Kitty Party (3-5yr) Mouse Hunt

Kitty party-- 3-5 yrs. old     When my daughter received a kitty for her third birthday, we decided to celebrate with a kitty party. 

Using a digital camara, we made our new kitty the star of the show--using his picture for our placemats and decorations.  (This way, all the kids got to see the new kitty, but the 3 month old kitty did not have to be exposed to all those excited kids the whole afternoon!)    The children received headbands with cat ears taped to them when they arrived.  They were kitty's for the day!   

Our first game was relay race.  The children had to bat a ball around a simple relay course in our living room while crowling on all fours.  This could be as simple as a couple of chairs.  While the children were doing this, my husband was preparing the "mouse hunt" outside.    This version of an Easter egg hunt included small white paper cups decorated to look like mice. (We even tied on black yarn tails to a hole in the cup.)  Inside the cup was a baggie filled with goldfish and gummy Sweedish fish and other "kitty treats". 

The kids got bags and had to find as many as they could--(and then the mom's divided up the loot.)    Our next game was a "fishing" game.  I put four plastic fish of different colors in a bucket of water, blindfolded the children and had them pick a fish out of the bucket.  The color of fish they picked matched a color of bag with treats inside.  (If they pulled out a red fish they got a treat from the red bag, etc.)  The children loved this game. 

Some treats I used...balls, cat eye sun glasses, "Kit Kat" bars, etc.   Our chocolate cupcakes had peanut butter cookies on top of them formed into the shape of mice.  The cookies were pinched into a teardrop shaped ball--they had peanut halves for ears, mini M&Ms for noses and mini chocolate chips for eyes.  When the cookies come out of the oven, while they are still warm and soft, stick a red licorice string into each for a tail.  They stay put when the cookie hardens.  The "kitty" kids got to gobble up their mouse cupcakes with great joy.     

As a goodbye gift, I had found small stuffed kitties at a reasonable price, online.  I put each one in a small gift box with a ball and a Kit Kat bar.  The box had holes punched in the top and a kitty adoption certificate attached.  The certificate had a place for the children to name their kitty and sign a promise that they would feed and play with their kitty every day.  The children loved them.  What a great day.