Rescue Heroes Birthday Party Ideas

Rescue Heroes birthday party theme is a popular choice for many kids, especially boys.

Challenge your guests to become Rescue Heroes for a day with the following party ideas.

Resources:

Invitations

For Rescue Heroes birthday party invitations, record your child or husband saying a party message in a voice of Billy Blazes (use digital recorder). Then "burn" the audio onto CDs, and mail them to your party guests. Include a written copy of the invitation - just in case. Put some Rescue Heroes theme stickers on envelopes.

The message can be "Calling all Rescue Heroes... We have an emergency, and we need your help! (Your child's name) is turning (age) and we want you to come celebrate with us at his/her Rescue Heroes Birthday Party! Dress up as your favorite Hero if you like!" Then include the rest of the party information.

Secondly, you can download a picture of Billy Blazes. Then take a picture of your son and superimpose his "face" onto Billy Blazes'. As a slight variation, scan a picture of the birthday child and paste it right in the middle of Rescue Heroes group picture (so she/he looks like part of a Rescue Hero team).

Thirdly, you can make a "recruitment" poster inviting the guests to try out for the Rescue Heroes team. Integrate images of characters from the show, and use such phrases as "command center" and "time of mission" to make it sound official.

Lastly, you can design your Rescue Hero party invitations in shapes of fireman hats, police badges, construction tools, etc. Just draw a Rescue Hero logo in the middle, then decorate and color the shapes to the best of your ability!

Decorations

Try to use as many theme colors (red, blue, white and yellow) for your Rescue Heroes party decorations. Print images of characters from the show, enlarge and post them on the fence and trees. If you have time, you can create your own standee by gluing character image on a sturdy piece of cardboard and creating a base so it stands up. Play Rescue Hero party music in the background.

Print copies of Rescue Heroes logo on construction paper, and spread the copies on the driveway to lead children to your front door. Make signs out of poster board that read: "Virtue", "Strength", "Endurance", "Perseverance", "Responsibility" and "Courage." Spread those signs around for a positive message. Make a construction site in your yard using sand and toy trucks.

Convert cardboard boxes into fire trucks and police cars with paint and markers. Use pictures to guide you through, but above all - use your imagination. (Many party stores have plenty of decorative materials that you can use.) Purchase a roll of 'Caution' tape (available at hardware or home improvement stores) and spread it around the house, trees and party tables.

Stack up a bunch of white pillows high to resemble snowy mountains. Place Al Pine at the base of your pillow peaks, bury some plastic figures in the mound and you have just created a rescue scene! Fill an old fish tank with water and a few plastic boats and Gil Gripper is ready for action! Purchase and spread out a bunch of flashing safety lights for a fun light effect.

Draw firefighter and police hats on yellow and blue construction paper respectively. Then cut the shapes out and tape them to the ceiling. Cover your Rescue Heroes birthday party room walls with theme posters. Scatter toy characters and vehicles around the room. Hang red, yellow and blue balloons in bunches. Tape a personalized "Happy Birthday" banner.

Cover your Rescue Heroes birthday party table with a theme tablecloth. Place police light (available from a party store) for a centerpiece. Let the birthday child color Rescue Heroes activity book. Then take the pictures out, laminate and put them at each table setting for placemats. Tie helium balloons to the backs of the chairs.

Guest Arrival and Introductory Activities

*Name Badges & Fire Hats: Before the party, design name badges and write your guests' names on them. (Make sure that you include character names, for example, you can have a guest by the name of Tommy Blazes, Sarah Waters, Johnny Justice, etc.)

As the kids arrive, welcome them to your Rescue Heroes birthday party and provide children with theme name badges and toy fire hats (available at party stores).

*Awesome T-Shirts: This is a great Rescue Heroes birthday party activity for your group. Try it yourself before the party, so you can teach the kids how to do it. You will need white t-shirts, self-adhesive shelf paper, fabric paint, paper plates and small sponges.

