.png)
Party with Snoopy and the Peanuts gang! Host an event in August to celebrate Snoopy's birthday, in October alongside a showing of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, in November to celebrate Peanuts creator Charles Schultz's birthday, or any time! The target audience for the activities found below are ages 3 through 8, but they'll be enjoyed by the whole family.
Promotional Blurb
"Join us for a story, crafts, snacks, and cartoons as we celebrate Snoopy creator Charles Schultz's birthday! For ages 3 through 8."
Activities
Read aloud
Snoopy and Friends (The Peanuts Movie) by Golden Books works well to introduce the whole Peanuts gang, however, the illustrations are a bit small. Displaying an image of each character on a screen is helpful.
Dance Party
Get attendees moving by teaching a few of the characters' iconic dance moves. For even more fun, assign one of four Peanuts characters to each attendee at the beginning of the event (Lucy, Linus, Woodstock, and Snoopy) and provide them with a cardstock 1/4 sheet picture of their character to wear around their neck (punch a hole in the top & add a string to loop around attendees' necks). Assign a dance move to each of the four characters and encourage attendees to stand up and do their moves when each character is called. Then turn on the classic Peanuts tune and have a dance party!
For more fun, play this video of the Peanuts gang dancing so attendees can see the characters in action.
The Great Pumpkin Toss
Set out 3-5 buckets, 5 foam pumpkins, and a tape line participants must stand behind. Try to get a pumpkin in each bucket.
I've had success finding buckets and foam or plastic pumpkins at the Dollar Tree.
Photobooth
Print large word bubbles with Peanuts sayings on them (feel free to use these) and tape them to craft sticks for kids to hold up. Make your own Snoopy dog house out of cardboard (as seen here) or purchase one if you can find it! We bought this one from Oriental Trading Company for $24.99, but it's not currently available.
Dance Steps
Print numbered footprints (laminate them if possible) and tape them to the ground. Kids must walk or hop from footprint to footprint to learn a goofy dance and become Peanuts dancing pros. Our steps were created with Publisher and can be found here.
Comic Reading Corner
Set out Snoopy and Peanuts books for attendees to check out and enjoy!
Watch a cartoon
No Snoopy Party would be complete without showing a classic cartoon or a current Camp Snoopy show. Check out Snoopy's YouTube Channel for great options and playlists.
Once attendees have been given 10 -15 minutes to make a party hat or complete a few activities, announce a cartoon showing. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving worked well for us during a November event. Attendees can watch the show or continue enjoying the activity stations.
Crafts
Comic Strips
Offer blank comic strips (such as these ones) along with pencils and colored pencils for attendees to create their own comics.
Snoopy Ears Party Hats
All you need for an adorable Snoopy hat is white strips of construction paper, two black Snoopy ears, glue, a stapler, and markers to decorate it. If you want to get fancy, print off little Woodstocks to glue on the headband, too.
We had the luxury of utilizing teen volunteers to cut Snoopy ears from black construction paper (using these templates) and long white construction paper strips prior to the event, so attendees simply needed to adhere the precut ears to their white paper strip/headband and decorate.
Red Baron Clothespin Planes
Create planes that look like Snoopy's nemesis, the Red Baron! Instructions for these clothespin planes can be found on the blog Passengers on a Little Spaceship. Supplies needed include jumbo craft sticks, clothespins, mini crafts sticks, craft glue, and markers.
Snacks
Cupcakes
In The Peanuts Movie, Charlie Brown is tasked with bringing cupcakes to the dance. Challenge the kids to put their cupcake decorating skills to the test by setting out unfrosted cupcakes, frosting, and sprinkles.
Popcorn
To be enjoyed while watching cartoons! Plus, it's one of the things Snoopy and Charlie Brown know how to make for Thanksgiving dinner.