16306

Clifford Party -4yr- Dog-tags

July 2007

Cheryl in Springfield, IL USA

Special Mention

For my sons 4th birthday party he asked if we could do a Clifford the Big Red Dog theme.  I love the show and was happy saying yes to that.  However, I did not realize that the party supplies were being discontinued.  I could find streamers, small plates, small napkins and a center piece left in the stores, but nothing else. I downloaded some pictures of Clifford and made my oun invitations.  I then started planning some games for the kids to play.  I made white bones by tracing a cookie cutter onto a poster board and then I added the paw print game I found on the pbs site.  We hid the bones and paw prints outside since it was a beautiful day.  All the kids were out running around looking for them.  Whoever had the most points at the end won a prize.  I had a variety of ages, so I did an older kids prize and a younger kids prize.  That made it a little more fair. 

We also made a pin the dogtag on Clifford that was a huge hit.  I used red construction paper to print the dogtags.  They were steardy that way and was easier to tape onto the board.  The winner again got to pick a prize.  I found a jar and filled it with candy bones I found in a quarter machine at a restaurant.  Then made sheets saying How many Tummy Yummies."  The one closest to the number won the jar of Tummy Yummies.  The last game we did was a pinata.  I couldn't find a Clifford one but was going to look for a dog bone.  However my son found a horse he loved and begged to have it.  We told everyone it was Cliffords friend the horse.  All the kids really enjoyed the pinata.  I filled it with candy my son likes to eat like Laffy Taffy & Dum Dum Suckers instead of buying the pinata filler.  I had some crafts for the kids to do.  I found some wooden dogtags that were small in the scrape booking section at a craft store and also bought some black string for the chain. 

Everyone got their own tag and got to write their names or draw pictures on theirs.  I downloaded some pictures and made my own Clifford book marks.  I printed them on thicker red paper.  Bought some ribbon with paw prints on them and charms that were dog themes (again found all at a craft store).  We cut holes in the bookmark under the color of Clifford and put the ribbon through the hole glueing the back together.  Added a keychain ring and glueing the ribbon down to keep it in place and then cut another whole at the bottom to run the ribbon through the bottom.  I kept the ribbon longer than the bookmark.  Looked better that way. Then added the dog charm to the key ring.  They really turned out nice.  I also had face paint out and they painted each others faces and hands.   

For their goodie bag I used brown paper lunch sacks and printed on them "Doogie Bag" from my computer.  I bought stamps of a paw print a fire hydrant & a bone.  I bought red ink and already had black ink.  I stamped the paw prints on the back of the bag as if there was a dog walking up the sack.  The front under the "Doggie Bag" I put a hydrant and the bone with a few more paw prints.  They really turned out cute.  Inside I made a coloring book by printing up several color pages I found several places online.  I added some puzzles in them too. Poked a hole in and used red twisty ties to keep them together.  I also included in the bag crayons glue ball fun straw Scobby Do gummies bouncy balloon and some extra candy.  They were a hit.  For the older kids I just put candy it them and bought some mints to add to it.   

For decorations I first made a sign that read "Welcome to Bridwell Island" and put it with a beach scene since it is and island.  On the back side of the sign I put "Thanks It's was fun!"  I put it in the front yard before you got to the concrete driveway.  Once on the concrete you could follow the paw prints in (2)red and (2)yellow that we made to the front door.  It looked like Clifford stepped into two different paint colors.  I made a paw print on cardboard and cut it out for the stencile for the chalk paws. 

Once you got to my porch you would walk through a dog house entrance.  I used two big boxes and used them for the sides.  I kept them bent in half so that it would stand.  I bought yellow and brown spray paint to paint the cardboard.  I made the house yellow but added some brown so it looked like siding.  Then the very top of the box I added brown to make it look like a roof.  I then got the brown paper sack packing paper that was very long and twisted up to add to the roof.  I taped the middle to the top of my covered porch so it looked like a peak and then drapped the rest down the sides keeping them to the side.  Over the rounded doorway I used a red marker and wrote "Clifford" over it.  Once downstairs where there party was held I had different tables for the different crafts. 

Covering them with red and blue table cloths I found at the dollar store.  Used the streamers I found with Clifford on it and also used yellow and blue streamers.  I always put all three together and hung it everywhere.  Had yellow blue and red balloons that I hung on the walls in threes with the streamers hanging underneath.  Made some posters and colored that had Clifford and friends on them that read "Happy 4th Birthday Brennan."  It added a personal touch to the decorations. 

The cake table we had the Clifford center piece with a plate I decorate and personalized using red marker and the Clifford streamer.  I made my own confetti with paws and bones scrape book punchers.  Used red and yellow paper for it.  I bought a dog bowl that had paw prints on it and added Scooby Do's Scooby Snacks.  Made a plate of butter cookies in the shape of dog bones with a cookie cutter.  Then the cake looked like a dog bowl full of dog food.  It took two round cake pans one smaller than the other.  The smaller cake goes on top and cut the center out some.  Iced the cake with red icing.  Made puppy chow with chocolate Chex cereal and added it to the middle.  It was really cute.  Everyone loved it.   

For food we did pizza's because my son requested it and hot dogs to go with the theme of dogs.  Had red punch and lemonde to drink.  Bought red plates and napkins to add to the few I found with Clifford on them.  Everone had a great time.  It really turned out to be some much fun."

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