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Home Β» Parties & Entertaining Β» Children's Birthdays

Oscar the Grouch Birthday Party

Modified: Sep 1, 2024 Β· Published: Jun 22, 2010 by Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist Β· This post may contain affiliate links Β· 15 Comments

This Oscar the Grouch themed party is full of fun ideas for DIY themed decor, a photo booth complete with unibrows and trash can, and even an Oscar the Grouch themed dessert table. Any Oscar the Grouch fan will love it... or be grouchy about it. πŸ™‚

Oscar the Grouch birthday party cupcakes.
Jump to:
  • Why You'll Love This Party
  • Oscar the Grouch ThemedΒ Party Decorations
  • Junk Food Menu
  • Oscar the Grouch Themed Dessert Table
  • Oscar The Grouch Themed Green Candy Buffet
  • Oscar the Grouch Photo Booth
  • Scram
  • More Birthday Party Inspiration
  • Frequently Asked Questions

Why You'll Love This Party

  • What's better for a grouch than a grouch themed party?
  • Everyone will be delighted with all the cute decorations.
  • Photo booths don't get better than your own unibrow and trash can.
  • The Oscar the Grouch desserts are as cute as they are yummy!

After years of joking that my husband can be a grouch, we decided to have an Oscar the Grouch themed birthday party for him this year.  He's everyone's favorite classic Sesame Street character and Oscar was perfect for this years theme!  This is such a fun theme to do for a party.  We had so a lot of fun coming up with all the grochy, trashy, nasty ideas for our grouch theme party.  Everyone got a real kick out of it, and my husband loved it most of all!

Oscar the Grouch Themed Party Decorations

It was a fun creative challenge to come up with all the party decorations. Since many of the party decorations that are available are for a Sesame Street birthday party, but not specially for Oscar the Grouch, we had to come up with our own.  And we pretty much nailed it.

  • Mini Garbage Cans: Guests were greeted by miniature trash cans at the front door when they arrived to set the scene.  These were such a fun little detail and set the tone of the party right away.
Oscar the grouch party
  • Oscar The Grouch Paper Lanterns:  These were so easy to make and so cute.  I picked up some green paper lanterns at the dollar store, and then turned them into little Oscar the grouches with some construction paper. I just glued faces onto the front of the open lantern.  These were really inexpensive to make and added a lot to the decor.  
  • Green Decor: Since Oscar the Grouch decor can be a little bit tricky to find, I also used lots of just green decor, including moss balls that were green and round and said Oscar to me.
Oscar the grouch party decorations
Oscar the Grouch party ideas
  • Balloons: We were also able to find some Oscar the Grouch balloons that looked great.  Another great idea is to include a whole bunch of balloons in different shades of green.  We wanted to stay away from using Sesame Street Characters, but it's much easier to find them, so you might want to add in an Elmo character, Big Bird, or Cookie Monster too.
Oscar the Grouch balloons
  • Grouch Hall Of Fame: We thought it would be fun to create a "Grouch Hall of Fame" which included a whole line up of famous grouches, and my husband.  

I included Oscar the Grouch of course, Ebenezer Scrooge, The Grumpy Old Troll, and The Grinch.  

This is such a fun idea and really easy to make.  Look for images online, and add the names.  Take a picture of the birthday boy or girl and add them in as well.  You could even get more elaborate and frame the pictures.

Oscar the Grouch party ideas
  • Banners: I also made banners out of newspaper and two shades of green scrapbook paper, and letter stickers. I cut large triangle pennants out of the green paper, and added a larger newspaper one behind with a border showing.  To hang the banners, I used a hole bunch to add holes to the corners and strung with green ribbon.  I thought the newspaper added a garbage kind of a look that went with the theme.  

One said "Have A Grouchy Birthday!", there was also one for the "photo booth", the food table that said "junk food", and a final one to say goodbye to guests on the way out that said "scam".  These were really easy and inexpensive to make.

Junk Food Menu

We thought it would be fun to have  "Junk Food" for dinner, in keeping with our theme.  On the junk food menu was 

  • Pizza
  • Ham Burgers, Sausage, and Hotdogs
  • Chicken Wings
  • Chips

It was truly a junk food buffet!  

The chips were served in mini garage cans too.  There were so cute and such a fun way to tie in the theme.  

And for the table cloth on the party table, we used more newspaper.  

We had trouble finding Oscar the Grouch napkins, so we just used plain green ones.

Oscar the Grouch party

Oscar the Grouch Themed Dessert Table

For dessert there were Oscar the Grouch cupcakes!  

I was able to order the garbage can cupcake wraps on Etsy.  You could also use a silver metallic cupcake liner to resemble the trash can.  The eyebrows for the cupcakes were made from chocolate icing, and the eyes were made of marshmallows.  

We also had chocolate chip cookies.  Dessert was such a huge hit with the kids!  Dirt cups with a little slimy inspired gummy worm in them would be a great idea to include as well.  Oscar the Grouch sugar cookies would be a really fun addition too.  Look for an Oscar cookie cutter online.

Oscar the Grouch party cupcakes

Oscar The Grouch Themed Green Candy Buffet

For party favors we had a small green candy bar set up.  Guests could enjoy the candy at the party and fill up a bag to take some home.  I love this idea so you're not left with too many leftovers.  

For the goodie bags we used cello bags with an Oscar picture on  them for our guests to take home.  I couldn't find any Oscar stickers, so I made my own by printing the picture and using double sided tape to add it to the bags.

