Celebrating Birthdays> Birthday Party Themes

Clifford Birthday Party Theme

Ages: 4 to 7

Invitation and Decoration Ideas:

With red paper, create a card that looks like Clifford's face. Another option is to create an invitation that looks like a dog bone.

For decorations you could put a sign on the front door that says "Welcome to Bridwell Island." You could also make paw prints to put on the ground to lead guests to the party area. Get a few dog bowls to put snacks in for a fun touch on the food table. Decorate with red and yellow streamers. If you can find a larger box, you could also make a dog house for the kids to play in.

Games and Activities:

Make dog bones out of white construction paper and hide them in the party area. As the kids arrive for the party give them a red goody bag and tell them that they need to look for Clifford's dog bones. Tell the kids to look for a certain number of bones so that each kid gets the chance to find some.

Use face paints to draw dog faces on the kids. While some of the kids are getting their faces painted provide papers cut in the shape of dog tags for the kids to decorate. Put the dog tags on a string and tie them so the kids can wear them around their necks.

Play musical dog tricks. Cut out some dog bone shapes and put them on the floor. Make sure there is one less dog bone then there are players. Play music and tell the kids to act like a dog. When the music stops they have to grab a dog bone and do the dog trick it says (roll-over, bark, jump etc.) If you have very young kids you could draw pictures of what they are supposed to do and show them to them before the game and tell them what each picture means. The person who didn't get a dog bone gets to pick out a small prize and hang out in the doghouse.

Before the party make sugar cookies shaped like dog bones. Provide the kids with frosting, small candies and sprinkles to decorate the cookies.

Food Ideas:

Have hot dogs, red punch, red licorice, puppy chow, and anything that you can think of that you can cut into a dog bone shape such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, jell-o jigglers, etc.