How to Plan a Stuffed Animal Birthday Party for Your Child

Stuffed animals - my kids love them. So when my daughter asked for a stuffed animal themed birthday party, I began researching. I was frustrated to find that almost everything I could find online dealt with having a party at the popular Build-A-Bear stores. This was not what we wanted. After some brainstorming and creativity, we came up with a wonderful party where each guest brought her favorite stuffed animal and left with some treats for it.

As the children arrived, I had animal-themed coloring sheets for them to color and/or paint. Try these resources for online coloring sheets:

http://www.coloring.ws/animals.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/

http://www.wacky-packages.org/how-to-draw-webkinz/webkinz-coloring-pages.htm

(the last link features the wildly popular Webkinz stuffed animals)

After the guests arrived, we made our first craft: nametags for our pets. I had purchased 1" paper key tags at the hardware store (like the type of tag you would put on a keychain). The kids decorated these with fine-tip Sharpies and then threaded them onto a ribbon and tied them around their pets' necks. Very cute!

For games, we played Pin-the-tail-on-the teddy bear (you can make a large outline shape of any stuffed animal), Doggie doggie where's your bone? (we used a little stuffed dog for the "doggie" to hold while guessing who stole the bone), and a game where the girls formed a circle and passed a mini stuffed animal around while "it" stood in the middle with her eyes closed and had to guess who had the animal.

Our main craft involved making blankets for our pets. I cut 10" x 18" pieces of fabric (one decorated, the other a plain soft flannel) and had sewed them together for each child. I then gave each child a large needle threaded with yarn and the children tacked the top and lining of their blankets together at various spots (similar to making "tie quilts"). The girls were so pleased with their pet blankets!

The party was completed with a cake in the shape of my daughter's favorite stuffed animal. We also served fruit kabobs which the girls made, and I put out mini party-picks for the kids to use to make kabobs for their pets as well. The girls enjoyed playing with their animals as they waited for their parents to pick them up.

My daughter loved her stuffed animal party, and I was pleased with how easy it was to pull off. The guests all enjoyed themselves as well, and many parents commented on how much they liked the items the children made for their pets.

Happy stuffed animal party to you and your little animal lover!