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Sunday, April 7, 2013

'Operation Rhino' Birthday Party

 
Last week my sweet, adorable, funny, adventurous little man turned 'thwee' and to celebrate he asked for a rhino party.  Yes, a rhino party.  Which, he pronounces 'whino' and did get me wondering about my consumption habits - ha!  And while I KNOW that he will most likely only remember his third birthday party from the pictures he sees later on, so it didn't really matter to him what we did, Sheep was NOT letting me off the hook that easily!  He's a lucky little dude to have such an advocate and protector in his closest sibling . . .
 
 
Luckily, we have a wildlife park not too far from the house and (Yippee!) they do indeed have a rhino there named Pee Wee, so the bulk of this unusually-themed celebration came together pretty easily!  If your local and have never been to Bayou Wildlife Park, it's definitely worth the trip at least once, because there's tons of animals and the train ride through its 80 acres lets you get up close and personal too!
 
Still, a glance at a rhino from across a field wasn't going to cut it by itself, so off to Pinterest we went, only to realize (surprise, surprise) that there isn't a lot out there in the way of party ideas or paper goods for a rhino birthday party.  You can check out the things we found and liked on my Pinterest 'Birthday Fun' board though, and I will be adding a few of the creations below as well!
 
 
And as usual, I was working under some pretty serious time constraints, so ordering any of cute things we found was out of the question.  Whoever said necessity was the mother of invention obviously forgot about procrastination - ha!
 
Ultimately, I settled on a turquoise and orange color scheme for the party and used my superior tracing and scissor skills to construct the invitation - which turned out pretty stinkin' cute if I do say so myself!  Luckily, only 8 invitations went out, so it wasn't an overwhelming task and Sheep was happy to help with the glue and pop dots!  Anything for her 'bubby'!
 
 
 
Although Sheep campaigned for a rhino-shaped birthday cake, mommy vetoed that idea and settled on cupcakes with rhino toppers instead.  I simply swiped some rhino art off the web and modified it in PowerPoint (my favorite ghetto graphics tool) to fit into my punches.  I also made some number threes for the reverse side of the topper.  Everything was pieced together on popsicle sticks using glue dots and voila!
 
 
Again, since the guest list was small, I didn't have tons of these to make, which made this a very 'doable' idea - especially compared to constructing a rhino cake from scratch!  Of course we used our favorite cupcake recipe, along with some turquoise wrappers and orange-tinted frosting to keep with our color scheme!  They looked good enough to eat!
 
 
I had also seen an invitation that said something about 'having a ton of fun', which I thought was so cute and clever that I used it on the goody bags to say thanks to all our guests!
 
 
Neither helium-filled nor latex balloons are allowed at the wildlife park due to animal safety issues, so I needed to come up with something else to designate our tables during the party.  I remembered that it was pretty windy out there as well, so my centerpieces needed to be sturdy too!  Therefore, I decided to keep it simple, using a couple of small, mylar balloons and pinwheels in the orange and turquoise colors to make centerpieces in sand-filled beach pails.  Perfect!
 
 
Mission//assignments sent - check!
Cupcake soldiers made - check!
ICDs (Improvised Centerpiece Devices) made - check!
Goodie 'bombs' prepared - check!
Battle station determined - check!
 
The only thing left was a 'uniform' for my little soldier and preparations for 'Operation Rhino' would be complete!  I looked everywhere for a machine applique design of a rhino, but once again mommy was left to create a shirt on her own!  Luckily, I already had a rhino pattern from the invitations, which I simply enlarged, cut out of orange fabric prepped with double-sided fusible webbing, and ironed on a tiny, turquoise tee.  Then I adjusted the stitch length on my machine and sewed around the perimeter several times in a sort of messy way, just to give it a little more interest and keep it very boy-ish!  He was so happy to get it and wear it that it doesn't even matter to me whether or not he remembers it because I always will!
 
 
The kids had lots and lots of fun at the park of course!
 

 And we saw lots and lots of animals too!  Though Pee Wee was too far away to catch a good picture of him this trip.
 
 
I think Snacks and his pre-school buddy G-man enjoyed sharing the food between their buckets almost as much as feeding the animals!
 
 
In addition to the train ride, the kids enjoyed the petting zoo and a horseback ride, and a WILD time was had by all!
 
 
I love you more than I could ever have possibly imagined my little man and possibly more than you will ever realize - but maybe - just maybe - these memories from 'Operation Rhino' will give you some idea.  Happy Birthday Snacks!
 
