The Low-Down on Crowdtap:Crowdtap bills itself as a site “where brands and consumers collaborate.” It is a unique site in several ways -- the biggest difference being that you also earn for a charity (5% of your site earnings -- or more, if you choose -- plus 5% matching by Crowdtap), which you choose from about a dozen that the site currently supports. My total earnings on Crowdtap are over $530 thus far, with over $60 going to charities of my choice!
When you participate in short poll questions, which they call “Quick Hits”, you have a chance at earning some cash (currently, redemptions are in the form of Amazon gift cards only). Members are offered opportunities to participate in a variety of discussions, called “Actions”, and have the potential to win a “Top Award” ($10 or $20 -- I have won 27x to date). Best of all, if you fit the right demographics for participating brands, you can receive great products FREE! Participation in “Sample Shares” or "Hosted Parties" is so much fun -- you receive product samples or party supplies for yourself, as well as things to share with friends. After you have had a chance to try the product or host your party, you submit a report about your sample share/hosted party and earn a cash award ($2 for an approved report, or $5 for an excellent report). Pretty cool, huh? Free products AND some cash -- just for giving them a try and sharing your opinions!
Now, enter The SMURFS:
This hosted party opportunity was for the promotion of the new SMURFS movie, now out on Blu-Ray and DVD. Whether you grew up loving the Smurfs in the late 70's and early 80's, or if you are too young to remember the original Smurfs craze, The Smurfs is a movie that is fun & entertaining for the everyone!
"When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, they tumble from their magical world and into ours -- in fact, smack dab in the middle of Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down."
The movie features a star-studded cast, including: Hank Azaria (Gargamel)
Neil Patrick Harris (Patrick Winslow)
Jayma Mays (Grace Winslow)
Sofía Vergara (Odile)
Jonathan Winters (Papa voice)
Katy Perry (Smurfette voice)
George Lopez (Grouchy voice)
Jeff Foxworthy (Handy - voice)
Wolfgang Puck (Chef - voice)
Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman (Jokey - voice)
Creating our SMURFTASTIC Party:
I invited my sister (the HUGE Smurfs fan!) and her 2 girls (8 & 10), plus my neighbor and 2 of her 3 girls (4 & 7, the baby is only 15 months old), and my mom and husband.
I knew this would be the PERFECT party for my sister! Back in the late 70's and early 80's, she collected every Smurfs figurine and plush character she could find -- her collection is impressive and she still has all of the little Smurf figurines. A few years ago, her kids came across them and could not imagine what kind of silly things they were, and they thought their mom was nuts for having so many and liking them so much. However, now that the Smurfs are featured in the movie and have become popular again, the kids are really into them!
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| Some of my sister's Smurf figurines - the 100+ she brought over would not fit in one shot. |
In true Smurfs fashion, I made sure to serve "blue" foods at the party: "Smurfberry" cookies (my chewy lemon cookies with dried blueberries)
Berry Blue Jell-O
Blue Berry Kool-Aid Bursts
Blue cotton candy
Blue corn chips
Decorations were blue and white balloons, and I also bought 2 large (36") Smurf mylar balloons to "greet" everyone as they came in the front door.
Party favors included Smurfs rings, Smurfs sticker sheets, and Smurfs temporary tattoos, in addition to a tote bag featuring one of each girl's finished coloring sheets (details on that below)!
The Coloring Sheets were a HUGE hit!
Check out the great job the kids did -- they even took turns wearing the Smurf hat and Brainy Smurf's glasses -- and my older niece even painted her nails Smurf Blue for the occasion! (Note, my neighbor asked that I not include photos of her girls online, so only my nieces are shown.)
More Fun...and GAMES!
In addition to the activities included in the digital kit, I purchased a few inexpensive Smurfs games from Amazon. These games are fun & easy for kids to play with little direction or supervision:
* Pop N Race * Make A Match * Big Roll Bingo
I bought Iron-On Transfer Sheets so the kids could make custom tote bags using their own coloring sheets. The process is easy: just scan the colored sheet, then print the image onto the transfer paper using an InkJet printer, then have an adult iron the image onto the chosen fabric. When the fabric and iron-on image have cooled, the backing can peeled away to reveal a bright, colorful image. You could also make t-shirts, but I thought the tote bags would be nice for the kids to carry home their party treats and their coloring sheets.
The Smurfs...now on Blu-Ray & DVD:
We purchased the 3-Disc Holiday Blu-ray Gift Set. It was the best value and this set enabled us to give the Blu-ray disc to our nieces and keep the DVD here, since we have not yet upgraded to Blu-ray. They come to visit us pretty often, and we figured it would be nice to have the DVD here and we can all watch it together. When our nieces watch it at home, I know my sister will be glued to the TV. She was so excited to see that the Smurfs are back, and she is going to really enjoy watching the movie with her girls -- it's a great movie for the whole family!
Thank you, Crowdtap and The SMURFS for helping me throw A SMURFTASTIC PARTY!
Want to throw a SMURFTASTIC party of your own?
The Crowdtap party hosts were provided with the following helpful links, which you can use to create an awesome Smurfs theme party:
Check 'em out and have a SMURFTASTIC time!
