“Let the wild rumpus start”
Create your own with the saying:
“Let the Wild Rumpus Start”
“Let’s make mischief of one kind or another”
“Sail with us through night and day and in and out of weeks”
Decorations
Palm trees and vines hanging low (the forest that grows to become the world all around) – use crepe paper or rolled up green fadeless paper. Hang from doorways, fixtures or thread around banisters.
 Life-size cut-outs of the ‘Wild Things’ – I made these by copying a page of the book and drawing a grid over the monster. I then drew a grid on a piece of foam board (making sure the number of squares matched the number of squares over the regular sized picture). Draw the wild things – grid by grid – color them and prop them up around your party area.
Make me a wild thing – follow the directions for the life-size cut outs of ‘Wild Things’ – except color the entire face of one of the cut outs with a neutral color. Cut out a circle big enough for a child to put his face through. This is a wonderful photo opportunity that you can turn into a party favor simply by printing and sending home with each child.
Cake
I simply copied pictures from the book on cardstock. I cut them out and glued them to skewers and glued a banner across them as if they were holding the ‘happy birthday’ sign. Recommendation is to make sure you know the dimensions of your cake and print the ‘happy birthday’ banner to fit accordingly. Check out our photo gallery for pictures.
Favors
Wild Bags – print pictures of all of the wild things characters and cut them out. Place white or brown paper bags, glue, pictures, markers and other decorations around a craft area. Allow children to decorate their own party bags as they arrive at the party. Make sure names are clearly marked. You can stuff these bags with goodies or use the party games listed below to allow children to collect their own party goodies. I actually used crumpled up lunch bags and tore the tops off to create a ‘wild’ party bag.
Party Shirts – print this template on an iron on transfer paper. Cut, and iron on a plain white shirt. Click here for the ‘birthday child’s’ shirt which is, of course, the king of all wild things. If you plan on putting the children’s names on the backs of the shirts, don’t forget to type and print them backwards on the iron on transfer paper.
Games
Pin the Tail on Max. What’s a wolf suit without the tail? Tailor this party favorite game to fit the theme.
Follow the Wild Thing Tracks – print monster tracks and place them in ‘track’ fashion around the party area. Place prizes at different locations that the Wild Things left behind for party goers to enjoy. Make sure your give children bags to collect their goodies.
Tame the Wild Things – Just like Max tames them by staring deep into their yellow eyes. Have guests sit in two rows facing each other. They look down and on the count of ‘3’ they look up at the person across from them and stare. 1st person to blink or giggle loses. You can eliminate the first ‘blinker’ and consolidate the winners to play against each other or simply play the game again.
Wild Rumpus – Game can be played indoors or out. Place a few prizes in a pile of clothes, leaves, sand or grass clippings. Have children sit with their backs to the pile. When you shout “let the wild rumpus start”, kids frantically dig through the pile to find items. Do it again and again, hiding different items each time. Or use the same items over and over.
 | 
Where The Wild Things Are Party
