A Shrek-tacular party

Connor had his first birthday party with friends on Saturday. We did a Shrek theme, after one of his favorite movies. Lots of green fun! I couldn't find Shrek party themes in the stores, nor did I want to buy a bunch of stuff and have it shipped, so we went with more of a green swamp theme.

I had made very basic, but get-the-job-done Shrek invites.
And made this sign for the front door:
And of course we hung green streamers everywhere:
We played "Save the Swamp," where the kids were divided into two teams. Each team had a bucket of "swamp water," which was water mixed with grass and plastic frogs, snakes and lizards. They had to use a plastic container, and move the water from the filled bucket to an empty one across the yard. First team to fill the empty bucket with swamp water won. This was very fun and nicely used up some of their energy!
And we made "swamp slime" (white glue, water, food coloring and borax), and each child got to take home a baggie of slime (sorry moms!):

We served hot dogs, chips and watermelon, and I made Shrek cupcakes with cupcake rings.
And we had "swamp juice" to drink (7-Up with lime sherbet)
Gift-opening excitement!
And each child left with - what else? - a green goody bag.All in all it was a fun, simple, low-cost, low-stress party. And Connor had a great time, which is what matters most!