The Poky Little Party, Part 2 (or, Can I Take a Nap Now?)

Yesterday was The Small One's third birthday party.  While his official birthday isn't until tomorrow, we always celebrate on the closest weekend (and preferably the one closest to President's Day, so Mommy has the day off afterwards to recover.  This year we were supposed to have school as a snow makeup day, but a surprise ice storm this morning at 5:00 gave us a snow day on our snow day makeup -- talk about irony!).  Two or three months ago, I started asking The Small One what kind of party he wanted.  I wasn't sure he was really comprehending the question, but after listing a few options such as "Cowboy", "Fire Trucks," or "Micky Mouse," he announced one night during our bedtime snuggle that he wanted a "Poky Little Puppy" party.  This was probably due to the fact that we had just read that particular tome (for the hundredth time in his short life); however, I ran with it.  So, I hit Pinterest and the internet for ideas, and came up with what turned out to be a fun day!

First, I made some invitations on Microsoft Word using a scan of the book's cover.  I made the invitations look like an actual book.  When the recipients opened the "book," the party invitation was inside.

So, next, I started thinking of decorations.  Now honestly, I'm not much of a decorator -- balloons and streamers are just NOT my thing.  But, I wanted to do *something*, so I made a banner to hang across the ceiling.  I made it by scanning the pages of the book and printing a color copy of each page.  I then cut triangle shapes from each page (that had a picture on it), laminating them, punching holes in the top, and stringing them on yarn.  This was one of my favorite things from the day -- it's still hanging up, and it may find its way into the The Small One's Big Boy Room, as he has decided he wants it to have a "puppy" theme.

And then, food!  I copied many ideas from my oh-so-talented cousin Kay, who had just done a Poky Little Puppy 1st Birthday for her Little Man.  We had "pup"corn (just air-popped popcorn), "snausages" (little smokies, because I wanted something that wasn't sugary), "kibbles 'n bits" (Cheez-its Mix -- just a version of chex mix, but the one that the store happened to have on sale), "puppy chow" (which we midwesterners call "puppy chow", but which seems to referred to as "muddy buddies" in other parts of the country), and "Milk Bones" (which I found in the store -- Scooby Snacks, which are cinnamon graham crackers in the shape of bones), and "rawhide chews", which were Pirouline cookies in a jar.  I bought a bunch of dog bowls at the Dollar Tree and used those as the serving bowls.  To decorate the food bar (we had other activities on the table), I used a dollar store tablecloth and cut a picket fence out of poster board. I also made a sign out of cardstock that said "Don't ever ever dig holes under this fence again!", which is one of the pictures from the story.  Considering I don't have too much snackage left (okay, I lied -- we will have puppy chow for weeks around here unless I take it to the teacher's lounge at school and let them at it), I think the food was a hit!

The Small One was very adamant that he would have a "tocklet" cake.  He and I checked on Pinterest for Poky Little Puppy cakes, and they were all WAAAAY above my talent level.  So, we checked out cakes for three year olds and found one that looked like even I could handle it.  It was two bundt cakes cut to make a "3", then frosted and covered with M&Ms.  As I was trying to be an overachiever, I bought the special colored M&Ms to match the Poky theme.  In retrospect (and after being financially poorer after the experience, I think I could probably have bought several pound bags of M&Ms and just not used the red and brown ones.  Lessons learned.  The cake wasn't perfect (I had problems with the "toklet" frosting getting on my fingers as I placed the M&Ms, and then getting on the M&Ms themselves), but as always, it was made with love.  The Small One seemed to really love it!  I didn't think it would be enough to feed all the people we had invited (thankfully? only about half of those who said they would come actually did...), so I also made a batch of "strawberry shortcake" cupcakes (there's strawberry shortcake in the book, so I played around with the idea of a strawberry-filled vanilla cupcake.  I ended up putting a spoonful of strawberry pie filling in the center of each cupcake before baking.  The filling dropped to the bottom and made them a bit messy to eat, but they tasted fantastic, especially after being iced with cream cheese icing (and a chocolate paw print!).  

As for activities for our attendees, we had a "Color the Puppy" station, with puppy coloring books and an assortment of crayons, colored pencils, and markers (props to my mom, for realizing the markers were not washable and pulling them out of little hands before we had a marker nightmare).

The Small One and I made some cut-out sugar cookies the day before the party in the shapes of a puppy and bones, and we also had a "Decorate a Cookie" station, with icing and a variety of colored sugars and toppings (what a great way to empty my baking supplies cupboard of all the odds and ends of different sanding sugars and nonpareils I've accumulated over the years!).

After cake and ice cream (and presents from the multitude of wonderful guests who cheerfully ignored my "no gifts" request), we played "Stick the Sticker on the Puppy" (thanks Party City).  The kids (and Grandma R) enjoyed trying to stick a pawprint sticker on the puppy.

And so, the great Poky Little Puppy is over!  The Small One, his daddy, and I will all be eating cake and snacks for a few days, and I've had a great time enjoying the photos.  Great thanks to all who came -- the family we were born with and the family we chose.  Guests are always gratefully welcomed here at Critter Country, and when they come to celebrate such a special day for my Small One, words can't express how joyous I am to have them all in my life!