Scooby Doo and A Birthday, Too!

Rob turns 5 on Sunday, August 28th.  Sob.  I cannot believe we are already at 5!  I will be out of town this weekend, so we scheduled his party this past weekend.  Rob is totally into Scooby Doo right now, so that became our party theme.

Let me go ahead and say that I take credit for very few of these ideas as being original.  Thanks to my new obsession, Pinterest, and to my older obsession, blogging / blog stalking y'all, I have seen so many cute ideas out there.  It is probably proper to credit all my borrowed ideas, but I make no money off this blog, nor did I charge an admission fee to the party.  I'm pretty sure I'm not violating any copyright laws.

Rob's shirt was made by the sweetest, cutest blogger out there...Jennifer at Life in the Green House, who also makes children's apparel at Braylabee's.  I did not receive any promotional consideration for advertising, but she did such a great job, she deserves props!

The Mystery Machine's color scheme became our party pallette -- aqua, tangerine, and lime green.  I threw in some purple randomly -- inspired by chic Daphne's minidress she wears in every episode. 

Via the magic of Windows Paint and Staples Print and Copy Center, I made three lamintated signs to decorate with.  They featured some of the more catchy phrases from Scooby Doo cartoons:

If you look in the background of this picture, you will see the goody bags for the guests.  By the way, who came up with the idea of giving gifts to our party guests?  It seems like a nice gesture to thank your attending guests, but the concept of goody bags has gotten out of hand at childrens' parties!  Anyhoo, I didn't give out "goody bags" I gave out "doggie bags"...

I think they were a hit, don't you?  Finally it was time for the party to begin...

As our guests arrived, I made a point of saying, "Did y'all hear that noise?" and "There it is again...what was that?"  Meanwhile, I had previously arranged for my nephew, Josh, to fiddle with this old, mysterious looking book I usually decorate with.  Out popped a treasure map and a CLUE...(map drawn on the other side)

In "the yard of play" i.e. the backyard, the kids found this:

A Scooby Doo pinata! Isn't he cute?  We love Sooby Doo, so bashing him over the head just wouldn't "doo".  This pinata's goodies are obtained by pulling strings from the bottom...

Once the proper string was pulled, out fell 100's (okay maybe only about 30 or so) ghosts!  i.e. Dum-Dum suckers converted through the magic of tissue paper and a sharpie

What else came out?  Another CLUE! 

This clue read "Mashing monsters is what it's all about...go have fun. Twist and shout!"

When all the kiddos ran inside, "Monster Mash" was playing and the kids had an impromptu dance party.

Amid all their revelrie, yet another CLUE came floating down the stairs, attached to a ghost (balloon

concealed underneath a pillowcase).  I didn't get a photo of this one, but his clue said the following:

"Go to the place where you would dine...look under the placemats for another sign!"

What did the meddling kids party guests find?  A bunch of dog tails!  It was time to play Pin The Tail On Scooby Doo!

After all the kids had a chance to pin their tails, Josh discovered there was another, final clue on the back of the game board.  It read:

"With so many ghost friends to help you out, you're sure to sold this mystery...no doubt!

Go back to the place where you began. Discover the TREASURE...I know you can!"

We all ended up back in the living room, and the treasure was a box full of presents for Rob.  I tried to explain that the true "treasure" was the large group of friends Rob will "treasure" his whole life.  Looking back, that may be too deep a concept for a 5th birthday, but you can't blame me for trying!

Finally it was time for cake.  I have to say, there are some great higher-end bakeries out there, but good ol' Publix makes delicious cakes!  By going through a commercial "chain" store, I had only one choice for the design, but it turned out cute and it tasted so moist and delicious!

Have you ever tried to get 12 kids to all sit still and say "cheese" at the same time when there is a huge cake sitting out on the table?  Hint: it doesn't work out...

All in all, the party was a raving success!  Rob has told me time and again that he loved it.  It was chaotic, and I'm not sure every kid there understood the "storyline" but they all knew they were having fun!