2017 Birthday Party for Dr. Seuss
Since we had such a large turn out for last year's Birthday Party for Dr. Seuss, this year I put activities both upstairs and down so people could spread out a little more.
Downstairs, we had the One Fish, Two Fish Fishing Booth. I made this by attaching two tri-fold display boards together and covering them in yellow bulletin board paper. I cut out the letters on my Cricut using the free font Doctor Soos. I printed and cut out the fish, and the water is blue bulletin board paper I drew on with a Sharpie.
Beside the fishing booth was Pin the Hat on the Cat, which I did last year.
I had a Cat in the Hat cartoon playing on the projector during the party. I also had the craft table, with three different craft options:
For the youngest kids, I had the Seuss fish tissue paper mosaic. I also did this craft for my toddler story time; it worked out really well.
I also had the Fox in Socks paper bag puppet the kids could color and assemble. And, from last year, the Sneetches craft with accordion limbs.
The birthday cake was also downstairs. I didn't fool with as much food as last year; this year we just did cake and chips.
I also kept the tables simple, since they were being used for both crafts and eating. Red tablecloths with Seuss books scattered for centerpieces.
I also had last year's photo prop in the corner.
Outside of the door, I had a sign letting everyone know the party was divided into the children's room and the conference room. I wasn't able to fit everything onto it, but I was pleased with how it turned out.
I used a pool noodle and bucket we already had. I cut the labels out of poster board from our Crazy Hat station (see below) I printed out the hands and hat on cardstock, and the illustrations were from a bulletin board kit I had, which were taped up all over the walls. Letters were cut out on the Cricut using the Doctor Soos font again. Everything was attached to the pool noodle via packing tape or hot glue. The only issue I had was that it kept falling over when I rushed by, setting everything up before the party. I ended up taping it to the wall, and it was fine.
On to upstairs....
I lined the steps with pool noodle Truffula trees. I would have liked more, but I ran out of pool noodles. Maybe next year. I also bought one of those giant flowers from Hobby Lobby and hot glued the Mayor of Whoville from Horton Hears a Who in the middle and stuck it in with the Truffula trees.
Upstairs I had the Crazy Hat Station, à la Daisy-Head Mayzie and The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. I had long strips cut out of different colored poster board with lots of foam stickers for embellishment. I had plenty of kid scissors and small staplers on the table as well.
I got the idea for the fishing booth, Crazy Hat Station, and Hop on Pop-scotch from obSEUSSed, which is a really great blog.
I also had the Put the Things Back in the Box game upstairs, another one from last year.
The Hop on Pop-scotch, with pogo stick, was very popular. The rhyming words are all from the book, and I marked out the hopscotch squares with red tape. To make the big Hop on Pop, we put the illustration onto an old school projector and then traced it onto yellow bulletin board paper. I "laminated" it with contact paper and packing tape.
It held up better than I though it would--no tears or rips at all, and it stayed in place the whole time. I'll even be able to reuse it next year.
Also upstairs was our Gack Ring toss:
The Gack (from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish) was drawn by hand by another librarian onto a foam insulation board, then cut out and painted. The antlers were bendable copper tubing, covered in red pom poms. The rings I had bought from Amazon for our Pirate Hook Ring Toss. We propped him up on a tripod and I copied the page from the book for the sign.
I also bought some Dr. Seuss photo props, which turned out to be so flimsy that I had to back them in cardboard. I also thought they should have been a little larger in general. Here they are:
Finally, I had treat bags to give away.
I did the paper bags with the same labels and quotes I did last year. Inside were notepads, stickers, pencils, and stretchy bookmarks. Everything came from Oriental Trading or Amazon.
I also found these Dr. Seuss balloons. I had two dozen spread around; I thought they were so cute!
You may also want to check out my Dr. Seuss cupcakes!