14 January 2010

Dr Seuss Birthday Party

Enjoy!

You can click here to see the original inspiration board for his party.

Dr Seuss Green EggsDr Seuss PartyDr Seuss Party



Seuss Invitations
I hooked up with Cassandra on Etsy when I requested help with a Seuss themed party.  She had a great concept AND was {more than} willing to work with me on making it truly unique.  I always design, print, and assemble my own paper goods, but she was so good that I let her do the design work for me, worked with her on changing the rhyme to something that worked for us, and she sent me the files so that I could print and assemble myself.  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed working with her and though this is something I probably could have done myself, it was her brilliant concept.

Dr Seuss Book InvitationDr Seuss Book Invitation

It was a book!  Made up of a front cover, a back cover that contained the party information, and a 6 page story about Finn, his friends & the party in between.  It was the cutest, most brilliant thing I've ever seen and I can't tell you how many phone calls I got raving about it.  I printed it on two blank greeting cards and then carefully glued the spines together.

Seuss Menu & Food
The food was great and because I am slightly OCD in the party planning department we came up with names for everything we served and had little tags saying what it was and which book it was from!

Dr Seuss Party FoodPoodles With Noodles Dr Seuss Party FoodDr Seuss Party Food

The Menu
Thing 1 & Thing 2 BBQ  {pulled pork}
Praries of Prax  {coleslaw}
Poodles with Noodles  {pasta salad}
Diffendoofer Fruit Salad
Yot in a Pot {baked beans}
Schlott's Knotts  {rolls}
Green Eggs  {deviled eggs dyed green}
A crumb that was even too small for a mouse {empty plate}
Pink Ink Yink Drink  {pink lemonade}
Beezlenut Splash  {iced tea}
{beer + water too}


And you know my love of a fun dessert display!

ABCs of Seuss Cookies Dr Seuss Party Food        Yertle's Caramel Turtles Dr Seuss Party Food

Who Cakes Dr Seuss Party FoodDr Seuss Party FoodDr Seuss Party Food

The Dessert Menu
Valley of the Vungs Chocolate Rock Blocks  {brownie bites}
Who Cakes  {cupcakes}
{cupcake toppers also by Cassandra}
ABCs of Seuss Cookies  {frosted cookies with ABCs on them}
Yertle's Caramel Turtles  {Rolo turtle candies}
{And a small smash cake for Finnegan.}



Seuss Games & Activities
Since we had a pretty big mix of ages (from 1 - 87) we wanted really simple games and activities. We set up Finn's ball pit and tunnel activity set so the little ones could play. We also had crayons and giant coloring pages set up along with every Seuss book known to man for reading. We created a simple guessing game and 4 jars set up in the entryway along with pieces of paper for people to guess the correct number of candies in the jar.

Dr Seuss Party Games

Dr Seuss Party GamesDr Seuss Party GamesDr Seuss Party Games



Seuss Party Favors
Another Etsy find! Along with my request for Seuss ideas came this BRILLIANT idea from Mommy's Little Critters. She made me red & blue fish soap! She was also awesome to work with, she gave me an endless list of scents to choose from, I went with cotton candy and blueberry. Even months later they still smell awesome and the kids thought they were very cool! I designed the cute favor tags {so they knew it was soap & not candy} and packaged them up and put them into the favor bags.

Dr Seuss Party Favors


And here are the favor bags! I ordered Seuss hat tags and glued them on to bags that we filled with awesome Seuss stuffed animals that we bought at Kohl's during their Kohl's Kids fundraiser... thank you so much to DentaLori for calling me to tip me off about this! Our original idea was to purchase Dr Seuss books for all of the kids at Costco, but they stopped carrying the 4 pack of small board books just before I needed them! {They have them again!} We also included m&m's just in case someone didn't win the count the m&m game above, they wouldn't be left out!

Dr Seuss Party Favors



Seuss Party Decor
Lots of colorful balloons.  We also printed images of Dr Seuss book covers, stuck them in cheapie acrylic frames and had them sitting on the tables.  All of the book covers are incredibly colorful and people were talking about some of the more obscure titles we found.

Dr Seuss Party Decor

I made the Seuss welcome sign & paper bunting using the Grinched font {found at dafont.com} and leftover paper die cut hats from the favor bags.  Mayor Finn wording came from here.





Seuss Extras
Probably my favorite idea was the guest book.  We had a table set up at the entrance with Dr Seuss' Happy Birthday To You book and this sign. We asked guests to write a message to Finn on any of the pages and had lots of really colorful sharpie markers set up. There are some great entries and he's going to be able to keep the book forever.  It was such a great keepsake from the day.


Finnegan wore a cute Hop On Pop t-shirt.  Dave had a Wocket In My Pocket t-shirt.  Midge & Elise had cute Seuss shirts.  Brenden & Dylan wore Thing 1 & Thing 2 shirts.  It was so hilarious seeing all of the t-shirts show up... they really added to the decor!




There are some unbelievably creative ideas you can do with a Dr Seuss theme. My biggest problem was narrowing down to the best stuff.  Other ideas I loved and didn't end up using... having the Grinch sled {& reindeer dog} to put the gifts on, a contest for the silliest socks, a green egg hunt {use green plastic Easter eggs}, having some of the old Dr Seuss cartoons playing on tv, and Pin the Wocket on Finn's Pocket game that would have been really be easy to create.

Thanks for visiting!  Please note that information on my blog is copyright protected.  You may use any of the ideas, photos, or wording contained within for your own personal use and I am happy that you do so.  If you use it anywhere elsewhere on the web, you must provide proper attribution to this blog post.  You may not use any wording, or photos contained within for profit.

103 comments:

  1. WOW! Now I am jealous that I never got an invite! What's this year's theme?

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  2. Well it's funny that you've said that! I'm brainstorming right now.

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  3. Whooo our picture made the cut!! I'm pretty sure Emily and I finished off the plate of Yertle's Turtles before any one else got a chance to try one. If you were to send some of those down to the bluegrass state I wouldn't be complaining. Just an idea.

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    1. I love the t shirt. Where did yiu get them?

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  4. I was at Kohls yesterday and they have additional Seuss stuffed animals if anyone is interested...I saw The Whale, The Lorax and two others...very cute!

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  5. This party ROCKS! So creative! If you send me some of your favorite pictures I'd love to do a feature in the coming weeks...

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  6. AMAZING!! I 'm so totally stealing this idea for my kids, total Suess-a-holics that they are. :)

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  7. Hello, I came across your party I love it all!!
    Where did you make the cute favor tags for the soap? I Love them!!!
    Thank you =)

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  8. I used Microsoft Word and Avery round labels. The font is Grinched.

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  9. Oh Ok great!! Thanks =) It all looks so good!

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  10. Saw your party via Birthday Girl~ too cute!

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  11. Your party is wonderful and I LOVE all of the detial!!

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  12. where did the girls grab their nifty dr seuss t's?

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  13. I was wondering where you got your son's adorable shirt from. I'm also having a Dr. Seuss party for my two year old and I'm having a hard time finding one.

    His party looks amazing! Great job!

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  14. I love the story as an invitation idea! I'm totally going to do it. I know you can't share the exact wording because you bought them, but could you share the basic story line you went with.

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  15. What a wonderful and fun party. All of your detail and extra touches make the theme. OH YEA! I'm so inspired. Would you share where you found all your Seuss clip art?

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  16. Thanks for the info on the invitation! I was inspired by more than one element of your party. Come see mine anytime http://imtopsyturvy.blogspot.com/2010/04/dr-seuss-3rd-birthday-party.html

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  17. WOW!!! this is great! would you be willing to send me the file you used for putting by the book?? did you do that yourself? you have a great party idea!!! we are doing dr. seuss for my son's first birthday!!!

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  18. Anon,
    If you would like to hire Cassandra (her Etsy link is provided up there next to the invites) she can put one together especially for your party. She was fabulous to work with.

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  19. Thank you! Also I was wondering about the 'Wait! Leave a message for me" paper you had by the birthday book. Where did you get all that clip art? is that marker or clip art stuff?
    Thank you SO MUCH for this blog! you had GREAT ideas!!! :)

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  20. I just did google image searches for the clip art.

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  21. I'm glad I stumbled upon this. We are doing a Dr. Seuss theme for our son's first bithday and you've got some great ideas to build on. Thanks!!! I was wondering where Midge & Elise found their Seuss shirts

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  22. Mrs Eggs- they found the shirts at either JC Penny or Kohls or somewhere of the like, they were on clearance for something absurdly cheap.

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  23. Hi, I was wondering if I could get the story you used for the invitations, I had already planned to do a dr. seuss theme for my sons first birthday and you have some great ideas! my email address is ppiinnkk127@hotmail.com if you could send it to me i would really appreciate it!

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  24. Wonderful ideas! I'm having trouble finding the sets of books at Costco...have you seen them lately? Thanks so much!

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  25. @Marty, they may be out of them again. I would check with your local Costco, mine usually has some kind of Seuss books. I found them in the kids section, in a four pack.

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  26. Thanks, Michelle! We finally found them at the fifth or sixth Costco we checked. It was worth it - they are a great deal!

    If any of your readers are planning a party in the near future, Target just got a shipment of adorable Dr. Seuss goodies in the dollar section! Perfect stuff for favors. The store near me had it out on Saturday, but some stores were just putting it out today. HTH!

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  27. So GLAD you found them! I saw all of the AWESOME stuff at Target! I came home and told Dave that I wished he was having the Seuss party again because there was SO much cool stuff!

    Can't wait to see how yours turns out!

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  28. I want to do my little Boys first birthday in the Dr. Seuss theme and I ran across your page. You had an awesome birthday party, how did you make the food tags? It is a wonderful idea!!

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  29. For the food tags, I just made them in Microsoft Word using name tags that already had the red border on them. I used the Grinched font & added some Seuss clip art.

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  30. Where did you get the tags that had the names for the food? Did you make them?

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  31. Please see the comment just above yours for the tag explaination. There wasn't an email address for me to contact you.

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  32. Can you please tell me what is ETSY? I am already planning my baby boy's first birthday & ironically i wanted to do a Dr. Seuss themed party because i saw abc's book & i began singing abc's to him while pregnant and i continue to till this day and he sings back, yea it's the cutest thing!I thought it was just perfect! I loved your ideas, while i am full of my own! i have been looking for a place to get him a personalized tshirt made. Thanks

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  33. Etsy is a website for handmade things.

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  34. I just bought the Happy Birthday Book for a guest book for our party this weekend! Great idea. Thanks:)

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  35. This is so awesome! I am having a Dr Seuss b day party this weekend & I love several of your ideas! Thank you so much for sharing!

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  36. I love it!!! How did you make the sign for the sign-in table and where did you get the die cuts? I love this, it looks great!

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  37. I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your party and ideas. I had my son's 2nd birthday party today and had been planing for a few months, but just stumbled across your blog this morning. I LOVED your idea about the "guest book" and using the Grinched font. I linked your blog to my post to give you credit for the idea. Hope that's okay!

    www.slushpot.com

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  38. wow that is an amazing party. I was planning on a seuss party for my twins' second birthday. Can you please share your book invitation wording with me if you don't mind. I would love to do something similiar. My email is przy25@hotmail.com

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  39. I would love to see the book wording as well. In addition, did cassandra make the posters and banner too? If not what did you use to make the letters? Appreciate your help. Awesome ideas! email is princepessa137@sbcglobal.net

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  40. I just wanted to let everyone know, I get a ton of requests for the book invitation wording. There is a link to Cassandra's Etsy page if you would like to contact her for rates, she is extremely reasonable and easy to work with. As you can imagine, she makes her living from her creativity. I appreciate your understanding that I will not give out her hard work for free.

    Everything else was created by me using the Grinched font found at www.dafont.com and is free to download.

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  41. I love your blog. Thank you very much for including my red fish blue fish soap favors. I do have green eggs and ham now too :) I would love to work with you again in tbe future. If you can please send me your contact information I would like to send you a private message. What a great party you have planned!

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  42. I love, love, love this!!! I would like to know if possible could you please please please send me your clipart files I am having a hard time finding any am I trying to use this theme for my daughters 2nd birthday!! I would truly appericate it.. If you have them you can send them to madisonlynae@yahoo.com

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  43. I am dying trying to find Dr. Seuss themed items online for my son's 1st birthday party, as you can't find ANYTHING in the stores. But this was great, it has helped me think of so many other ideas of things that i can do on my own!

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  44. Do you have the file for the jar counting game on your computer, by chance?! I would love to use this with my third graders to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday! Thanks! By the way, I featured this party on my classroom blog!

    Amanda
    http://www.oneextradegree.blogspot.com

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  45. Holy cuteness! What an awesome party--from beginning to end! Love those green deviled eggs are my favorite!

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  46. Loved all your ideas! I used your sign in table sign wording. You can see it in my blog post here: http://mommyofgg.blogspot.com/2011/02/dr-suess-thing-1-and-thing-2-birthday.html

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  47. HEY! Loved the bday idea-where did you get those little flags for the cupcake toppers? SO cute!

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  48. Hi Michelle,
    So I finally was able to download the Grinched font, but it is not working correctly. It seems to overlap every time I write out the text. I can't seem to figure out was is going on. Did this happen to you? Thanks so much for your help!!!1
    Danielle

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  49. Nope. I didn't have any issue at all with the font. Hope you get it figured out!!

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  50. Hi Michelle,

    Love your ideas, especially the invitations! Cassandra also made them for my daughters upcoming 1st birthday. How did you bind them?

    Thanks,

    Beth

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  51. I plan on having a Dr. Suess party for my son's birthday. I went to the website and downloaded the font. Now how do I use it? I can't find it in Word.

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  52. Once you download it, you have to install the font on your computer. Google should be able to walk you through it.

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  53. This is incredible! I've checked out this post a few times over the last few months... getting ready for our big three year old Seuss party in a little over a week, I can't wait to share how it all turns out. Do you happen to have the file for your guest book sign? I was already planning something like this, but I too am having issues getting the Grinched font to work (maybe cause I have a mac). dawn.n.russell@gmail.com

    p.s LOVE Esty... got the birthday boy a t shirt with a seuss tie and suspenders, and his sister a seuss pillowcase dress... :D

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  54. How did you get your grinched font different colors and to have an outline?
    This is an amazing bday!

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  55. Hmm.. I will try word art. For the banner - is it printed on blue paper or is that part of the graphic in word? You have so many wonderful ideas!!

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  56. My hubs and I just decided we wanted a Dr. Seuss theme for our little guy's 1st b'day. I googled and yours was the first to come up. This is all awesome! I hope you don't mind, but I'll probably steal some ideas. If I post any photos, etc. on my blog I'll be sure to link back to you. If that's not ok, please email me. Thanks!

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  57. Great ideas!!! We are in the middle of planning our own Dr. Seuss Party! Love your Candy Guessing sign...can you tell me where you found it??

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  58. I love it! This is EXACTLY what I have in mind to do for my son's first birthday in a few months. I'm wondering though, how/where did you go to get everything printed??

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  59. Hi Amy, I just printed it all at home, but you could certainly send it to Kinkos. The Flo's V8 sign I had printed at Costco on photo paper.

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  60. this is too funny that I just found this! my son, Finn, is turning 2 on NYE! It looks like your Finn may have a similar birth day?? Can't wait to use your ideas!

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  61. Thank you for sharing these amazing creative ideas. I am doing the Dr.Seuss them for my baby's first birthday and I am sure to use many of the ones you shared. Great job!

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  62. I am planning my twin's 1st birthday with the same theme. Where did you find the book covers to print? Did you already have all the book?

    Mrs. P

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  63. Hi,
    I am putting together my son's first birthday. I am wondering if you can tell me where you found the template or did you create it yourself for the guessing game sign and the bithday messsage sign. Also, where did you download the book cover art? These are wonderful ideas. I would really appreciate your help! pveleta@hotmail.com Patty

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  64. Patty,
    I created the signs myself and the book cover art was just from a google search of Dr Seuss book covers, then printed.

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  65. Did you create your welcome sign on Word as well? Love the ideas, thank you so much for sharing!

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  66. I am floored by your creativity!! I'm planning my daughter's first birthday party and will be stealing MANY ideas from you! We had a Dr. Seuss theme baby shower when I was pregnant with her and just can't do anything but Dr. Seuss for her birthday! Well done!!

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  67. I absolutely love your food tags! If you made them yourself would you mind sending me the template?

    sherryhamrick@hotmail.com

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  68. Thanks! I don't have the template for the tags available, sorry!

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  69. I am actually having a Dr. Seuss WEDDING!!! And I found your page here VERY helpful with Brainstorming….. THANK YOU!!!

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  70. Your son has the best name ever! My Finnegan just turned 7! :)

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  71. I Love the soap idea!!! I am going to purchase them through the site you recommended on etsy. How did you design the labels? Vyvonne2124@yahoo.com

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  72. amazing! your son has a wonderful mom :) I am planning a dr. seuss party for my son's first bday in a few weeks, i cannot wait! thanks for the awesome ideas.
    ~Lauren

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  73. Hey, I came across and love the tags for the food, would it be at all possibelf ro you to e-mail me the tags you used? I read through the comments and saw that you made them in Microsoft word but I just can't seem to be able to do it. I would really appreciate any extra help.my e-mail address is tiffanypmw@hotmail.com

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  74. Sorry Anon, I don't have the file.

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  75. AMAZING!!! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  76. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  77. wow! what a wonderful blog and a fantastic job you did for your sons birthday. My little man's first birthday is next Saturday and am so grateful to have found this site! I am using many of your ideas and have purchased quite a few things from etsy: soaps, high chair banner, food sign print outs, party hats.... but I am having trouble re-creating your soap and candy jar game prints. If there is anyway you could email me the files it would make my life so much easier. I would be happy to compensate you for your time and effort. sugarmag4444@gmail.com
    If you do not have them, I understand but just want you to know how grateful I am to your blog!

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  78. hi, i was wondering where u got the book for the book signing and the candles in the jar

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  79. Hi Anon, I found the Happy Birthday book at Costco, but you can also get it at pretty much any major book retailer and probably Target or Amazon too. The candies are just color sorted m&ms in mason jars.

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  80. This is a fantastic party. I love all of the creative names for your Dr. Sueuss food and decorations.

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  81. Hi, I stumbled on your blog..I am planning the Thing 2 for my sons 2nd birthday (this Saturday). I really love the idea of the book signing. I was wondering if you still have and could link me to a copy of your little book signing note. I would love to use it. Thanks! my email is jkfritz@windstream.net LOVE all your amazing ideas!!!

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  82. Great party...how would you have done the sled/dog reindeer? That's a great idea I would love to incorporate!!!

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  83. I absolutely fell in love with your Dr Seuss party and all of the ideas that you came up with. Would you be able to send me any of the clip art files that you have? I am in the process of making my little guy's birthday invite. Thank you!!!

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  84. I am just finding this through pinterest and am throwing my Kids a Dr. Seuss themed birthday. I was just wondering what did you do to get your font so big for the banner? Were you able to print that from your computer? Sorry if this is a dumb question lol

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  85. For the banner, I just printed on 5x7 photo paper, one letter per page right from the computer.

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  86. I thought I seen it on here once, but just scrolled through all your comments again and couldnt find it. I was wondering if you had a recipe for the yertle the turtle caramel treats? Thanks.

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  87. Yep, it is linked above Audrey, just click on Yertle's Caramel Turtles above in the list of menu items, or you can also find it in the recipe section.

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  88. Hi, my name is Mily and I just want to say you did a great job on all the party ideas!! This year I get the privilege of throwing my daughter her first birthday and the theme will be everything about Dr.Seuss. I was wondering can you please tell where did the young ladies get the shirts from. I would to get one!!

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  89. Oh my goodness! I love this. I am doing a Dr Suess theme for my little man's first birthday this fall. I just started brainstorming today and I found this. I feel like the party is planned now and I can go relax with a Starbucks or something.

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  90. Who made all of your signs for example like for the food and birthday book? Or was there a special software you used? :) I love them!

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  91. Hi Morgan! I made the signs myself using Microsoft Word. The font was GRINCHED and can be downloaded for free from dafont.com

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  92. Was curious Michelle, how you did create the ABC cookies?

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  93. Hi Susan! I bought those from a local baker here after telling them what I wanted, they came up with it. I think they just did sugar cookies with a royal icing coat, then they used a template for the letters and did something similar to edible spray paint?

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  94. Hi Susan! I bought those from a local baker here after telling them what I wanted, they came up with it. I think they just did sugar cookies with a royal icing coat, then they used a template for the letters and did something similar to edible spray paint?

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  95. Hello Michelle
    I am throwing my 2 yr old a dr seuss party in August and would love to know details about the welcome sign with the portrait. I think thats a cool idea . Thanks

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  96. Hi there Anon,

    I just printed a big photo at Costco, then I printed the letters in the Grinched font on 5x7 photo paper at home on our printer and cut them out. I think the big 2 was an 8x10 photo paper. Then I stuck it all on a foam poster board. It was really easy to do.

    You could also design something over the photo on Photoshop and have it portrait rather than landscape and just print the whole thing. Or use the Cricut to do the letters.

    Hope that helps! Let me know if any of that didn't make sense.

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  97. Hello
    Can you tell me where did you find the Dr Seuss book covers?

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