Love, Mommy
 


29 comments:

  1. I LOVE this.. My kids have had some crazy requests over the years, but a Rhino party is new to me..:) I have chosen this party as today's Dare to Share Feature of the Day.

    http://www.pamspartyandpracticaltips.com/2013/04/operation-rhino-birthday-feature-of-day.html

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    1. Thanks so much Pam! I'm your newest follower and I hope you'll follow me for more of our crazy fun!

      XO - Jennifer

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  2. A rhino party...how fun! Love the invitations and the color scheme. Thanks for sharing at our Pinterest Challenge.

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  3. What a fantastic party. I am sure it is something he will remember for the rest of his life. Love the T-shirts particularly. I did a monkey party for my daughter many years ago, and an under sea party for my son, and then I said that all future parties would have the theme party.

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    1. We've always been about theme parties around here. And rhyming birthday invites from yours truly, which is sometimes harder than others! I hope they wil llook back on these 'big events' and smile the way I do creating them!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. Wow, what a great party! And I use PowerPoint for graphics too ;) Who needs Photoshop! :P

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  5. What a darling party. Love it!
    Hugs,
    Marcie @ I Gotta Try That

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  6. How sweet! You should get a Super Mom award! Thanks for sharing at The Shady Porch Rock N Share! Blessings, D P.S. I'm into ghetto graphics too then...I think PowerPoint is great...I use it all the time!

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    1. Ghetto graphics are the bomb! Thanks so much for checking in!

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  7. Love everything about this...it's such a cute theme and color scheme! My son requested a GOONIES themed party last year when he turned 4...which I found hilarious! I think we pulled it off in the end but it was a bit of a challenge - lol...oh the things we do!

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  8. You are so creative! I love the paper for the invitations and bags. Somehow, you made rhinos adorable...amazing! :)

    That cupcake recipe looks awesome too...will have to try!

    Thanks!

    Denise

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  9. This is an adorable party!! I would love for you to share at my Tasty Thursdays linky party and GIVEAWAY. Going on until Sunday. Hope to see you there and spread the word!! Thanks, Nichi – The Mandatory Mooch
    http://www.mandatorymooch.blogspot.com/2013/04/tasty-thursdays-36-giveaway.html

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    1. Uugh! I am up to my eyeballs in the next party prep (a father-daughter dance - stay tuned) and missed the fun :o( Hope it's happening again this week and I will be there!

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  10. Oh, I love this! Everything is so adorable! Thank you so much for sharing at A Bouquet of Talent this week. So thrilled to have you share with us. Have a wonderful weekend. :)
    hugs
    Kathy

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  11. Thanks so much for sharing this at my say G'day Saturday party. I've just shared this on my Say G'day Saturday Pinterest board-I love these ideas!

    If you have a moment to stop by my blog for this week's party I'm inviting my pinning blogger friends to pin to my Mother's Day group board. I'd be thrilled if you could join in!

    Best wishes,
    Natasha in Oz

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  12. Oh how adorable! Your little boy is so cute and you made him very happy. Looks like a TON of fun. :-) Thanks so much for joining us at Transformed Tuesday.

    Hugs,
    Peggy~PJH Designs

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  13. What a fun birthday party -- the rhino theme is pretty unique. Your son is a creative thinker now -- imagine what the future holds! :-) Pinned Thanks so much for linking on Busy Monday!

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  14. Love this idea! And it turned out so cute; I love the orange and blue color scheme. Thanks so much for linking up to Inspire Me Wednesday. Featuring you in this week's issue.:)

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  15. Jennifer, this looks fantastic! Loved the joke about "whino" and your consumption habits. Haha. Great job finding rhino ideas. I can imagine that wasn't exactly easy. I don't think I've ever heard or or attending a rhino-themed party before. Glad he liked it and you got the photos to prove it!

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  16. Super cute!! Great job on the birthday party. Thanks for linking up at Romance on a dime!!

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  17. Really really cute! I bet the little guy loved it. Thanks so much for sharing with Share Your Cup. I'm sure it's not intentional, but I do not see a link back to the party.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  18. These are adorable and so creative - I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

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  19. Lovely Party!!! Featuring you today

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  20. A wildlife party is not just fun, it can also gives the kids a chance to interact closer with the natural environment. Though my son was afraid of the animals in our wildlife party last year, he just learned to play with some of the animals in the party since he can see that his friends weren’t harmed by the animals. Well, I bet your guy just enjoyed the place since he requested for the rhino party. Hehe! By the way, you’ve got great ideas for the party and congrats on being a great host!

    -^ Carlene Boley ^-

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