Raggedy Ann Birthday Party

This is a fun party for a young girl or the young at heart. First you will need a few Raggedy Anns to decorate with. Check your local thrift stores. To make your own invites for this party, find some red and white checkered paper. This can be found at any craft store in the scrapbooking department.

Envelopes can be found at Wal-Mart. Cut paper just a little bit smaller than the envelope. Hand write your specifics inside. Decorate the outside with a big red heart on which you will write "I love you". Tell your guest that they can bring their favorite Raggedy Ann or Dolly or Bear.

Decorate your tables with red and white checkered tablecloths. Table ware should be bright blue. You can make fun centerpieces by filling a basket with Easter grass and one Raggedy Ann. Attach one red helium balloon to each basket with four ribbons so that it looks like Raggedy Ann is sitting in a hot air balloon. You probably will need two of these for the gift table and one or two for the main table, depending on how many guests you plan on having. Party favors can be small heart shaped boxes filled with M and M's or other candy.

Food for your party can be as simple as punch and cake, but if you want to get fancy for your party, you could also make this a tea party. Make small tea sandwiches by making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cutting them into heart shapes with a cookie cutter. You could also make these with cream cheese on a nut bread or fruit bread. You can buy heart shaped ice cube trays at a party store or you can take a heart shaped cake pan and fill with punch and freeze. Heart shaped cookies can be made by using pre-made cookie dough cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

To make a Raggedy Ann Cake, you will need a Raggedy Ann cake pan from Wilton. Follow directions on the cake pan to bake and decorate. Another option is to buy a pre-made plain cake and decorate with a small Raggedy Ann set on top of the cake and held in place with tooth picks or bamboo skewers. These can be hidden under the clothes of the doll. Another option would be to get some pre-decorated cupcakes (covered with sprinkles) and add a foam heart written with the "I love you" like the heart on Raggedy Ann's chest.

Bookmark Craft For The Party

This activity should take at least 15-20 minutes.

You will need:

• red and blue strips of construction paper
• Raggedy Ann stickers these can be made by using a label program on your computer. Just add a Raggedy Ann graphic to the label and print.
• markers: metallic are great

Pass out one strip of paper to each child. Spread out stickers and markers on the table and let them create their own bookmarks.

Raggedy Ann Games

Draw a Raggedy Ann on a piece of poster board. Have the children play "Pin the Heart on Raggedy". You will need one heart for each child. You can either make your own hearts out of construction paper or use some of the foam hearts.

Play music chairs and play the song "Teddy Bears' Picnic".

Balloon Relay Race: you will need two plastic children's chairs and one balloon for each child. Line up children in two lines, a few feet from the chairs. Hand each child a balloon. The object of the game is for the children to run down to the chairs, put the balloon on the chair and then bounce on it until it pops. First team done is the winner.

By Debra from Colorado Springs, CO