Dr. Seuss Party -3yr- Cat in Hat Costume

For my daughter's 3rd birthday party we went with a Dr. Seuss theme.  I was on a budget so I spent a lot of time researching online and did a lot of the artwork myself, as well as having friends make some of the dishes to bring - I will return the favor for their children's birthday parties in the future.  I found NO Dr. Seuss decorations/costumes at local stores so I had to use a color palette (red, white and turquoise blue) to unify everything and creativity for the rest.   

INVITATION: I purchased a pack of postcard sized cardstock and used the turquoise colored one for the base of the invitation.  I sketched a Seussical version of my daughter wearing a 3 shirt and stripey tights in the birthday party colors (I used a likeness of Sally from The Cat in the Hat) and scanned it into my computer.  The invitation read : You could not would not want to miss a birthday party as fun as this!  Maddie's 3rd Birthday ; November is the month the 26th is the day The party starts at 12 so please don't be late!  Would you could you come to play?  Let us know either way!  (number/address) "  I printed this out in black Seussical font on my computer and used red and turquoise ink for "Maddie's 3rd Birthday" to punch it up.  I added the image of the Seussical Maddie and this was on white paper which I cut out and glued to the turquoise card.  I used a strip of red paper with white polka dots at the bottom and tied a white candy can looking ribbon across the top.  Total cost : 27 cents per card. 

DECORATION: I used an overhead projector on foamboard to create the Cat in the Hat Fox in Sox the Green Eggs and Ham duo Horton and the Grinch and painted them with acrylics to set up around the house.  Streamers in the party colors balloons the doctor Seuss books we already had and printouts of colorful Dr. Seuss quotes were the cost effective and whimsical decorations.  At the door I had a table set up with a Happy Birthday book by Dr. Seuss and a sign which read : "Stop here you see and write a special birthday message to me!  A birthday wish please give it a whirl! For your favorite 3 year old girl!  On the front the back or any of the pages.  It's something I will treasure all my ages!" and put Seussical images including the invitation artwork. I had already put up my Christmas decorations which worked perfectly with the color scheme and the Grinch stood by the tree to "watch over gifts".  

ACTIVITIES/GAMES: Since we were having such a range of ages invited I went to Seussville.com and printed out several coloring sheets crosswords mazes and word scrambles and set them around on low tables and the coffee table with a few crayons.  This freed up my time from organized games and I would highly recommend it the kids LOVED it!  The only organized game I had was below the Horton decoration.  I purchased a small foam half circle and stick a bag and half of Dum Dum suckers in it one of which had a black dot on the bottom.  I printed out a page with a Horton image on it which read : "Pick a Dandelion pick two or three; if you find tiny Whoville a winner you'll be!  Look for a black dot on the bottom not the top; Look and look you should not stop!" And just before everyone left everyone grabbed "dandelions" until we had a winner.  

COSTUMES: I have 4 daughters (54 3 and nearly 6 months) So the birthday girl was the Cat in the Hat.  I printed out a Cat in the Hat hat online and attached it to a cardstock band.  I sewed a "3" I cut out of red material with white polka dots to a black shirt.  She had red and white striped leggings and black tutu.  My older two girls were Thing 1 and Thing 2.  I used white stick back felt and black fabric paint to create Thing 1 and Thing 2 circles which I attached to red turtlenecks.  They wore denim skirts white tights and red and white striped legwarmers.  Their hair was in pigtails which I tied bits of feathery turquoise blue boa to.  My baby was the goldfish - I found the costume idea on parenting.com and used a yellow sweatsuit with little eyes to the hood (made from the same sticky back felt/fabric paint) and attached yellow felt cut out like a fish shape to the back of the sweatsuit.  They were pretty  cute I must say! 

PARTY SNACKS: I printed out cards for each of the snacks in Seussical font and an image of the characters (google search copy paste) for which the snack was named.  Pink Ink Yink Drink (pink lemonade)Green Eggs and Ham(two pretzel sticks with a splurt of white chocolate and a green M&M) Yertles Turtles(walnuts with chocolate dipped caramel) Roast Beast (calzones recipe from Pinterest they were VERY popular) Poodles with Noodles (Pasta Salad) Hop on Popcorn (colored popcorn - made with jello condensed milk and popcorn)and of course the last can of Who Hash (actually found a label for this by googling it and stuck it to a can of beans).  The colorful food labels served as more decorations. 

CAKE: I used a sprinkle cake recipe from Pinterest in a turquoise blue color with white swirls.  We also made the fondant with marshmallows/powdered sugar and it tasted delicious.  The cake was a 2 tiered topsy turvy cake - we had never made one before and used a tutorial from Youtube to find out how.  The bottom tier was covered with white and we added turquoise blue and red stripes.  The top tier was covered in turquoise blue and had red and white polka dots.  I made a Cat in the Hat hat out of rice cereal treats and red and white fondant which we attached with a skewer to the top of the cake.  With the extra cake batter I made Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes (white frosting red cupcake papers with Thing 1 and Thing 2 circles I googled and cut out and a bit of blue cotton candy - which I added just before guests arrived because it disintegrates quickly in moisture) 

FAVORS: I used cardstock leftover from the invitations purchased a bag of green M&Ms and pack of small bags from the candy section of Walmart and made "Grinch Pills" (Also found this on Pinterest!)  The card I googled online and saved to a word file to alter the size for the bags that I made.  They had a picture of the Grinch and read : "Feeling Kind of Grounchy? Holilday spirit can't be found? Just try these little "Grinch Pills" They're the best medicine around.  Whether eating a whole handful or munching one or two These tasty little "pills" take the Grinch right out of you!" Stapling the cardstock to the bag of M&Ms and glueing the card they were pretty cute and inexpesive. Overall it was not an expensive party utilizing the creative ideas of others from this site and others and adding my own I basically traded time for money and the end result was totally worth it.  Also having friends make some of the treats freed up extra time to make the cake and costumes.  It was a wonderful laid back and enjoyable party and the pictures are priceless."