Cut shelf paper into 6" or 7" squares - one to three cutouts per guest. Draw or trace fireman (police, Rescue Hero, etc.) badges on the paper pieces. Use sharp scissors to cut badge shapes from the squares, creating stencils.

Favors

For Rescue Hero party favors, give out such items as whistles, mini flashlights, keychains, police badges, firefighter plastic hats, crayons, Rescue Heroes sticker sheets, blowouts and coloring books.

Rescue Heroes Birthday Party Games

*Pin the Badge on the Rescue Hero: For this classic activity, you'll need a poster of a Rescue hero. (Buy or make one yourself.) Draw circular badge shapes on red or yellow construction paper, and draw "R" in the middle. Then, cut out the badges. (Make sure that you have enough for all kids.) Write guests' names and put double-sided tape on the cutouts.

At game time, mount the Rescue Hero poster on the wall. Blindfold the kids one by one, spin them around, and get them to stick their badges on Rescue Hero where they belong.

*Bucket Brigade: For this Rescue Heroes birthday party game, you'll need 4 large buckets, 6 to 8 small plastic buckets and enough water to fill 2 of the large buckets.

Draw a line around the insides of two of the buckets. Position the line in the exact same spot on both buckets, and make sure you mark it high enough to keep the kids busy for awhile. Put the two empty buckets a designated distance away from the other two buckets. Fill the two buckets with water to the top.

Divide the guests into two teams. The teams form a line and pass the smaller buckets back and forth, up and down the line without moving their feet. Make sure that the large buckets the children removing the water from stay full. The first team to fill their bucket passed the line wins!

*Billy Blazes Challenge: Before the Rescue Hero party, blacken all the windows in one of the room to make it very dark. Then hide plastic and stuffed animals around that room. At game time, the kids have to don their fire hats and mouth masks. They have to crawl into the room (discuss fire safety with them before the game) with flashlights, and rescue all the animals. (Know how many animals you have before the game to make sure everyone is rescued.)

*Volcano Eruption!: Amaze your guests with this cool Rescue Heroes birthday party activity. You'll need a plastic bottle, foil (or modeling clay), vinegar and baking soda.

Place a bottle on a large plastic plate. Make a mountain shape out of foil (or clay), and cover the bottle. Put 2 tsp of baking soda inside the bottle. Then, combine 1/3 cup of vinegar with 10 drops of red food coloring and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid in a separate container. Next, pour the vinegar mixture into the bottle to make the volcano erupt!

*Musical Buckets: Here's a twist on musical chairs that's played wearing bathing suits. To set it up, place as many buckets as you have players in a circle on the lawn. Fill one of the buckets with water, while leaving the rest empty.

Play music, and have your Rescue Heroes birthday party guests walk around the buckets as music plays. When the music stops, everyone must sit down in a bucket. The player who sits in the water is out. Remove one of the empty buckets and keep playing until just one player remains.

*Rescue Heroes Training Course: Use everyday objects to turn your backyard into an obstacle course that would even challenge Rescue Heroes!

Have the kids use a garden hose to "extinguish" the flames of a burning building that you have constructed out of poster board. Next, give the children an exercise in Al Pine maneuvers: tell there's been an avalanche in the sandbox and they must dig through the sand to find the hikers - plastic dolls or figurines - lost in the whiteout.

Use your imagination: place "stranded" stuffed animals on the tree branch or at the top of your swing set, and let the kids come to their aid. With this Rescue Heroes birthday party activity, the options are endless - and so is the fun.

*Meteors Game: This game is based on Roger Houston (astronaut) from the show. Blow up several latex balloons and pretend they are meteors. Have the kids prevent the meteors (balloons) from hitting the floor by keeping them in the air with their hands.

*Funny Fashion Show Relay: To start, you'll need two suitcases and two sets of clothing and accessories like those that the Rescue Heroes might wear. For example: two pairs of swim trunks (Sandy Beach), two pairs of goggles or flippers (Gil Gripper), two pairs of boots (Al Pine), etc. To round out your costumes, try a novelty store for plastic badges and hats, or go to your local fire station to see if they have any hats left over from fire safety prevention promotions. Once you have finished your ensembles, pack each one in the suitcases.

