Blue's Clues -2yr- Paw Prints to the Party

For our son's second birthday we had a Blue's Clues party.

To make sure everyone got into the spirit of things we sent out three clues on three separate days. For clue number one, we drew and cut out a party hat out of card stock and drew a paw print on it. We then glued the hat on a flat note card. The card read "Do you see a clue? Blue left her paw print to give us a hint. A party hat - what could it mean? The answer to the clue is yet to be seen." For day two and clue two we cut out three colorful balloons, drew on a paw print and glued to a flat note card. The card read "It's clue number two! There are many balloons I see so just keep looking for clue number three." For the third clue we used a bi-fold card.

On the outside we drew and cut a birthday cake with two lit candles on top of the cake. The card read "You found another paw print. A birthday cake is the last clue! So sit down in your thinking chair and think, think, think....What could Blue want you to do?" On the inside of the card we drew and glued a red thinking chair. The message read "Come to a birthday party for (child's name) turning 2!" Then we gave all the party information. At the bottom of the card we printed "You just figured out Blue's Clues 'cause you're really smart!" All three cards and the envelopes were out of different primary colors. On the back side of each envelope we printed "A Clue! A Clue!" I found a small paw print punch and punched out light blue paw prints and glued them to the back of each envelope. This was tedious work but made a huge impact. The third clue was stuffed with balloons and Blue's Clues confetti.

On the day of the party, guest were greeted by a large Blue dog balloon tied on our mailbox. Going down our driveway and sidewalk we had three large paw prints, cut out of poster board, with a dark blue, light blue and  white balloon at each paw print attached to blue balloon weights. Everyone could hear a Blue's Clues CD playing as they walked to the house. Around the front door of our house we took four feet wide rolls of paper and turned our house into Steve's house. Our house has a front porch on it so we put Steve's red roof on our porch roof and took the roof peak and chimney up onto the wall of the second story. We stapled lavender windows on the yellow "walls" and had the red curtains around the windows. The purple door was even given a lavender doggie door. On the roof we drew big red swirls.

The porch floor was covered with green paper for grass and we took white paper and made a sidewalk. To the right side of the sidewalk, I had a seven foot fichus tree. We purchased a styrofoam ring, spray painted it black and tied it to a limb with jute string for the tire swing and spray painted styrofoam balls red for the apples on the tree. On the left side of the sidewalk I took one bunch of plastic flowers and taped them to the underside of the porch floor to look like they were growing up through the grass.

We had Mailbox sitting on the porch rail post and of course Blue, wearing a birthday hat, was on the "yard" waiting to greet the guest.  Once inside, the birthday boy and Dad were dressed in green striped Steve shirts, khaki pants and brown shoes while big sister and Mom were wearing Magenta pink. The family room was transformed into Steve's living room. Along one wall we had Steve's thinking chair and we cut Side Table Drawer out of plywood and painted it. We used round, flat wooden pieces for the buttons on the phone and a black knob on the drawer to get a 3-D effect. The children went wild over this!

On the wall, we had Blue's Clues streamers with dark and light blue streamers twisted together and swaged from one side of the wall to the other and groups of three balloons attached at each peak on the swag. We purchased a piece of yellow foam board and cut out the center to make a picture frame. Using Crayola Model Magic clay, in yellow, we made swirls and let them dry overnight. After completely dry we attached them to the foam board with hot glue. This became Steve's picture frame that hangs behind his thinking chair. Our daughter drew a picture of Steve, Blue and our family at a birthday party to go into the frame. If everyone was very observant, they would see one of three snails placed in different locations around the house.

On the refrigerator door there were alphabet magnets, like on Steve's refrigerator, spelling out  Happy Birthday to our son.  As the children arrived, each received a plain colored party hat. A large selection of stickers were on the table so, with a little help from Mom or Dad, they decorated their own hats.  On our dining room table, we covered it with a Blue's Clues table cloth. In the center we had several of Blue's friends, each wearing a little party hat. We then wrapped boxes of all sizes for each animal to have as a birthday present. Baby Bear even had a balloon tied to his arm. Around the animals were platters of food for lunch. Looking outside the dining room window everyone could see Shovel and Pail in the sand box with their balloons, anxiously awaiting the children to come out and play. 

For lunch we served mini hot dogs with mustard and catsup, Blue's Clues Macaroni and Cheese, bone shaped rolls with a meat and cheese tray, chicken strips and a fruit tray all on platters of bright colors you would see on Blue's Clues. In a double dog food bowl we had mixed nuts and combo pretzels. Blue punch was served to wash down a lunch any top bred puppy would love to eat.

After lunch the birthday boy opened his presents while sitting in his thinking chair. Afterwards everyone got to help open the pull string pinata, in the shape of Steve's house. Everyone used their party hats to collect the candy. For the birthday cake I made Steve's house. I started by making seven, eight inch square layers. We took three layers and stacked them on top of each other. Trimmed down each side about 1/16 of an inch. Then we stacked the remaining four layers on an eight inch cake board and trimmed them at an angle to form the roof. I decorated the sections separately and then sat the roof on top of the house. The candles were sticking out of the chimney and we covered a large cake board with green foil, sat the cake on the board and iced a sidewalk and had the Blue's Clues Birthday characters in front of the house.

After cake and playtime the party began to wind down for eight sleepy children. As they left they each received a favor bag consisting of a Blue's activity book, a handy dandy notebook, a small ball with stars on it, Slippery Soap bubbles, Blue's fruit roll-ups and gummy candy, a Blue's blow horn and a pack of crayons.

For thank you notes we used white flat note cards. We drew Blue's head and paws on blue paper and cut out. On the white note card, in the bottom right hand corner, I drew a green crayon and then glued Blue beside it to look like she was holding the crayon with her paw. Across the bottom of the card we printed in green "Thank You!" A special note of thanks was written on behalf of the birthday boy and he then "signed" the card.

Not only did we all have a wonderful time at the party but for Mom and Dad, preparing for the party was about as much fun!