The Purrrfect Party

How do you throw a Purrrfect party? Have a cat themed party of course! 

My daughter is OBSESSED with cats so having a cat themed party for her sixth birthday party was a no-brainer. Finding reasonably priced cat themed party supplies, however, was a but trickier. This simply meant that I would have to do a lot of the work myself, which I didn't mind. This party ended up being one of the most successful and inexpensive parties I've ever thrown!

First, start with your favorite cat invitations. There are actually a ton available online from several different price points. I ended up ordering ours from Shutterfly. I just picked a basic design I liked and uploaded pictures of cats to use in the picture areas of the invitation. 

Next, I made most of the decorations myself! I went online and asked my friends to send me pictures of their cats for me to make a birthday banner. People are always willing to show off their cats so I ended up with more than enough pictures to make a few banners! To make the banners I cut a little triangle in the bottom of each 4x6 print to make it look like a banner flag. Then, using a hole punch, I made little holes in the top corners of each photo and ran a cute paw print ribbon I found on Amazon through the holes. I made an accent wall by securing solid black tablecloths purchased from the Dollar Tree to the wall. I then taped up four silver foil balloons spelling "MEOW" and hung some of the cat banners underneath. I even made up some simple signs for the bathrooms. The only other cat decorations needed were some fun paw print tablecloths from Oriental Trading.

Once the decorations were made it was time to plan the games. As soon as guests walked in the door they were greeted by a table full of cat ear headbands. Each guest got to pick out a pair to wear and take home. Next, they went on to our first "game." I always like to have an opening activity to entertain guests as we wait for everyone to arrive. For this party I made a cat adoption center. Each guest got to pick a little stuffed cat from a basket. I was lucky enough to score some Ty Beanie Boo cats from Claire's during and AMAZING sale but any stuffed cats would have worked fine! I then made and printed some basic adoption certificates with spaces for the guests to fill in their own names as well as a name for their new furry friend. Next, they got to pick out and decorate a box for their kitties. I found some plain and patterned gable boxes at Hobby Lobby that worked purrrrfectly. I also snagged a variety of stickers from the Dollar Tree that included sparkly hearts, foam animals, and letters and numbers and more for everyone to personalize their boxes as much as possible. 

After everyone had arrived and had a chance to pick out a cat and at least start on a box, it was time for our first game.

For our main game, we went on a mouse hunt! Basically, we had an Easter egg hunt with a fun cat/mouse theme! I scored a bunch of leftover plastic eggs on clearance after Easter in several bright colors. I then drew little mouse features on them with a Sharpie. They were a simple enough design that even the birthday girl was able to help draw them! Finding fillers for the little mice was easy and inexpensive. I was even able to use leftover favors like tattoos, stickers, and rings from previous parties. (Obviously, I did not reuse anything edible.) Since the guests would not be bringing their own baskets or bags for the hunt like they would for a normal Easter Egg hunt, I had to provide something for them to collect their eggs. To stick with the party theme I made cute black cat bags using black gift bags (3/$1 at the Dollar Tree), googly eyes, white pipe cleaners and foam heart stickers trimmed slightly to look like a cat nose. Since these mice were basically their treat bags, I saved back a couple dozen mice to top off the bags that were a little on the low side.

After our mouse hunt we headed inside for our next activity- the book "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake!" I love using books as party activities not only because it promotes literacy but also because it makes a nice, calm transition. Luckily, I had my mom there to read the book while I got things ready for the next fun activity. My mom read it through twice. The first time she read the story through like normal and the second time she had the kids try to remember the chain of events! As simple as it was, the kids loved it!

Once the reading time was done, we decorated our own cupcakes! I put a selection of sprinkles and cupcake toppings on little, plastic artist pallets with the plain cupcake in the center. I also provided little baggies of icing for guests to squeeze on top. (I used the fold-down sandwich baggies tied with tiny little rubber bands.) Before they began decorating, I requested that no one eat their cupcake until everyone was finished so we could sing "Happy Birthday" together. As an incentive, I gave everyone who waited a little yellow chocolate paw print to top off their cupcake! Everyone had fun decorating their cupcakes and some kids actually had a lot of decorating talent!

After cupcakes, we did the traditional present opening, which filled the rest of our party time up perfectly! However, since I am ever prepared, had we needed to play another game, I had one in my back pocket, just in case. Time permitting, we would have played Mouse, Mouse, Cat! which is basically my own made-up version of Duck, Duck, Goose. The guests would all sit in a circle save one person who would be "It." The person who was "It" would walk around the circle, tapping heads and saying "Mouse" with each tap or selecting one person to be "Cat." The person selected as "Cat" would jump up and try to tag the person who was "It" before "It" could run around the circle and take a seat in the "Cat's" spot- a fun Cat and Mouse style chase! This game would make a fun addition to a cat party if you wanted it to last a little bit longer!

And that, my friends, is how to throw the Purrrfect Party!

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