Happy Birthday, Sesame Street!

Sesame Street celebrated its 40th birthday this week. Do your kids love the show as much as you did when you were a kid? If so, you may want to have your own Sesame Street birthday celebration. And who better to inspire you than Elmo?

Small children love Elmo, so this is sure to be a wonderful theme for children between 1 and 3 years old. If Elmo is your kid's favorite friend, have a look at the ideas below for birthday party ideas with this sweet, lovable character!

Decorations:

• Use primary colors of red, yellow, and blue: they work very well with the Elmo theme, and they may be more budget-friendly than themed party supplies. Splurge on a few Elmo Mylar balloons to attach to the birthday kid's special chair.

• For a table centerpiece, have Dorothy the Goldfish swimming around in her bowl. You could also have other small fishbowls filled with fish-shaped crackers for the kids to enjoy. Before they start eating the crackers, ask them guess how many are in the bowl. Whoever is closest wins a prize.

Food and beverages:

• Elmo's favorite food is pizza, so this is a perfect (and easy) food for this party. For an activity, serve mini pizzas with sauce and cheese, and let the kids decorate them with fun toppings. Pop them into the oven, and have the kids do some party activities while the pizzas bake.

• For the beverages, make a primary-color frozen drink in a punch bowl. Orange or red flavors will match Elmo, and using club soda instead of water makes a really easy and tasty punch. For extra fun, find Elmo gummies to freeze into ice cubes and add to the punch.

Elmo activities:

• Fill a wading pool with little foam fish bath toys that have magnets attached. Rig up a small fishing pole with a paperclip on the end, and let the kids go fishing for a bath toy.

• Have a "Fill the Fish Bowl" relay race. Divide the kids into two teams. Give each child a small cup of water, have them run to a fish bowl, pour the water in, and run back to their team; each team member does the same.

Additional activity ideas include:

• Coloring or drawing pictures of Elmo

• Making things with red clay

• Playing musical chairs to Sesame Street music

• Blowing bubbles

• Goody bags can be primary colored bags, sand pails, or cups filled with Elmo stuff, including notepads, pencils, stickers, bubbles, coloring books, crayons, Elmo gummies, etc.

Happy Birthday, Sesame Street!

--Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs