Penguin Winter-land Birthday Party!
While shopping at Target one day, I saw this adorable penguin pinata for $12 and couldn’t resist buying it! This is where the inspiration for the party came. Because I was throwing 2 different themed birthday parties, I needed to stretch the money over both by coming up with some cheap, cute ideas. I opted for making some of the decorations myself and checking out the dollar stores for party items.
THE DECORATIONS:
From the various local dollar stores I purchased: white and black crepe paper, party blowers, white balloons, white throw away table cloth, snowflake ornaments, snowflake garland, snowflake paper plates/cups, black paper plates, black/white napkins, and white utensils.
For the pinata, I purchased mini Hershey bars, tootsie rolls, suckers, fruit snacks, plastic penguin rings, mini recorders, and little sea animals. I also made my own confetti to put inside it as well.
Here is our little birthday boy admiring the penguin pinata. He is wearing his penguin-inspired birthday clothes – a black and white vest outfit. I also asked my mommy friends to have their toddlers come dressed in black and white. My mom also got into the fun by wearing her white, button-down shirt with a black blazer.
I made a fun, homemade fishing game awhile back and thought it would be cute to use as an ice fishing game for the little ones to play with at the party. I placed a blue blanket (water) inside a white laundry basket (snowy ice). The kids had a blast pretending to go ice fishing!
I placed 4 snack bowls of goldfish crackers – penguin food! on the table along with party blowers/whistles.
THE FOOD:
I made my own fake snow by cutting a small part of a white Target bag into a bunch of tiny pieces which I then sprinkled around the food area and drink area.
My mom insisted on ice cream cake from Dairy Queen – it’s perfect for the winter penguin theme! Another idea I saw somewhere is to use scoops of vanilla ice cream as snowballs to serve with the cake.
I also made homemade coloring books for the toddlers as a party favor to take home ~ penguin-themed of course! To make them, I printed free penguin and winter animal coloring pages I found on the Internet to place inside each little book (each page was printed to a 5 x 7 in size). The covers are made from construction paper (card stock would be better) with 3 holes punched on the edge. To finish, I tied a piece of yarn through each hole.
It was a fun time and I was happy to celebrate his special day with my family and friends whom I miss dearly! I think the pinata was the biggest hit!