Thankfully, my girls were in complete agreement on the theme for their 4th birthday: kitty cats. They spend an awful lot of time meowing and pretending to be cats, so this was right up their alley. Just as I did with the Lego Birthday Party last fall, I kept it simple so it didn’t cost much or cause too much stress.
I made this easy paper banner using scrapbook paper and a large tag punch. I borrowed a Sizzix cutter from a friend (thanks, Anne!) for the letters, and it only took a few minutes to put it together on a piece of ribbon. I also made banners for each of the girls’ chairs with their names on them. The pretty spring colors looked lovely!
I picked up balloons, plates and napkins at the Dollar Tree. Instead of making a centerpiece, I just used the yellow daffodils we’d picked up last week at the grocery store.
I used a 50% coupon from the Michael’s weekly ad to purchase a facepainting kit. While at the party, we painted noses and whiskers on each child.
I bought a few sheets of felt at .29/each at Michael’s and some headbands from the Dollar Tree and made these cute kitty cat headbands for the girls and their guests. I just cut out the felt, hot glued it together, and hot glued it to the headbands. It was so easy, and the kids looked so cute. Soon, all ten of them were meowing and pretending away, just as my girls had imagined.
I used some of the free cake mix and frosting from last week’s grocery deals, and because one of my girls wanted cake and the other wanted cupcakes, we had both! My husband and I decorated the cupcakes with candy faces–M&M eyes, Runts noses (hearts upside down) and Good & Plenty whiskers.
We played Pin the Nose on the Kitty. My husband drew a cat face on a big piece of posterboard, and the girls cut out pink noses from construction paper. I printed some kitty coloring sheets off the Internet, but we didn’t end up using them. The kids had more fun roughhousing with the dads and playing with our regular toys that are out.
Instead of goody bags, I decorated plastic cups to look like cats–just hot glued ears, nose and ribbon and drew the rest with a Sharpie (I got the idea here). The girls helped me brainstorm cat-themed food for the cups. We filled them with Cats Cookies from Trader Joes, Swedish Fish, Goldfish crackers, and some cat stickers.
Another frugal party–another fun time had by all! As the girls went to sleep that night, M said, “Mommy, I had a great day. Thank you for my party.” Awwwww…
For more DIY projects–room redos, crafts, recipes, and more–go to A Soft Place to Land.
Also submitted to Just a Girl’s Show and Share Day.
