It's a Cardi Party: Celebrate Mr. Rogers Day

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True Story: I really didn’t watch a lot of Mr. Roger’s growing up. Shot of Mom wasn’t a fan of the show, so she would change the channel after Sesame Street. However, I did catch some episodes at my grams. My favorite ever was the trip to the Crayola Factory to see how Crayons were made (thanks some random person I fanned on FB).

Fast forward to 2003. After a long night (and morning) out celebrating my 22^nd birthday mom calls to wish me a Happy Birthday and breaks the news that Mr. Rogers passed away on my birthday. This sent me into tears (and if you know me, you know I never cry). I blame it on the fact that I was still drunk.

Today would have been Mr. Roger’s 85^th birthday. While his show is still on, I suspect it isn’t as well-received by kids today as it once was. However, that isn’t stopping me from brainstorming some ways to host your own Mr. Rogers Neighborhood-themed party!

·       Attire: Cardigans are a MUST considering they were an essential part of Mr. Rogers signature style. If you are feeling ambitious, you can dress up as one of the characters from the show – Mr. McFeely (seen here with me earlier this year), King Friday, Queen Sara Saturday, Prince Tuesday and Queen Sara Saturday. You can find the official list of characters here. I can always make another owl costume!

·       Activities: I’m going to go a little crazy here, but you could rent a trolley (Molly’s Trolleys here in Pittsburgh) and make a yellow sign for it that says “Neighborhood Trolley.” Now this can go one of two ways: 1. This would be fun for kids to ride around the neighborhood in a trolley. OR 2. Trolley Parties are real popular in Chicago. Not just for bachelorette parties, but for a random Friday night. This would be PERFECT for a Mr. Rogers-themed adult party! Bring on the booze! The PBS store sells a mini trolley here.

·       The Mr. Rogers’ website is full of activities and games. Remember the stop light game? And of course you can allow kids (and adults) to create a puppet show.

·       Food: For the adults, I suggest kid-inspired food spiked versions of kids’ drinks.  I’m thinking gourmet grilled cheese, adult milkshakes and some Rolling Rock beer – you know that Fred’s from Latrobe, which is also the hometown of Rolling Rock!

·       Music: Purchase some Mr. Rogers tunes here.

·       Décor: Go big or go home. Recreate the Neighborhood of Make-Believe on some paper and hang it up on a wall. You can also make cute signs to blow up at FedEx and hang around the venue that say famous Mr. Rogers sayings like:  

o   It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood

o   Won’t you be my neighbor

o   I think I’ll make a snappy new day