzz, I wonder why he does. Go to sleep Mr. Bear.” Mr Bear closes his eyes. Choose a child to sneak up and steal the honey and return to their seat in the circle with the honey pot hidden behind them. Then the children call out, “Wake up Mr Bear.” Mr Bear has to try and guess who has his honey by going up to a child and asking, “Did you steal my honey?” Once he finds the honeypot thief, it’s their turn to be Mr Bear.

food and drink

Birthday cake suggestions: Make a Teddy shaped cake - there are lots of great moulds available (or use a circular tin, with a muffin halved for the ears). Decorate with chocolate icing, chocolate buttons, chocolate drops, pebbles, etc. Fudge is easy to shape for the nose and mouth.
Serve the tiniest muffins, cookies, jam tarts, honey biscuits and pikelets with jam on little dishes.
Bake mini cupcakes or let your littlies help bake and decorate chocolate teddie cupcakes before the party.
Homemade honey ice-cream in tiny tubs.
The smallest ham and cucumber sandwiches. You can use cookie cutters for fun shapes.
Mini pies and quiches.
Make our delicious and easy mini fruit tarts.
Serve pretend tea from a miniature teapot and pour into paper cups decorated with teddy bear faces – don’t forget to add googly eyes!
Boxes raisins.
Bear shaped cheese.
Cheese straws.
Carrot sticks and bear dip.
Make teddy bear shaped biscuits - easy and no-bake teddy biscuits. Simple ice plain round wine biscuits with chocolate icing and decorate.