March Emoji Mania

Our March parties were Emoji Madness!!  The kids loved this theme and had a great time acting like their favorite characters.  Also, in office. were getting really excited for our Evening of Birthday Cheer event and were finishing all of the planning and details!

In Beverly’s Birthdays’ land, March consisted of staff focusing on preparing for our biggest fundraiser, The Evening of Birthday Cheer (EOBC), which takes place in April. Meanwhile, we really had to rely on our awesome volunteers to keep up with some of our other projects. For example:

♥ Youth from St. John Capistran donated and made over 100 birthday in a bags for us!

♥ 80 Mount Lebanon Girl Scouts completed 150 classroom cheer treat bags and added a homemade birthday card to each of them!

 

♥ A BNY Mellon volunteer group came to the office and helped us sort legos and clothes, and keep our office space organized in the midst of our event chaos.

 

♥ As usual, our cupcake donors went above and beyond!

♥ Our superstar party volunteers did a fantastic job engaging the kids, making sure everyone had a great time and that the birthday kids felt extra special.

 

This tiny sampling of support we received in one month is just a mere glimpse of the consistent support we garner.  It is because of you we have been able to celebrate over 30,000 Pittsburgh kids and continue to spread joy and cheer every day.  Our volunteers are the heart of our organization.  Without your generous support, we would not be able to fulfill our mission.  THANK YOU!!!

Meet the person who coordinated and made all of these volunteer projects happen:

Name: Kate Livingston

Title: Director of Community Engagement

Office Spirit Animal: Dolphin

Miss Kate, who has a long history with our founder Megs, volunteered at the very first Beverly’s Birthdays party!  She supported our organization and stayed involved even from afar, as she earned her Masters in Public Communication from American University.  When she’s not coordinating cupcake drop-offs or speaking about us at social events, she enjoys traveling, watching all things Bravo, and obsessing over Beyonce.

Birthday Party Activities

Emoji Accessories

We had a great time designing our own emoji bracelets and necklaces at our March parties! Check out some of our super cute models above.

Supplies:

• assortment of beads (we used all different kinds including these smiley face beads)
• string
• Ziploc bags

We pre-filled Ziploc bags with an assortment of beads and string.  This allowed us to pass out the activity quickly and keep the beads contained.  The kids could write their names using our alphabet beads, work on identifying their colors with the rainbow beads and increase their grasping and visual motor skills.

Emoji Egg Hunt

Egg hunts are one activity that we use frequently.  It is a fun game for all because you can increase the difficulty of hiding spots depending on the age of the participants.  Also, older kids love to take on the task of hiding the eggs for the younger ones.

Supplies

• Plastic eggs
• Candy or toy fillers
• Sharpie

Prior to our parties,  we had some awesome volunteers stuff  our eggs with candy and draw faces on them.  At the parties, our volunteers hid the eggs.  We then sent the kids off to find them.  One tip we have found helpful is setting a number of how many each kid gets to find.  This great activity provides an opportunity for kids to express their emotions (I am sad because I can’t find a third egg or I am happy because I got chocolate).

Emoji Photo booth

 

 

The kids’ favorite part about the emoji party was acting like their favorite emoji. We danced acted silly and used props to show off.

Supplies:

• emoji photobooth props ( extra activity could be making these out of coloring sheets, play dough or colored paper or foam and popsicle sticks)
• Camera

The kids love to see themselves on camera.  They ask us to take their picture, will dance and make funny faces all without prompting.  When the kids were old enough, we would play charades, trying to get everyone to act out their favorite emoji.

Look out for our next post on our April Pirate parties!  We will also show some pictures and tell you more about our Evening of Birthday Cheer.  Don’t forget #smilesmatter

Birthday cheer,

Beverly’s Birthdays staff