Crazy Hat Party for Kids

A creative summer celebration, the crazy hat party, is fun and easy to host. The guests compete for the snazziest, weirdest, silliest, goofiest hat. Kids of all ages like this party. (Teens are creative and hilarious. They like this party as much as little ones!) It's easy because the guests are the decorations and the games are all about hats.

Invitations

The invitations for this party are crucial to its success. Like a costume party, the guests need time to plan their headgear, so send the invitations early. The invitations may need to be handmade or computer generated and should carefully present the party theme. The invitations should explain that the host is asking each guest to come wearing a hat – a funny hat, not a normal one. You might decorate the invitation border with some funny looking hats to get the idea across. Also add the fact that there will be prizes for the best productions.

Decorations

The party table decorations can be much like the Mad Hatter’s tea table in the Adventure of Alice in Wonderland. Use a tablecloth and large funny cups and plates. Visit a dollar store for bright primary color soup mugs or funny summer patio glasses for the table. Choose bright colors for balloons, plates and table napkins. Hang the balloons over the table with strands of colored curly ribbons hanging down from the balloons. Set oversized or tiny tea pots around the table. Look for a large tea pot for a centerpiece. Fill it with a bouquet of bright colored Zinnias or yellow daisies.

Refreshments

The food will be simple – ice cream or bright colored sherbets, cake and punch. A large lollipop at each place will add fun.

For the cake, choose a Mad Hatter topper, or you can decorate a crooked tower cake made with four round layers stacked just a little off. Use bright colors for the frosting or an Alice in Wonderland decoration on the top.

Another Idea is to decorate the cake like a big hat. Bake the batter in a 10 inch round pan and a 6 inch round metal or glass bowl. The bowl shape will be set atop the round layer to make the hat shape. Frost with white or caramel frosting. Add a band of piping in a bright color and then a frosting flower on the side.

Photo Shoots

As the guests arrive be sure to get a good photo of each wearing his crazy hat creation. The guests may leave their hats on their table chair seats while you play games. Allow each child to show off his hat and to explain it if necessary. Where did he get his idea? How did he make his hat? Where did he buy his hat? Why did he choose the hat he chose?

Party Game Ideas

1. Baghead Relay race:Provide two brown paper grocery bags folded into large hats.(You could substitute a couple of large hats—sombreros or cowboy hats. Have the children line up in two even lines. They must put on the bag hat, run to the finish line, (marked with chalk on the grass) and then run back to hand the hat off to the next runner. First team to finish running wins.
2. Pin the Bonnet on the Donkey: Use a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game poster or draw a donkey’s head on a poster board. Cut bonnets, or ball caps, or Abe Lincoln top hats out of construction paper. The children take turns attempting while blindfolded to get the hat on the donkey’s head.
3. Fruit Basket Upset:The children sit in chairs in a circle. Give each the name of a common fruit (grape, banana, apple, peach, strawberry). “It” stands in the center and calls out the names of three fruits. Kids with those fruit names jump up and run to a just vacated seat. “It” tries to get seated in one of the chairs also, which leaves one child standing. He calls out three fruits and tries to get a chair. Or he can yell “fruit basket upset!” and everyone must change seats.

Crazy Hat Ideas

1. Water can hat: Start with a plain straw hat. Add construction paper cut in short strips like grass and glued to the brim edge. Stick a plastic or silk flower out of the top of the hat center. Pull the stem down through the hat so the flower is nestled on top. Now put a small plastic watering can on a wire and attach it so it seems to be pouring water on the flower.
2. Butterfly hat:Cut butterflies from colored construction paper. Glue these to the top of a bike helmet or plastic toy fireman’s helmet or a child’s inexpensive cowboy hat.
3. Bird and nest hat:Find a floppy straw hat and create a scene on top . Wrap dry grass or raffia around the top so it looks like a bird nest. Color an egg shell a bright blue or speckle it with markers. Glue it to the nest. Make a paper mache or fold an origami bird and attach it near the nest.

Prizes

Award prizes for the grand champion hat, most amazing hat, silliest hat, most froufrou hat, largest hat, smallest hat, goofiest hat, most elaborate, most phenomenal, most artsy, best crafted, etc. Try to think of a category for every hat so that all the children get a prize. The prizes could be pinwheels, bandannas, candy bars, party favors, or any small toys.

Enjoy a crazy hat party, which can be used for birthdays, summer play days, classrooms, or other celebrations year round.

Crazy Hat Girl

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