Cat in the Hat Birthday Party

Whew, what a party!  My kids, Gwyneth and Leo, turned 4 and 2 last weekend.  Since the party was on the 2nd, we decided to have a Cat in the Hat party to honor Dr. Suess' birthday as well!  And, as a children's librarian, I knew I could save all of the decorations for work. Bonus!

I used Pinterest a lot for this party, as inspiration and for instructions.  Here is a photo of all of my projects, and I will break it down below as to where I found my ideas so you can check them out too!

A) I made green eggs and ham!!  I saw green deviled eggs on Pinterest, HERE, and knew I had to do it.  I didn't look for how to make them, I just used it as inspiration and added green gel food coloring to my own eggs recipe.  They looked great, though the picture doesn't really do the green justice!

B) Party hats are a must!  Kids are too cute in them, especially when they are all around the table eating cake.  Leo, my birthday boy, really didn't want it on long, especially while he got down to the business of eating cake!  I had originally wanted to buy plain colored hats, since nobody on the island really sells Cat in the Hat party supplies.  But the hats come in multi-colored packs and that just wouldn't do for the party!  So, I found THIS pin about making hats.  Now, I didn't make them totally from scratch.  I did buy those multi-colored hats.  But I traced their shape onto wrapping paper, then used crepe paper to add a ruffle around the base, then a little tuft at the point.  I only did the tufts for the birthday girl and boy, as well as cutting out numerals with my Cricut. 

C) Well, this pic is just a side view of my table.  The red tissue paper ball I made, as well as a blue one that hung to the left of the banner, were so simple and cheaper than buying premade ones!  I didn't actually learn this one on Pinterest, but from YouTube.  But HERE is a pin covering the same technique.

D) Oh the lollipop tree!  My inspiration one was covered in blue ribbon instead of yarn, and I added yarn pom-poms and a Cat in the Hat to the top.  Check it out HERE.

E) Okay, there are a couple of items in this frontal pic of the table.  The banner was made using my Cricut.  I saw different banners on Pinterest, so I decided to use them as inspiration and just do a simple pennant shapped one.  I used cardstock for the background, cutting it on the cricut.  Then I cut one out 1/2" smaller and used the negative to trace in a beat up copy of Cat in the Hat.  I found it for 69 cents at the thrift store, with a very faded cover and water stained pages.  So, yes, the librarian cut up a book!  For my crafts, I will do almost anything!  But it helped that it was a crappy copy!  Then, after putting them together, I cut out my kids' names with the Cricut, in black, and glued them on.  Punched holes in each corner, then used small scraps of ribbon to hook them together.  I have already taken the letters off and saved it for a future library event.  Easy! Here is ONE similar that I used as inspiration!

Also in this picture...goodie bags!  I found inspiration HERE for them, but because of time restraints, only did the scallop scissors then sealed them with Washi Tape in the opposite color.  Buttons and twine would have been adorable too, but the dang hats too all day so I was running out of time! 

One more thing of interest, the wrapping paper on the wall.  Another Pinterest idea.  Check it out HERE!

F) The cake was inspired by many.  I knew I wanted a hat on top of another tier, but most out there are in fondant.  Here are a couple that I really liked as inspiration cakes:

CAKE 1
CAKE 2

G)  Ah, my wreath.  I love this thing.  Definitely a keeper for future events.  I didn't know where I was going to put it, but at the last minute we put it above the banner and it worked perfectly!  There were a couple of inspiration pieces that led to this creation.  I wrapped a foam wreath with yarn.  Then I made pom-poms.  I had never made them before, so here is the PIN where I learned that technique.  Then I cut my pennant banner out of felt, glued them to twine.  Then I used brads dipped into glue, poked them into the wreath, and strung up the twine.  I adhered sticker letters with a bit of glue too so they wouldn't fall off.  I covered the brads with printed images that I colored over with a brighter red to match the yarn.  Easy peasy!

Here are a couple of inspiration wreaths:  Wreath 1, Wreath 2

H) Last but not least, the Fish in a Cup Jello!  Saw this on Pinterest HERE and knew I had to represent Fish!  All it is...blue JELLO with a Swedish Fish in the bottom.  I think the kids were more excited for these than the cake!  I bought the cupcake stand after Valentine's Day at Target (love anything 50% off!) and covered the heart with the Fish in his bowl.  Easy! The cups fit perfect, though some were a bit cramped but it worked.

So, that was the party.  Here are a few more pics of that big day!

A quick note...their outfits were handmade from Etsy HERE.  Their invitation, which everyone loved, also came from Etsy, HERE.  All I did was send the file to Walgreens and print them out as pictures!

I am linking this post up to Glitter Tart's 2nd Monthly Pinterest Party, I Saw It On Pinterest & Did It! Please visit her blog and check out what other people are doing with their Pinterest ideas!

Enjoy!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess