A Vegan Birthday Party For A Little Dr. Seuss Lover
I don’t know about you, but I love planning birthday parties! Okay, I love planning the menu for any event, but when it comes to birthday parties, especially for kids, I love doing the whole thing. When Little Man chose a Cat in the Hat themed party, I got to work on the details. It morphed into a Dr. Seuss theme rather than just Cat in the Hat, but since we read several Seuss books a night, he was excited to see all the characters. Actually, he was excited to see the whole party because it was a total surprise to him! Daddy kept him away all morning while I baked and decorated the cake and my parents and I put up the decorations. And he had no idea his whole family (including his 3 out of grandparents, aunt, and uncle) was waiting to party with him! It’s very easy to surprise a 3 year old, so I figure I should do it while I can still get away with it. Alright, on to the photos!
Little Man was greeted by a 5 and a half foot Cat in the Hat. I found the giant cat printed on bulletin board paper at a craft store and then we glued it to cardboard and the husband cut it out and made it stand on it’s own with a cardboard leg in back.
Oh, and it’s pretty hard to wait to open presents when Grandpa left this sitting right in the middle of the living room.
For the kids, I put together these favor boxes filled with Dr. Seuss goodies: a pen, pencil, sharpener, erasers that looked like Seuss books, a bouncy ball, stickers, a party horn, a mini notebook, a sucker, and a Cat in the Hat watch. I think that’s it… They were so cute!
The table had fun place mats with coloring activities on the back so the kids could multi-task with their coloring and cake-eating.
My dad even lined up the balloons by color on the ceiling!
Okay, on to the best part: food! Of course, the plates and napkins had to have the Cat in the Hat on them.
As always, there were fruits and veggies.
Since we were feeding non-vegans, I went with Gardein vegan tenders to snack on. Everyone, vegan or not, always seems to love them!
My mom made two kinds of vegan cookies: peanut butter and oatmeal raisin. I used the Cat in the Hat pinata as a center piece for the treats, and then after everyone ate, the kids broke it open. Luckily, it was a pull string pinata so there were no toddlers swinging sticks around the house. It was filled with fun little toys like magnifying glasses, horns, yo-yos, prism kaleidoscopes, and a few suckers.
As I said I was going to, I made Noelle’s vegan cake truffles once again. I really didn’t do much differently this time, other than sprinkling them with red sugar and using raspberry chocolate to drizzle.
For my Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes, I used the Vanilla Cupcake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. With a little Vegan Buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, I “glued” on the blue cotton candy “hair”. I got the idea for Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes from the link left by Sarah on a previous post, and just had to make them!
Finally, there’s the cake. Little Man has been talking about his birthday cake for, I kid you not, at least 6 months. The cake itself is 3 layers of vanilla cake, also using the Vanilla Cupcake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking, and dirty iced with the same buttercream frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World as the cupcakes. To be honest, this cake isn’t what I was planning. I was planning on either making the cat’s hat or a red and white striped cake, but to make a long story short, I ran down to an hour before the party to decorate and I didn’t have time to measure and cut my stripes as precisely as I would need. So I ditched that plan at the last minute and went with this primary colored, funky, 3D print design. I think it still fit the Dr. Seuss theme with it’s bright colors and fun shapes, so I was happy and the birthday boy was thrilled with it!
And it passed the birthday boy taste test too!
Well, that’s the party! I know Little Man had a great time and hopefully everyone else did too!
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I Eat Trees is a blog featuring my adventures in all things vegan. My favorite recipes, snack food finds, and restaurant trials are all on the menu so enjoy!
Adorable! I love the whole thing… especially your thing 1 and thing 2 cupcakes. Makes me wish my kids were still little
I hate to be reductive but…
awwwwwwwwww!
Wow, what an amazing birthday party. I love the cardboard cutout idea, so clever.
When you read news stories about parents who spend $32,000 on a 6-year old’s birthday party (http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/parents-spend-32000-on-a-6th-birthday-party/) and then compare it to the Cat In the Hat/Dr. Suess party you put on for your son, there’s no comparison!!! Yours wins hands down!! What attention to detail, thoughtfulness, hard work & love you put into making his 3rd birthday party something special. Well done, Keri!
P.S. The Thing 1 & Thing 2 cupcakes are sooooo neat!! And the cake ~ WOW!
Oh my gosh I am blown away! What a lucky little guy! Can you come throw me a b-day party? I love it all and especially that it’s vegan. The thing cupcakes are so cute and I love that cake too. It’s all perfect.
I nominate you Mother of the Year! What an amazing display of vegan love and creativity!
Everything looks fantastic. I’m sure he will remember this party for ever. I am definitely bookmarking this post.
Love it! The cake and cupcakes look great!
That is a really cute party. You did a great job planing everything. It looks like the birthday Boy had a great time.
WOW! What special memories Little Man will have!!! Very impressive! You are insanely talented! That cake is AWESOME! Everything is top notch. Your love for family and vegan shines through in your display of “sweet” affection.
Can you be the birthday planner/caterer at my next birthday party? I love it!
Even though I don’t comment very often I read all your post and truly enjoy your blog.
Love this post and the way you made the birthday party, that is awesome!
I also like to plan and decorate the cake in the theme my son chooses every year. It takes time, but it is fun to make it and so worthy when you see the smile on their faces! My son is turning 9 at the end of this month and we will have a soccer theme party. It will be at the indoors soccer place where he used to play, but I still can make the cake and bring in the food!
Ana
soo cute! I love how the goodie bags are filled with fun non-food stuff
This is so cute! Terrific job on the cake, it fits the theme perfectly. I really love the color coordinated balloons
Those truffles look amazing!
That looks like an awesome party! I would have loved that as a kid….hell, who am I kidding, I’d dig it today
Great job!
perfect timing, too, because it was also dr. seuss’ birthday! i bet he would have appreciated this beautiful event : ) can you email me a piece of that cake as an attachment?
Thank you SO much everyone!! I *really* appreciate all of your sweet comments!
Oh my gosh, what a gorgeous cake! I am majorly impressed!
where do you find the cat in the hat toothpicks for the food? i would like to get some for my sons party
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I second previous comment. This can potentialy ruin my money gaining after work craft activity. I didn’t see that comming. Thank You very much for this article and informations.
You were down to an HOUR?
I am just amazed by the amount of creativity and care that went into this birthday party.
I can’t wait to show this page to others so they can ask, “That’s a VEGAN cake?!”
I absolutely love Dr. Seuss! However, I’m allergic to red food coloring, so I’d have to make a few modifications. Did you make your own fondant? I’d love to see a gelatin-free fondant recipe or know where you bought it. I can’t find any without gelatin.