How to throw a toboggan party

Do you have a winter birthday to celebrate? This year, spend it outdoors in the snow to shake off those winter blahs.

Start the party at home in an indoor winter wonderland. To decorate, cut out white paper snowflakes and stick them to the walls with tape. Create bunting by cutting out triangles from blue and silver glitter paper and taping them to a long piece of string. Artificial snow will make too much of a mess, so bunch white sheets around the edges of the room like snowdrifts. Your winter warriors are going to need some fuel to burn, so serve up a hearty lunch of chicken soup or mac ’n’ cheese.

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Before go time, it’s game time! Make some monster gloves, play pin the toboggan on the hill and let kids pick their jersey numbers for the toboggan races to come. Make sure everyone is bundled up and fasten jersey numbers to their jackets using safety pins. Once you’ve arrived at the hill, discuss race strategy—it should not be about how fast kids go, but how far they go. When cheeks are rosy, march your tired sledders home to cozy up with marshmallow hot chocolate and cookies.

Monster Gloves

Using fabric glue, let kids decorate gloves or mitts with buttons, pompoms and felt. Let dry before wearing.

Pin the Toboggan on the Hill

Draw a hill on a large sheet of paper and tape it to a wall. Draw sleds on coloured paper. Cut them out and put double-sided tape on the backs. Blindfold each wee guest with a scarf and spin—whoever sticks their sled closest to the top of the hill wins!

Jersey numbers

On sheets of paper, print the guests’ names. Have them write their favourite number on their sheet and pin to their backs before setting out.

How to make a popsicle stick toboggan

You’ll need twine, a glue gun, paint, a paintbrush, large Popsicle sticks, scissors, felt and peppermint candies. Paint the sticks. If you’ve got glitter, sprinkle it on before the paint dries.

Lay three Popsicle sticks flat and glue edges to create a “bed.” Let dry. For the runners, glue the horizontal edges of two sticks to bottom edges of bed. Repeat on top for the sled’s sides. For the back, cut three sticks in half and glue flat edges down. Glue ends of a 4-in. piece of twine to inside end of each runner. Tie up a felt pouch full of mints with twine.

Invitation 

Download and print our template on cardstock. On the back of the invitation, provide the date, time and location of the party. For safe sledding, ask your guests to bring a helmet along with their sled.

Read more: Hosting a winter birthday party>

A version of this article appeared in our December 2014 issue with the headline "Toboggan party", p. 22.