9401

Animal Benefit Party -7yr- Adopt a Stuffed Animal

September 2004

Brenda in Owensboro, Kentucky  -  U.S.A.

My son has always been a huge animal lover.  For his seventh birthday, he wanted to do something to benefit the cats and dogs at our local animal shelter. 

We decided in lieu of presents, we would ask his friends to bring cat and dog food, kitty litter, treats, etc. that we would later transport to the shelter.  (We had originally asked someone from the shelter to come to the party and bring a couple of their 'residents' but they weren't open on that particular day.) 

We had his party in our church's Family Life Center.  I rented a large inflatable Scooby Doo bouncer for the children to enjoy. 

The invitations featured dogs, as well.  I purchased some doggie decorated paper and printed the invitations on our computer.  My son decorated the envelopes with dog and cat stickers.  As the children entered the gym, they were given a 'dog tag' with a number on it. 

Throughout the party, they listened for the song, "Who Let the Dogs Out?' to be played.  When they heard the song, they knew to listen for a number to be called out.  If it was the number on their tag, then they could go to "Nick's Animal Shelter", which we'd set up on a large table, and 'adopt' a stuffed cat or dog.  The chosen pets wore their owner's 'dog tag' then and waited patiently to go to their new homes when the party was over.  (I had been buying stuffed cats and dogs on sale for several weeks prior to the party.  These were the party favors.) 

We planned a couple of other games - one involving large pictures of cats and dogs (from an old calendar) and music.  The pictures were spread out on the floor and the kids walked around while the music played.  When the music stopped, they had to choose either a cat or dog picture to stand on.  I then drew a card out of a box. If the card said 'cat', the children standing on cat pictures got treats (candy) and vice versa. 

We actually didn't get to the other activity which involved having the kids choose 'doggie ears' or 'kitten ears' to wear and then have a nose and whiskers painted on.  (We were going to take pictures to send to them later.)  The 'ears' were inexpensive and purchased from a catalog. 

For refreshments, our guests were served cupcakes and ice cream in their own two-compartment plastic pet dish.  (These, too, were donated to the animal shelter.)  Some of the kids chose to eat their cake like a dog or lap the ice cream like a cat.  It was fun! 

When the party was over, we ended up with over 300 pounds of cat and dog food and kitty litter as well as lots of treats and toys for the residents of our county animal shelter.  We delivered the goodies to the shelter a couple of days later and they were thrilled to receive such a donation from a kind-hearted seven year old boy and his friends.  Better yet, five of our guests decided to have 'benefit' birthday parties, too.  Two also wanted to help the animal shelter.  One asked for books to be donated to our school library and the fifth child requested books for their classroom library.  What a great group of kids! We'll never forget our seventh birthday party!

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