The problem probably started here. (Though blaming The Kitten alone isn't really fair as Lily's heart was set on animals long before the Saturday in February when The Kitten entered our lives.)
As much as I tried to plan Lily's birthday as a tea party, as a princess ball, as some sort of preschool athletic contest, no plan made more sense than Lily's first choice: a pet adoption party. And so, when The Kitten entered our home just two weeks before the party, the plans were already in motion; she just fit in as a brilliant accessory.
The first step was to check in with the moms of the three friends Lily was having for the party. Once each mom told me her daughter's favorite animal, I headed over to Amazon to buy some adorable Beanie babies (and a roll of velcro--more on that in a second).
Tuesday night, the process continued with ribbon, velcro, and some serious blisters on Jeff's fingers as he began to execute the plans I'd concocted.
(Bonus points if you can find four creatures in this picture!)
Using ribbons I found in my mom's ancient sewing box (how cool is that?!), we spent the Tuesday night before the party cutting ribbons and velcro to make custom-fit collars and leashes that the girls would be able to take on and off themselves. Jeff even designed "wrist slips" so they could take their new friends for a walk!
Wednesday afternoon, I stayed a bit late at work to create some certificates and checklists for the party. Using some designs I found online as guides, I drafted my own preschooler-friendly versions.
Adoption certificate (l), vet checklist (r)
By Friday night after Lily's bedtime, Jeff had gotten everything we needed from Party City, and I was ready to start creating some goody bags. The idea was to go along with the pet adoption theme, and I was pretty pleased with the final products.
Each bag had "pet toys" (Animal Crackers), "Puppy Chow" (homemade from this recipe), "cat food" (Goldfish) and two barrettes (based on the favorite animals each mom gave me for her daughter). My favorite part, though, were probably the personalized labels that said "Lily's Pet Adoption Center - [girl's name]'s Take-Home Supplies - Thanks for adopting a new friend today!"
While I was busy assembling bags, Jeff was hard at work creating custom-fit "pet carriers" for each girl's Beanie Baby. (The plan was to give the girls the opportunity to decorate their bags with stamps and stickers, but they were too excited to slow down once they got to that part of the party!)
Saturday morning gave us just enough time to prepare the final stages of the party. (If the "Pet Adoption Center" looks familiar, you might be having a flashback to Lily's Birthday 3.0, when Jeff built the stand to be Lily's pizza parlor.)
And, of course, what would a pet adoption be without a vet to check out our new friends? Our neighbor's twelve-year-old daughter was absolutely amazing as our resident vet (who also helped us wrangle the preschoolers for two hours!).
Once the preschoolers were tired out and ready for cake, it was time for the rest of our guests to arrive--about 40 in total comprised of our neighbors, friends, and "chosen family."
But this blog isn't complete without one more note: the one that inspired the post's title. Even before adopting The Kitten (a rescue who had been tossed by the side of the road in Mississippi at just a few weeks of age), Lily made a declaration: she wanted no presents for her birthday, only "food and treats for doggies and kitties who don't have any." Well, it turns out that, when you tell a lot of animal lovers that information, hearts are touched and supplies abound.
So much was donated that we'll be splitting it between three different shelters: the Humane Society, Wolf Trap Animal Rescue (where The Kitten came from), and a local shelter one of her godmothers will be bringing her to in order to have a special visit and meet the dogs and cats her supplies will help.
All in all, a very successful start to Lily's fourth year!
Post-script: The Kitten probably deserves her own post, but suffice for now to say that she's bringing a lot of joy to all of our hearts--even her big brother's!
