How to Celebrate Teddy Bear Picnic Day

On Teddy Bear Picnic Day, July 10, your kids can take their best stuffed friends out for a special event. Since it is summer, your child's friends might have some spare time, so you can invite them and their bears over to join in the picnic fun. Here are tips for having a Teddy Bear Picnic that will please children and stuffed animals alike:

• Help your child create invitations, cut out into teddy-bear shapes from cardboard. On the invitations, ask the little guests to bring their bears along.
• As for the food, keep it simple. Small sandwiches, crackers and pudding cups will do the trick. Don't forget jars of honey in honor of Winnie the Pooh. Clear beverages, like water or lemon-lime sodas, might also be a good idea to prevent staining the bears.
• Provide two different picnic baskets, one with real food and one with fake food to make it easier for the bears to eat.
• Try to keep the teddy bears clean, and bring along a bottle of spray-fighting solution in case a child gets overzealous feeding a teddy bear.
• Take pictures of each child and his bear. Either print them out in the house or send them off to the kids and their parents after the party.
• Tell the story of how teddy bears came to be. Teddy bears have been special in the United States for a long time. When President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt refused to shoot an injured bear while hunting, stuffed bears became "teddy bears," and kids had the perfect name for their bear toys.
• Bring a tape deck or mp3 player with speakers, and play the classic song "Teddy Bear's Picnic." You can download several different versions, as the song has been recorded by many artists, including Bing Crosby and even Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.
• For a perfect finish, read "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." The teddy bears will be thrilled to hear a tale in which they are the stars.