If you’re having a hard time dealing with canceled plans and quarentine life and want something to look forward to, something as easy as boxed cupcakes, a kid friendly grazing tray with what’s on hand, and homemade party hats is a fun and easy option!
Meet Napoleon
See that little guy in the green hat? That’s Napoleon (named after one of the doggos from The Aristocats) and we threw him a stuffed animal birthday party.
I started working at Teddy Crafters, which was like Build a Bear, my senior year of high school, and he was the first plush I ever made for myself. Something about that scruffy fur and his droopy brow made me fall instantly in love with him! Napoleon has been through a lot with me – break ups, graduations, moves, marriage, our first house, 3 kids, and everything in between.
Why a Stuffed Animal Birthday Party?
I wanted to do something fun and unexpected to lift my family’s spirits. Why? To break up the quarentine-routine. For my anxious brain to have even a tiny excape from all of the the heaviness it’s been processing. Because we’ve been home since March 2020 due to my oldest and I both having asthma. We are taking all precautions when having masked / distances porch visits with family. We miss people. We miss parties. We miss so much. I wanted to surprise the kids by doing something completely unexpected, and Napoleon’s birthday party was just what the doctor ordered.
Since playgrounds and play dates and all the like are off limits and shut down, I thought what better way to have fun than throw a birthday party! I decided it was his 15th birthday (since that’s how long he’d been with me), and it was a perfect excuse to throw a party!
Stuffed Animal Birthday Party Details
The Guestlist: Every party needs guests! Along with the kids, each of them brought a “plus one” guest aka their favorite stuffed animal! You could go all out here and invite every stuffed animal in the house, or keep it simple with just the plush-guest of honor plus your family members.
Party Hats and Decorations: I’m a big fan of construction paper and paper crafts. You can whip up just about anything with some paper, glue, and a little creativity.
We used construction paper cut into circles, and formed into cones. Attach the open ends with tape and tie a string at the bottom! We made a rule that each guest in attendance, whether human or plush, must wear a hat!
You can also cut different color paper into triangles and make a bunting banner, make place mats and place cards, or anything else you can think of! It all depends on how much time you feel like dedicating to party set-up. Ultimately the choice is yours! It’s so fun to get the kids involved for all of this and they really enjoy being part of each step.
Music: Find a birthday party playlist on your favorite streaming station and pump those jams. We love the “Kid’s Birthday Party” playlists on Pandora & YouTube.
Party Food: You can go so many directions with this, and everyone has their preference. For this, we decided to keep it simple and use what we had on hand, along with some boxed cake mix.
I made a kid friendly grazing board, filled with fruits and veggies, cheese, salami, and little smokies. We served some of the smokies in a bowl, and some as “pigs in a blanket”. We already had everything on hand for this so definitely try to make the best with what you have of that’s your style too! You can make anything look more exciting by serving it on a cutting board! 😉
Sweet Treats: What’s a birthday party without cake…or in our case, cupcakes? I went with our go-to for kids parties: funfetti with rainbow chip frosting. Lucky for me, the funfetti mix comes in a gluten free option now as well!
An Easy and Memorable Party for the Kids (and maybe you too!)
And there you have it! Stuffed Animal Birthday parties are a fun and unexpected way to lift everyone’s spirits, not just during lockdowns, but anytime! Additionally, you could use this post as a sort of blue print for a stuffed animal THEMED birthday party for your kiddo! Just think, each of your child’s friends can bring their favorite stuffed animal along to the party! The sky’s the limit with creativity! If you throw a party for your plush pals, please share in the comments or tag me on social media ( @kimilove ) . I’d love to see what you come up with!
Here’s to coping, and making magic out of the ordinary.
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KIMILOVE 
This is the BEST idea!!
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