A purrrrfectly great birthday!

Bigboy loves all kinds of cats! Stuffed ones that is. Remember this disaster? He's not that thrilled with the live version that can walk and run and scratch, but soft fuzzy ones... well, he can't go to sleep without one or two...or twenty! Whenever he sees a picture of one in a book or magazine, he makes a precious little meow sound and reaches out to scoop it up into his hand. So when he announced last year that his number 5 birthday would be a cat birthday, I was not surprised and didn't expect him to change his mind. He didn't.

The pink streamers were replaced with blue ones and homemade tablecloths, plates and cups helped set the theme. My biggest frustration with a cat theme for a little boy is that most cat decorations are very girlie. It's either kitties in tiaras or Hello Kitty. So, we had to make our own.
The tablecloth was a solid blue one from the dollar store that I stamped paw prints on using some sponges from the craft closet and white paint. We printed out pictures of cute kitties from the internet and glued them to plates and cups. The cups were fully usable but the pictures on the plates would have to be covered in clear contact paper in order to be used. We opted to use them just for decoration.
I drew cat faces on balloons (including the Garfield below) that bounced around where the tulips danced just the day before. I think we're getting good at these quick changes!

Shortcake wanted her favorite fuzzy friend to come to the party but didn't want to spark a cat fight so we created a disguise for her puppy with some chenille sticks.

Where are the party hats, Mom?
Supplies: foam visors, extra foam sheets, googly eyes, puff balls and more chenille sticks.
Well, let's make some!
Glue dots would have worked better than craft glue if you are interested in trying this yourself.

I loved this shot of the boys playing with some birthday LEGOs while wearing their party hats.

My biggest disappointment was the cake only because I didn't get to make it. :( BigBoy had his heart set on this Garfield cake. I asked the bakers if I could buy the figures to put on my own cake. No. I tried to find them online but couldn't find any for a reasonable price. I even offered to make these mom and kitten cakes for him. Aren't they adorable? Nope. The appeal of a fat orange cat kicking a dog's backside was just too appealing to a five year old's sense of humor.

He was very happy and it was kind of nice to only have to worry about one cake this year instead of two. (Husband said that, I didn't.)

Happy Birthday, BigBoy! We love you!!!