A Peppa Pig Birthday!

When the Wee One proudly announced she wanted a Peppa Pig birthday party, I was less than excited.  In fact, I tried to encourage her to choose a color-themed party since they are much easier to produce.  For as long as I can remember, I have considered character-themed parties to be tacky.  Who wants a plastic bag filled with little junk which breaks within moments of getting it home?  Don't get me wrong, I have seen some character parties done well but there are soo many which are hosted exclusively by the Wal-Mart party aisle or Oriental Trading Company.  They lack soul!  Additionally, I had no idea where we would purchase anything with Peppa's sweet picture since her merchandising is not currently sold in the US.

What was this Momma supposed to do?  Break the heart of her soon to be three year old?  Not on your life! With a little determination and the help of a Cricut, Google Images, and my talented family we set out to create a homespun Peppa Pig 3rd Birthday Party.

The invitation... 

(Hint:  Must be read with a British accent!)  I asked Wee One what Peppa would like for her to do at the party.  She said, "Umm.... eat chocolate cake and... jump in muddy puddles!"  An invitation was born.  I do not possess special design skills so I used Microsoft Word to create the invitation.  It worked... people showed up to the party!!

The decorations... 

I used the Cricut to cut out letters then mounted them to card stock.  I hung twine and attached each item with a wooden clothespin.  The addition of the precious characters added charm and delighted the Wee One as she did a lot of smiling and giggling.  It was also fun to introduce our extended family to this special family. 

Fun scenes from the show.  Everyone loves jumping up and down in muddy puddles!

 The all-important stars of the show!

The cupcake picks... George DID make an appearance!

The cake... (Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake of course!!)

As a family, we do not care for fondant so we knew we would be creating a frosted cake.  Additionally, we had just returned from a week at Bible Camp so designing an elaborate cake was out of the question (too tired).  I printed these images onto card stock from Google Images and mounted them onto sandwich picks with hot glue.  They are double sided.

And we just HAD to make cupcakes... (Orange swirl with buttercream)

Orange Swirl Cupcakes / Cake

Yellow Cake Mix (your favorite)
1 - 4oz box orange gelatin
1 tsp orange extract

Prepare cake mix according to package instructions.  I like to substitute milk for the water and butter for the oil.  I also add an extra egg if I am feeling saucy.  These substitutions create a richer, less "mass-produced" tasting cake.  Once mixed, reserve 1 cup of the batter in a bowl and add the rest to the cupcake papers.  (Works well as a bundt cake too!)

To the reserved batter, add the gelatin and extract.  Mix well.  Place a dollop of orange batter onto the plain batter of each cupcake and using a skewer, swirl in.  If you are preparing a bundt, place in four dollops on top of the plain batter and swirl using a butter knife.

Bake according to package directions.  Cool completely then frost!

The games...

Pin Peppa in the Puddle...
I printed Peppa onto card stock and cut her out, one for each player.  I added double stick tape to the back.  I added a "muddy puddle" to a sheet of blue poster paper and each participant took a turn.  As you can see, the kids did VERY well.  :-)

Feed Peppa Grandpa Pig's Tomatoes (toss game) --
We used a thick science project board and my sweet mother painted Peppa on the back side.  We cut out the mouth and used little red balls as the "tomatoes."  It was a HIT!  After two weeks, my daughter is still playing the game! 

The favors...

A Peppa Pig coloring book!  I found the images online and added them into a Word Document.  I then copied them, one per party guest and one for each child in her classroom.  Everyone also received a box of Crayola Crayons!

And chocolate coins!!!  I printed the tags onto card stock.  I got the cellophane bags at Target and the chocolate coins at Rite Aid.