Dr. Seuss as the Muse for one silly Goose

David had requested a birthday party this year.  Better late than never.  I finally got my act together and we had a small party this year with a Seuss theme.  It was easy to find inspiration and the theme fit David well.  He is my original lover of all books Seussian.  He and I have read dozens together over and over.  They are one of his favorites. 

Many ideas were from a great blog online but I piece-mealed others, and made up a few more. 

Activities:
The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins--decorate party hats a la the elaborate hats that Bartholomew removed in the tower.  (incidentally, if you have not read this particular book, it is one of my favorites!)

Ring the Gack (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)--Michael rejected the idea of a life-size Gack cutout.  This meant he was nominated as the Gack.  He played the part admirably.  David was up first and he got a ring right on.  He was the only one to do so for a round and on the second round, he was bested by the another 5 year old who "rung" two.

Too Many Daves--one of my favorite short stories of Dr. Seuss.  It is about a lady who names all her 49 sons "Dave" and then regrets it and wishes she had named them random, ridiculous names.  I typed up the poem on posterboard and had people guess David's favorite name of the bunch (if he were not "Dave").  It was Martin O' Gravel Balloon Face, by the way. 

Happy Birthday to Me!--a new Dr. Seuss book that we had not owned yet.  I got it for his birthday and had attending guests sign the book.

We also had a pin the hat on the Cat but did not get around to playing it.


Food & Drink:
Yink's Pink Ink Drink (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)--pink lemonade
Beezlenut Splash (Horton Hears a Who)--water with oranges, lemons and limes
Moose Juice and Goose Juice (Fox in Socks--one of our favorites!) --icees of varying colors.  M loved these!!!
Cat's Hat (Cat in the Hat)--bananas and strawberries skewered
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)--both blue jello with swedish fish and cups of swedish fish (do not recommend this outside in the heat)
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Gold Fish--multi-colored goldfish
Hop on Pop Popcorn (Hop on Pop)--caramel and butter popcorn
Freezy Cheese Trees (Fox in Socks)--skewered cheese cubes
Green Eggs and Ham (Green Eggs and Ham)--green food colored deviled eggs, and ham/hot dogs spiral sliced in a whimsical seussian fashion

For Dessert: we had chocolate cupcakes with cotton candy frosting and white funfetti cake with checkerboard pattern inside and cat's hat stripes outside. 

The poofs, streamers, and seuss props were another fun touch to the white and red table cloths. 

Kids also enjoyed the wide variety of bikes, scooters etc... As well as the backyard swingset.  Adults tried to enjoy the cool air inside (as only the Weylers would be nuts enough to host a birthday party in August mid-day outside).  We did have fans to cool it down a touch.  Abigail was passed from person to person.

David opened presents at the end of the festivities.  Thanks to all who gave him: Pinnochio book, Martha Speaks series book, Space book, crossbow, whoopie cushion, growing stingray, ring capgun, a bucket of legos, a bathtub matchbox car ramp, a batman action figure, and a karaoke/recording microphone.  He has literally enjoyed all of them many times!   (and ignore the scowls while opening gifts...he really was pleased, it just did not show in the pictures!)