Kool Penguin Party -6yr- Igloo Cake

My daughter wanted a penguin party for her 6th birthday. She decided this after Christmas so I bought penguin plates, cups, napkins & party favors at Oriental Trading on sale. Her birthday is early Sept but had the party mid-August (before school started).

INVITATIONS: I handmade penguins out of cardstock & printed the party info on blue paper & cut it to look like a block of ice the penguin was sitting on. Invite said Summer heat got ya beat? Chill out with us at ____'s Kool Penguin Party! Snow date/ Snow time/ Igloo(address)/ If you can't come waddle we do? (ph #)" Rain was in the forecast so we moved the party to our Church's family life center. There is a small stage that we turned into a winter wonderland.

DECORATIONS: Had an Ikea igloo tent (ebay) lots of batting for snow trees out of large limbs sprayed with snow 2' & 4' penguins I painted & propped up on either side of the igloo & snowflakes hung on the wall behind. SOOO cute! Also spread lots of "packing peanuts" for more snow. This was the perfect backdrop for opening gifts & we got a group picture of all the kids. Also had boxes covered in white paper & then clear wrap stacked up to look like blocks of ice. Had these w/ stuffed penguins scattered around the room.

GAMES: I had a penguin beanbag toss game (Oriental Trading) 3 bowling games where I painted the pins like penguins & lots of playdough & penguin coloring sheets for activities to do as everyone was arriving. Also had a table for kids to make their own snow cones with lots of flavors. Had tables for coloring & later cake that were covered with white table cloths w/ little penguins & snowflakes & a bouquet of black & white balloons tied to the birthday girl chair. Including invited kids & younger siblings & a few babies we had 30 kids! When everyone arrived we played Pengo (penguin bingo) & had 2 prizes for the first 2 winners (penguin headphones). Next we sang & had cake.

CAKE & PARTY FOOD: Cake was two layer iced in white to look like snow & a cake igloo covered in fondant. Had fondant penguins on cake- one holding a flag that said "happy birthday one sliding down blue 'waterslide' (blue icing gel),one that was just feet & tail as he was diving in & two having a snowball fight. Also had a cupcake stand with white iced cupcakes each with fondant penguin. All of this was handmade by me. For adults made a pesto-cream cheese dip shaped like an igloo w/black olive penguins (wilton receipe). Adults raved over the dip! Also had a bowl of goldfish (cause penguins eat fish) & platter of oreos (just cause they fit with the color scheme!). Then we opened gifts which took a while. Some of the kids stayed around to swim in the kiddie pools outside (didn't rain after all).

FAVORS: found clear cube plastic boxes at $ store & filled with stuffed penguins holding a sucker, small penguin coloring book & crayons & penguin frame craft (all OT). Had the boxes stacked up & looked like ice cubes. Thank you notes had the group picture & note of thanks for gifts.

Everyone said they had a wonderful time! I got a lot of ideas from this awesome website -thanks so much!