party animal

long overdue in coming, oh only a week after the fact...
but Savannah had a great birthday party this year!

She was set on an "animal" party and wanted to get planning nice and early. I had trouble with the theme she wanted... there was no specific animal she was thinking of, just animals in general and all she threw out were some ideas of friends dressing up like their favorite animal or bringing their favorite stuffed animal, etc. I tried researching party ideas but everything I came up with was either zoo animals or farm animals, which both seemed a little babyish to me for a seven year old's birthday. But we kept coming back to the stuffed animal idea and I started thinking about how obsessed she is with Build-a-Bear animals and accessories lately so I started thinking that way. I did a little more research and we decided on a build-a-bear type party with everyone stuffing their own animals... and then donating them as a group to children in need.
I researched charities and while the Children's Hospital, St Louis Crisis Nursery, SAFE (Stuffed Animals For Emergencies) and some local shelters were great options, ultimately, after discussing with our foster care agency, we decided to simply go with our local police department. Savannah wanted the animals to go to foster kids or kids put into alternative care, and the police are often the ones who have the children upon first entering care. The actual case management agency may not be assigned for up to a couple of days after the child is removed from their home and if the officers are equipped with a stuffed animal to offer the child(ren), they have something to take with them from place to place as they often do not have anything from their own home. This way too, in the case of any other trauma or emergency, such as a house fire, etc, they are available for more than just kids entering foster care.
Once this was all decided, we were psyched to get to get this show on the road.

Party details!
Invitations:














Goodie bags:
Savannah made them herself (after I helped cut out the felt shapes, she made the animal faces) and stuffed them with animal crackers (of course!!), animal stencils, a clicky color change pen and a notebook.




Cupcakes:


























Fondant Animals!

































































The unstuffed animals before the party awaiting their stuffing:
(f.y.i.- I ordered the animals from here and we were very pleased with them.)










Mid-stuff:






























































And Stuff-ed!:
















And of course some "party animal" games...
Pin the Tail on the Piggy
(whoops, I guess no picture of this one?!)

Animal Tail Tag...

(felt strips velcro'd onto a ribbon belt)






































Duck, Duck, Goose (I think we all know what that looks like...)
and Face Painting...


















































































I loved this party. I loved the idea of the girls getting together to give to celebrate Savannah's birthday and that we had so much fun with it!

Here's one last shot of Savannah and Sawyer outside the police station ready to donate the animals...
all 14 of them; we stuffed 12 and two of the girls also brought their own extra animals to the party to donate as well! How awesome is that?!!