Oscar the Grouch birthday party

It's very fun to head to the dollar store and bulk food store and see what green candy you find. We served

  • Green Garbage Can Candies: Remember these from when you were a kid? The green ones were perfect!
  • Gummy Worms: These were inspired by Oscar's pet Slimey, so of course we only used the orange and green ones.
  • Green Apple Licorice
  • Watermelon and Green Apple Jelly Beans
  • Caramel Apple Lollipops
  • Lime, Watermelon, and Apple Green Candy Sticks
Oscar the Grouch themed party food

Oscar the Grouch Photo Booth

During the party we asked guests to pose in the photo booth.  The booth was complete with Grouch eyebrows, and the classic metal trash can.  

The eyebrows were made of fun fur, and attached to guests as they arrived with double sided tape.  

The garbage can was found as Home Hardware.  I hung a green checked tablecloth up as a little backdrop and guests loved posing in and around the trash can.  After the party we emailed the pictures to all the guests.

Here's the birthday boy looking very grouchy in his Oscar the Grouch T-shirt!

Oscar the Grouch party ideas
Oscar the Grouch Photo Booth

Scram

The final piece of the party was our "Scram" banner on the door for our guests to see as they left!  Everyone got a good chuckle out of it.

Oscar the Grouch party decorations

I had so much fun putting this party together.  This was a fun family party.  We're at an age and stage when our kids and our friends kids still love Sesame Street, so it meant that all the guests young and old really enjoyed all the cute and cheeky details.  This is a great theme for a husband, boyfriend, dad, or may even your daughter or son's birthday.  

With an Oscar the Grouch birthday, life really is a party!

More Birthday Party Inspiration

  • Princess and the frog party table with food and decorations.
    The Best Birthday Party Home Decoration Ideas
  • Teddy bear breakfast party with teddy bear themed food.
    Teddy Bear Breakfast Party Ideas
  • Beauty and the Beast party table with food and decorations.
    Beauty and the Beast Party -Themed Dinner and Movie Night
  • Cinderella Party table with Cinderella inspired food and DIY party decor.
    Cinderella Party -Dinner and Movie Night

Frequently Asked Questions

Where did you get the Oscar the Grouch party balloon?

We found it at a party store, but it was many years ago and I don't think they make it anymore. You could use a bouquet of different shades of green balloons instead.

Where did you find the metal trash cans for the Oscar the Grouch party?

The large one is from Home Hardware, if you're in Canada. The minis were found on-line.

If you try any of the ides from this Oscar The Grouch Party, or thing else on my blog please let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!

More Children's Birthday Parties

  • Snow White Party with themed food and party decor.
    Snow White Party -Dinner and A Movie
  • The Princess and the Frog party food table set up with food from the mvoie and DIY decor.
    The Princess and The Frog Party -Dinner and A Movie
  • Free movie night printables including a free ticket, popcorn banner, food labels, and signs.
    Free Movie Night Printables
  • space themed party star moon
    Pink Outer Space Themed Party

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. dnr says

    May 19, 2015 at 9:51 am

    Hi Eira,
    This post is from quite a few years ago, and I don't think the balloon is available anymore, sorry. Best of luck.
    Dannyelle

  2. eira masco says

    May 19, 2015 at 9:15 am

    Hi Danyelle

    the decoration is amazing!!!! where did you get the Oscar balloon from ?... i can't fidn it

  3. eira masco says

    May 19, 2015 at 9:14 am

    Hi Danielle

    the decoration is amazing!!!! where did you get the Oscar balloon from ?... i can't fidn it

  4. dnr says

    March 27, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    Thanks for the feedback. I'm sorry to say that this party was a few years ago so perhaps the balloons are discontinued. Good luck.

    Dannyelle

  5. angelica says

    March 27, 2012 at 4:41 am

    Hey. Love they whole. party decor....I'm trying to find the Oscar the grouch balloons for my sons first birthday party... ANy idea where I can find them??? Everyone that has them says there discontinued.... Plz thnx

  6. dnr says

    June 10, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Hi Rebecca,
    The Candy garbage cans are from Bulk Barn, sorry for the confussion, and I hope you can find them.
    Dannyelle.

  7. rebecca says

    June 10, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    I am looking for mini green garbage cans with candy in them.

  8. dnr says

    May 27, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    Hi Tee,
    There is a link in the post. Good luck!
    Dannyelle

  9. Tee says

    May 26, 2011 at 5:27 pm

    Where did you purchase the mini trash cans from?

  10. Alexis says

    September 13, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    Those cupcakes are Genius! Great party

  11. Ashley says

    September 08, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    hey, nice blog...really like it and added to bookmarks. keep up with good work

  12. Amy says

    July 21, 2010 at 7:03 am

    HILARIOUS!!!! and everything was so well done. You're the next Martha Stewart!

  13. Connie says

    July 12, 2010 at 11:05 pm

    I'm very excited about this whole blog. Now I get to be kept updated on impossible feats in decorating and baking. You are pretty amazing.... just saying.

  14. Loralie says

    July 11, 2010 at 5:46 pm

    Dannyelle!! That looks AMAZING! I am SO impressed! I love the favor idea....and the "scram"....and the junk food....and the cupcakes!!! Seriously the cupcakes are incredible! Well done.

  15. Roland Ramjist says

    July 10, 2010 at 9:10 am

    I thoroughly enjoyed the grouchy party except there were a few happy people who attended and stayed despite our best efforts 8-(

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