Mama Say What?! is the new name for Thrifty Guardian.

Are you looking for easy Dr. Seuss birthday party ideas? Dr. Seuss may seem like a cliche party idea, but when Target has a bunch of Dr. Seuss goodies in their dollar bin, what’s a thrifty guardian to do?! So in July of last year, my daughter’s 2nd birthday theme was settled….7 months in advance. Yay for being prepared!

Dr. Seuss Birthday Party Ideas

 

My daughter turned two this past weekend, and luckily, she didn’t care much what her decorations looked like, provided there were cupcakes and balloons. So Dr. Seuss it was. When I hopped on Amazon to find some decorations, I immediately had to click away (no matter how much I love shopping online!)

$8 for some Dr. Seuss balloons and $23 for a Thing 1 toddler top?? Errhm. No.

I decided to use my thrifty skills – and love for crafting – and make all of our decorations. And OH. MY. GOODNESS. I have never been more pleased with myself. I’d also like to note that everything I created was made from goodies purchased at the dollar store. #humblebrag

Dr. Seuss Birthday Decorations

My first big project was somehow disguising our weight machine in our foyer.

Yes, I said in our foyer.

We got it for free, and it definitely helped in my mission to get paid to lose weight! The only downside was that our entryway was the only place it fit.

“Hello, welcome to our home! Mind the barbells…”

Given that the machine is over 6 feet tall, I knew I’d have to roll with it or figure out something to cover it well. So, decor piece #1 was…

DIY Truffula Trees

For a DIY Truffula Tree, you’ll need the following supplies:

• Scissors
• Tissue paper (5 sheets worked well for me)
• Ribbon or twist-ties
• Pool noodle
• Colored duct tape

Fold the pieces of tissue paper into an accordion, tie a ribbon around the middle, cut about an inch into each fold, and fan out! For the “trunk of the tree”, wrap tape around the pool noodle and use the last bit to secure the flower to the trunk. Easy to make and a great way to WOW your guests…especially if you have a giant weight set to cover up in the entranceway to your house. (Just me? Weird.)

I had the toddlers paint a few poster boards and used those to make a sort of fort to prop the trees up. The extra trees were placed throughout the house – yes, extra trees. I may have gone a bit overboard.

One of my favorite things about this theme is that Seuss’s look/feel/font is always a bit askew. As someone with ZERO artistic talent (seriously, my 3-year-old draws better than me), I very much appreciated my lack of talent as a strength here. We live in a VERY old house – like fully expect newspapers mentioning Lincoln when we finally tear out the walls – so there are many spots in which we have wallpaper peeling or plaster crumbling. i.e.Nothing, a poster board with an inspirational Dr. Seuss quote, couldn’t cover!

Dr. Seuss Foods

Dr. Seuss’s food is meant to be fun, exactly what you want at a kid’s birthday party! The following is a good mix of finger foods and snacks, plus more filling foods to tide the children over until its time for cake and ice cream! 

One Fish, Two Fish…

This one is easy enough. Pick up a few packs of multicolored gold fish crackers and a plastic fishbowl from The Dollar Tree. This is a $5 party snack that’s bright, colorful, and sure to thrill the little ones.

Go Dog Go

While some might consider this one to be “pigs in a blanket” – a favorite meal at my house – why not put a Dr. Seuss spin on it? Pick up a few packs of crescent dough and put half a hot dog in each dough triangle. I then follow the directions on the tube of dough, plus a few extra minutes of cooking time. Delicious and easy!

Note: A reader recently told me that Go Dog Go is not a Dr. Seuss book. Talk about mind blown! Go Dog Go is written by P.D. Eastman, but it was edited by Dr. Seuss and included in his Beginner Books series.

Hop on Pop(Corn)

We did a popcorn bar for this one, similar to the caramel apple bar we do for our Frugal Halloween parties. I’m a huge fan of making your popcorn versus the microwave stuff. I would recommend hot air popcorn for this so it’s not already covered in butter. Then offer up a giant bowl of popcorn with half a dozen topping options: cinnamon sugar, parmesan, butter, garlic salt, and, of course, MILK DUDS! Yum.

Green Eggs and Ham

If your kids are anything like mine, they might not be so into this one, but the adults will be! Make deviled eggs as you usually would, but with a bit of blue dye added to the yellow yolks, and add some rolled deli ham to the tray. Easy, peasy, and delicious!

Lorax Cheese Snacks

I may have totally phoned it in with this one but it works! Using my not-so-brilliant art skills, I drew a quick little yellow mustache and a set of eyes. I then taped them onto a plastic cookie jar (again – Dollar Store!), filled it with every child’s favorite snack (CHEESY POOFS!), and VOILA! The Lorax.

My husband – ever the witty man – did contribute one idea: Yerdle the Turtle soup. Luckily, I’m the one who does the party planning. But hey…he tries. I guess….

Dr. Seuss Birthday Outfit Idea

Once again, I’d like to remind you that ALL of this can be found at The Dollar Tree. For my daughter’s outfit, I used a red tutu I’d already made for the 4th of July last year and then I bought a red T-shirt. I grabbed a bit of white fabric paint, made myself a nice little circle, and a black permanent marker, and suddenly.. she was THING 2! Forget spending $20+ on an outfit when she looked oh-so-stinkin’ cute in one I made for barely $1.

Throwing a birthday party – no matter your child’s age – shouldn’t break the bank. Honestly, I can’t remember the decorations from ANY of MY birthday parties, but you know what I DO remember?

Playing tag with my cousins in the backyard.

Meeting the newest additions to the family.

Listening to my crazy one-legged uncle rant about Reagan.

Ya know – family stuff 🙂

So, while I very much encourage you to use your own thrifty skills (and hopefully your local dollar store!), don’t forget these shindigs’ purpose – to come together and celebrate life and love.

What are some of your favorite childhood party memories?

Decorations or otherwise!

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