14036

Pet Shop -7yr- Doggie Where's Your Bone

August 2006

Kelly in Huntsville, Alabama USA

Special Mention

For my 7 year old daughter's birthday, she wanted to have a Littlest Pet Shop Birthday (lps).  She is crazy about these little bobblehead animals, and, of course, there is no lps partyware etc. I couldn't even find any ideas on this site! So we got creative. 

For the invitations, I downloaded a wallpaper background from the lps website by hasbro (it looks like a poster) and made my own text box at the bottom saying "please come to Paige's littlest pet shop birthday party".  I printed them out on picture paper, backed them in blue cardstock and glued them to hot pink 5X7 invitations along with a cute blue ribbon.  On the inside, I wrote a poem: "Paige loves Littlest Pet Shop, and you may too, but you don't have to like them to have fun--here's a clue A pretend pet shop awaits you, crafts, games galore.  A lunch of "littlest" foods, and so much more!  So come on Saturday, ######## from 11:30 to 2:00 at ### #######--We can't wait to see you!"  I printed it out and glued it to the inside of the invitations along with paw print stickers.  They turned out cute.  We invited 15 girls. 

As the girls arrived, we worked on our craft.  I got these 3X3 white wedding posterpaper favor boxes (they looked like little shopping bags) to decorate as lps "pet carriers".  I made a few with fancy trims etc, and prepared a few to easily glue to the boxes.  I also set out markers, glitter glue, sparkly pom-poms, trims and ric rac, stencils and stickers.  When everyone was there and had made at least one (they came 12 for $1, so I had 36), we headed for the "pet store".   We turned our upstairs playroom and extra bedroom into pet shop world.  In the play room we had the true pet shop.  I had a grooming station, using a small bookcase for the "grooming table" covered with fabric and had hair brushes, ribbons, empty hairspray bottles and mist bottles with a little perfume in them (with water too).  I also have a large computer box wrapped with paper that I drew to look like a cabinet. I cut a small hole in the top and put a dollar store sprayer(for a kitchen faucet) in it and tied a knot inside the box.  I put a baby "sponge" bear I had (used for baby baths) on top and it makes a perfect bath tub.  We also used a doll bath tub for the little stuffed animals.  They had fun taking turns with Paige's different stuffed animals(we have tons!!!).

Another corner had a veternarian area.  We used an old baby changing table and another small bookcase for the "working tables", borrowed two medical doctor kits from friends, and even a doctor's white coat and two scrub tops.  I had a chair in the room that became the "wait area".  The rest of the playroom was the store.  I used two large boxes, wrapped in paper and put books inside to weigh them down, to make two cash register lanes.  We own two play cash registers (I even put flags on the boxes for lane 1 and lane 2 using paper and a small dowel rod for each).  I used the rest of the shelving normally in the room to hold food bags(different sizes of paper bags decorated and stuffed with paper), bowls (found some on clearance in target dollar area for $0.25 each), some aminal toys.  I made some collars out of fun foam and jeweled them with glitter and glue, leashes out of ribbon and some outdoor plastic roping. I even used some of our stretchy reptiles and fish etc.. To make reptile areas (using 1/2 crate cardboard boxes you get from costco etc--lined with cardstock). We had fish hanging in the boxes using fishing line, and birds in a few.  It was cute.

I gave the girls play money and play shopping baskets (we already had them,but they came from dollar store) and they had so much fun playing.  The normally empty extra bedroom was our adoption and newborn nursury.  One side had stuffed animals "up for adoption" --(a party favor). They were in laundry baskets on the floor holding the animals with posters above them, showing each "animal" picture and a made up description.  Each girl got to "adopt" an animal, give it a new name, and name tag (ribbon and paper round keytags) and a adoption certificate that I made on the computer.  The newborn nursury was on the other side.  We used a crib mattress on the floor and our baby cradle to hold different stuffed animals wrapped in real baby blankets.  I borrowed two child rockers from my church preschool area, and used my real glider to make a care area.  The girls rocked and fed the animals (we had baby bottles and small spoons and bowls from our play kitchen stuff).  It was so cute.  We played in the two rooms for almost an hour.  BIG HIT!!!   

Next we had lunch.  I thought little or mini versions of normal food would be cute for the "littlest" pet shop theme. I made little sandwiches from small dinner rolls, using ham and cheese and pb&j.  I also had mini corndogs, baby goldfish, mini ritz crackers, baby animal crackers, mini matchstick carrots, celery and cucumber with dip.  I got the little 8oz.water bottles and little cans of soda.  The girls loved it. 

Next, we played games.  The first I called "doggie, where is your bone?".  I hide 5 bones per girl all over the house and outside prior to the party.  The bones were traced from a dog bone cookie cutter on poster board and cut out.  When they found their 5 bones, they had to come to me for their prize (pawprint magnets (4for $1).  They could help their friends find theirs.

The next game was "Cat Tail".  We blew up small round balloons and tied a long piece of yarn to it for each girl (I had a few extra).  The girls tied the yarn around their waist so the balloon hung down to the floor.  They had to try to step on each others balloons to pop them (outside)  Every one got a prize (lip gloss pots-4 for $1). 

Next game I called "guinea pig dig".  I made "guinea pigs" by gluing two tan pom poms together (one bigger than the other) and added some small googly eyes.  I hid 10 in a big plastic box and did the same in another.  The boxes were filled with shredded brown paper (like grocery bags).  I put the girls on two teams and they had to relay finding the guinea pigs in all the paper (it was packed with paper!!) Each girl could only find one at a time. It was fun. 

The last game was a treasure hunt.  I put 4x6 index cards with instructions to different areas to lead them to the treasure.  The fun was they paired up but they all got starting cards in different places.  I made sure they all ended up at the treasure which was a hidden box in the living room filled with littlest pet shop animal singles ($2 each).  Every one got one.  It was a crazy game.  I painted a lps mouse onto posterboard and cheese pieces (he held some cheese) and played "Pin the cheese on the mouse" 

I also made a pinata to look like a big pawprint (one large balloon and few smaller ones did the trick).   It was time for cake and ice cream. I made mini cupcakes with bone sprinkes and little toothpick toppers made from the oval paper inserts from lps toys(we had been saving them!)  We had little ice cream cups. I served them in the cute $0.25 dog bowls I got from target (they got to keep them).  We opened presents and then they wanted to play in the store til moms came.  I made goodie bags from plain blue gift bags and stamped paw prints all over them in blue. 

The girls got their lps animal, some lps stickers I got on line (7.99 for 75), the pawprint magnets, dog bowls, lip gloss, some stretchy bracelets, a homemade coloring book (I downloaded color pages from the hasbro site), candy from the pinata, and the "adopted" stuffed animal (most were from our own collection, but I did buy a couple).  We used generic plates, tablecloths, and napkins I found at the dollar store (had butterflies on it) but we could have used "the dog" or "the cat" from Birthday Express.  I did not have to spend much, and the girls had a fabulous time.  It was a little labor intensive, but I love doing it, so it was fun for me too.

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