Kitten On The Keys -2yr- Cat Tails

My daughter is turning 2 and has a music director mommy and a love of kitties, so we are having a "Kitten on the Keys" birthday party. 

INVITATIONS:  On postcard size card stock, the front reads "Please consider this your formal invitation... to come to our "Kitten on the Keys" celebration!"  This is printed on light pink paper with clip art of a piano keyboard between the 2 stanzas and cut out to fit onto the cardstock.  A few kitten stickers surround the words.  On the back it says, "Come help (child's name) celebrate a purrfect 2nd birthday!" and then has the details of the party surrounded by small black paw prints (stickers--although you could hand draw these).  At the top, I punched 2 holes and threaded a pink bow through both layers of paper. 

DECORATIONS:  We are using a white tablecloth decorated with black construction paper cutout in rectangles and grouped to look like a keyboard (with black marker drawn on to outline the white keys)running down the center of the table.  Several stuffed and ceramic kittens and small balls of yarn will sit amongst the food items.  Plates, cups and napkins will be plain white, black and pink.  I'll hang a banner across the ceiling that says "Happy Birthday \*\*\*" and has pictures of her with her stuffed kitties and her real cat, Mozart.  The rest of the decor will be balloons in white, black and pink, some with music notes, some with paw prints.  (Both were available at a local paper store, however, you could easily draw paw prints and music notes with perm. marker on plain balloons.) 

GAMES:  (We have several older children attending)  "Cat Tails"--cut strips of cloth a yard or so long.  Have kids tuck them into the backs of their pants with the ends just barely hitting the ground.  The object of the game is to "step on the kitties tail". (Which, FYI, you might want to discuss with young kids to differentiate between a pretend game and something you wouldn't REALLY want to do!)  Set them loose in the backyard.  When you lose your tail, you are out. 

I usually give a coloring page or stickers and paper to those who are "out" while the game continues in case they aren't interested in watching the others or feel left out.  It's like a prize for losing! "Yarn Toss"--hot potato only with a ball of yarn. 

"Watch out for the Water!"--since most cats don't like water, the object is to avoid me squirting them with the hose!  If I get them, they are out (but sure not to mind, b/c now they can play in the sprinkler!)  If you are having an indoor party, you could do bubbles and have kids on all fours try to bat at them like cats, or you could do a yarn ball relay race where you bat at it on all fours around an obstacle course made of chairs, etc. 

FOOD:  "Fresh Catch Sandwiches"--cut to look like a simple fish cutout made of PB & J or tuna and chicken.  "Kitty Kibble"--chex mix served in a cat dish.  Rice Krispie treat mice (from kelloggs.com recipie for halloween cats, just made to look like mice.) For a main course, we had meatballs in sauce in the crock pot with buns and cheese to make hoagies.  A fruit tray, a veggie tray, pretzels and ice tea and pink lemonade rounded out the meal.  And of course, cake and ice cream! 

CAKE:  A store bought white sheet cake was dressed up with a keyboard (black gel icing and black fondant for the keys) pink paw prints and a cute small ceramic kitty on the keys.  Music notes adorned the sides.  I also found a recipie for halloween cat cupcakes on familyfun.com that I used with different colors and placed them around the cake for the kids. 

GOODIE BAGS:  Small gift boxes with kitty stickers on the outside and with holes punched in for the "kitty" inside (stuffed from orientaltrading.com).  Also contained kit kat chocolate bar, a package of goldfish and a package of swedish fish. 

THANK YOUS:  A construction paper black paw print on card stock with a pink gel pen message of thanks.   Hope these ideas help someone make a happy day!