Tigers!

While Casie plans lovely girlie parties, I set out to surprise Josiah with a tiger party that he thought for sure was going to happen for his birthday.  When his sisters came and told me that they were planning a surprise scavenger hunt for him, I thought while they were outside doing that, I should plan a very small tiger party for him.  Since we just had our 5th child 2 weeks ago, I wasn't really up  for anything too time consuming or extravagant.  So, here are our cheap and plan in 2 days ideas.

He started out his morning searching for pegs and clues, which his sisters put together by themselves.  Apparently his first clue was in a tree.  : )

After his search all over the yard was over with, I made just a few cake balls to make him think that that was his party.  Then they came inside to the real surprise.

 I wanted to count it as a school day, so I incorporated art, a word search about tigers, they made book marks with animal stickers and got some books at the library that were also educational about tigers.  And believe it or not, when I asked him what his favorite part of the whole party was, his response was, "the books"...even though they were borrowed library books.  My children do love good books to read!

 The girls went with Jonathon to a wedding on Saturday and on their way home they stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things for me.  Well they found this Tiger Webkinz and decided they should buy it for Josiah.  He loved it of course!  They also made him a "We Love Josiah Book" that they stamped in and decorated and then the rest of the family also wrote in.  It was a nice thing for them to do and a good gift to encourage him in right ways and what they appreciate about him.

 Benaiah and Saphira even signed it with their handprints and pictures that Benaiah picked for me to draw.

Our lunch was mostly orange and he got the special tiger plate from Grandma Deborah's house.  With meals coming from our church family this week, one of the couple's brought us paper plates so we wouldn't have to do dishes.  The plates happened to be orange, so they fit perfectly in our party. 

So, that was our fun and delightful little party we had for Josiah's 7th birthday.  It's fun CeLeBrating with our children even if it can't be a well thought out, planned to a T party.  He was obviously very happy with the outcome of his little surprise, and I think it made him feel special.  We are blessed with all of our children! 

Zoo Party Ideas

Christi attended a Zoo Party that her mother put on for all of her family.  Here are just some of the ideas that you can incorporate into a zoo party that adds fun and makes special memories.

 Owl party favor bags that the children made during the party.  Using construction paper, cut out the shapes for the owl parts.  It made it easier for the younger ones to put together.  And make sure you have plenty of goodies for them to put into it.

 If you have a program like Indiana does, you might want to take advantage of it.  Indiana Wildlife came with animals to the house to do a program.  Now this can be an expensive addition to a party, but be on the look out at Groupon or other group savings websites for special savings on these kinds of programs. 

 With our group being smaller the children were all able to touch and be right up close to every animal.  And the program teacher had more fun things for the children to put in their owl bags. 

 These were yummy roll ups in the shape of an alligator.  Made it fun for everyone to eat!

 If you aren't much of an artistic cupcake decorator, then you can buy a package of plastic animals at the dollar store for a dollar, add some green sprinkles or use green frosting like grass and tada, you have a fun little cupcake for a fraction of a bakeries cost.    And the children loved picking out which animal they wanted to put into their owl bag to take home.

 The cups that the tiger mac is in can be found at any craft store such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels.  We found that they were the perfect size for children sized portions.  We added the colored paper and ribbon to match the macaroni color and to make them more tiger looking.  Just adds a bit of color and fun.

 Homemade felt finger puppets.  Sorry I don't have a pattern to direct you to, but Christi's mom made these from scratch and from the pattern in her head.  Be creative!  Even if you don't have a specific pattern, try something fun.  Look at pictures of animals and you just might get ideas of how to make them look real and fun to play with.

She also wanted to give the children pencils with their names on them.  She found that special ordering just a few of each child's name would be quite expensive, so she bought some clear plastic labels and made them herself on her computer.  I think she may have used white labels for these and printed animals and birds in the background.  They are a little hard to see, but it did add some color and the children loved having their very own pencils. 

There are many things you can do for less money to add fun to a party.  Just think outside of the typical party decor and craft kits box to find what will work for cents instead of dollars.  Simply putting food in an animal shape doesn't cost any more money, but sure does add the animal fun to it!  Other things that she had to add to their party favor bags were printed worksheets of animals (mazes, crossword puzzles, coloring pages), rows of stickers (if you buy a pack of stickers with rows on each sheet, you can easily cut them into strips and give each child a strip instead of a whole sheet), and styrofoam animal stickers (another dollar store purchase.  Find those things that are a dollar but can be divided amongst all the guests), along with their crafts that they made, cupcake topper and little gift from the Wildlife guy.  Be on the lookout at the end of summer for fun things on summer clearance.  Some dollar stores will have sun visors that are animal shaped.  I've seen them for 10-15 cents a piece.  Those would make fun party favors too.  Just keep your eyes peeled and think about when things that you are interested in will go on clearance.  It will make your CeLeBration more of a celebration of saving cents on an amazing party that everyone will remember.