At game time, divide your Rescue Heroes birthday party guests into two teams, and give each team a suitcase. On the command "Go," the first players on each team must put on all the clothes and accessories over their own clothes, as quickly as possible. When they're fully dressed, they must as quickly take off the clothes, return them to the suitcase and pass it to the next player in line. This continues until one team finishes dressing and undressing before the other team.

*Roger Houston's Create-a-Constellation: Turn the kids into galaxy gazers with this simple, entertaining activity. You'll need an empty oatmeal carton and a small novelty flashlight for every child, several pairs of safety scissors, as well as a star chart, which you can find on the internet.

Before the party, cut a circle from the bottom of each oatmeal carton, leaving a 1/4-inch rim. Set up a workplace for the children, and have them use poster board to make several circles that are a little larger than the circle cut from the bottom of the carton.

Using a star chart, show the kids how to make simple constellations by poking pinholes into the cut-out poster-board circles (this will require close supervision by adults, of course). The kids can copy constellations from the star chart, or create their own in the shape of animals, monsters or cartoon characters.

Next, have the kids lie down on the floor with their portable planetariums, and give them each a flashlight. Then turn out the lights and tell them to place a circle over the bottom of the carton. Put a flashlight into the other end of the oatmeal box, turn it on and aim at the ceiling. Watch as the room is transformed into the night sky! (Because scissors and straight pins are involved, this activity is not appropriate for younger children, unless they receive help from the adults.)

*Watch the Show: At the end of the party, invite the kids to watch a Rescue Hero episode. It's a great opportunity for them to unwind waiting for their rides.

Rescue Hero Birthday Cake:

*Fire Truck Cake: Here is a great Rescue Heroes birthday party cake recipe (courtesy of Family Fun magazine).

Bake 13- by 9- by 2-inch cake. Next slice the cake in four pieces (A, B, C, and D). Cut B in half horizontally to create E. Pile A onto D for the engine bed, B onto C for the cab, and E onto D for the control panel. Frost the control panel gray or brown, and the rest of the cake - red.

Cake Step 2

Place a red M&M in each of 6 chocolate sandwich cookies. Then press them onto to the truck for wheels. Place a pretzel ladder on top, gumdrop emergency lights, jelly bean horn, Chiclet headlights and jawbreaker controls. Use twist licorice to add a hose and shoestring licorice for the windows.

Rescue Heroes Birthday Party Food Ideas:

*Fire Alarm Chili: Heat 1 tbsp cooking oil in a saucepan and add 1 lb ground meat. Next cook meat until brown. Stir in 1 glove minced garlic, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp chili powder. Cook on low heat for 15 minutes or until tender. Add crushed tomatoes (32-oz can), tomato paste (4-oz can), pinto beans (drained, rinsed from 16-oz can), and corn (16-oz can).

Stir the mixture and bring to boil. Lower the heat and simmer until done. Have grated cheese or other condiments to put on top.

*Smokin' S'mores: Put a spoonful of chocolate chips on half of a graham cracker. Then top with a marshmallow (put on paper plate or towel) and heat in the microwave for about 1 minute. Next cover up with other graham cracker half and serve.

*Billy Blazes Pizza: Buy or make cheese pizzas, and use pepperoni to make Rescue Heroes logo on top.

*Tomato Soup (fits Rescue Heroes theme color)
*Jake Justice' Grilled Sandwiches
*Chips & Salsa (has some heat)
*Police Station Hotdogs
*Ariel's Veggie Tray
*Ice Cream
*Popcorn

Rescue Heroes Birthday Party Drink Ideas:

*Flame Sippers: Combine 1 cup cranberry juice and 3 cups apple juice. Drop several cinnamon sticks into mixture. Bring "fire" juice to boil in a saucepan. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove cinnamon and serve over ice. Have kids drink their juice using "fire hoses" (straws).