Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post as some of the items are affiliate links the highlighted items will take you right to where you can purchase what you need.

Paw Patrol – July 2015  Little (E)’s birthday is EXACTLY 7 days after (A).  This past year she turned 2 and we decided to do Paw Patrol since she is just OBSESSED, with the helpful pups.  Here is what I came up with…

I again found the cutest invitations ever on ETSY and then had them printed and cut locally at Rockland Instant Copy.  I used to go to staples, but Rockland Instant copyis local, a fraction of the price, and deals with my specific neuroses very well. (I like a nice thick card stock for my inviations).

This would be (E)’s first birthday party with stations so I wanted them to be age appropriate and fun.  I also had to take into account that since she wasn’t in school yet, most of the kid attendees were family friends of varying ages.

I usually start parties with a craft.  It helps the kids to get focused, and also makes a nice “take home” for them.  As I have previously stated, I am not a huge fan of “goodie bags” so instead I try to think of things that the kids can really play with, or use.

Pup Tags- Remember shrinky dinks?  Yeah they are awesome.  I came upon a tutorial for them and decided that would be a fabulous craft.  I traced “pup tags” onto the film in advance, popped holes in the top and cut them out.  The kiddies got to color them in and I baked them while the kids played.  I purchased hooks from AC Moore in advance so that they became little key chains, perfect for book bags.

Dino Dig– I purchased some plastic dinos from Amazon and spread them in the sandbox.  At the dollar store I purchased some sand toys (sifters, shovels, rakes).  I covered the dinos with more sand and left out pails for the kids to put their found dinos in.  These little guys became one of the “take homes” for the party.

Pup Pup Boogie- Toddlers love to run around around and dance, they also love balloons.  So I put the two together and created a station for “pup pup boogie”.  In this station we played “freeze dance” in an area that I filled and threw balloons for them to play with.

Pin the Tag on the Pup- Free printable alert!!  I printed this on card stock and cut out the tags… a colored bandana can be found pretty much anywhere and viola!

Frizbee Toss- Pups love to play frisbee!!! For ours we bought some in bulk at Oriental trading company, then used some printable stickers to add our own little logo to each.  The kids had to stand behind the line and toss the frisbee into hoola hoops.  The frisbee’s became another “take home”.

Decor- Auntie’s Crafts and More(Facebook) made my centerpieces and helped with various other decorations.   I used printables from the NickJr site, and a bunch of dollar store items (tissue paper flowers, table cloths).  I also got each kiddo a water bottle that looked like a bone from Oriental Trading (a “take home”) and put a personalized sticker on it that matched the frisbees.

Cake- The adorable and very yummy cake was made by Oh Sugar- a local mom who can be found on Facebook.  I made some cupcakes to go with it and made little “paws” on them with Oreos and M&Ms.

Clothing-  

(E) is wearing a custom SKYE Dress by “A Posh Pumpkin” who can be found on Facebook.  It is super well made, adorable, and cost effective (I would have spent more for something way less cute elsewhere).

Christine Roberts of My Binky Baby www.mylilbinkybaby.com made (A)’s polo shirt with a “Chase” tag on it. To build on that, I created tags for all of the pups and ironed them onto shirts for the family.

This is a sponsored post. All opinions expressed are my own.
-Ashley

Every year as the kids birthdays roll around we typically choose to skip having a birthday party and use the time and money to take a mini family get away. Giving us an excuse to unplug and have some family time. We have done Great Wolf lodge, Sesame Place, Legoland, and Diggerland. This year, however, my big guy asked to have a birthday party.

 S has never had a real birthday party, except for his 1st birthday. Since his birthday falls between Christmas and New Years we knew we would have to have the party at a venue, since our house could not accommodate an inside party. I researched your typical bounce house, trampoline type parties and it didn’t quite fit what we wanted. He currently isn’t enrolled in any dance/martial arts etc. where he would want a party so we were stumped.

It wasn’t until we were having our usual “make your own pizza” dinner one Friday night that I remember hearing about Young Chefs Academy. S loves helping in the kitchen – he loves to help wash produce, mix ingredients, roll out dough etc. So I sent them an email and Chef Sebastian was very quick with a response. The price was in our budget, and they had availability on the day we wanted. Perfect! A Make your Own Pizza party!

S super excited to get started!

I have always hosted parties at my house, so having it at a venue was new for me. So, of course, I had 100 questions, and Chef Sebastian was patient and quick to answer each of those emails, as well.

As the kids come in to the party they are each given an apron and are escorted into the kitchen to wash their hands and find a seat. One of the kitchen walls is a one-way mirror so the parents can watch from the lobby area. This was perfect for our party; the adults hung out in the lobby area talking, but were still able to check on the kids without disturbing the flow.

Mirror/window to see the kids. 

Chef Tina was wonderful with the kids! We had an age range of 2 ½ – 10 years and she kept them engaged. (Parents of the younger kids were asked to stay in the room to help their child)  They began with learning the ingredients needed to make dough and how to measure correctly, each taking a turn at it. (Of course the dough needs time to rise, so they were prepared and had one that had already had time to rest and rise.) Then the messy, fun part came! Each child was given a small amount of dough and taught how to roll and kneed it into a small circle, then spread the sauce, and add cheese and pepperoni if they wanted.

While the pizzas cooked Chef Tina and her crew kept the kids entertained with charades and trivia questions about manners, and food from around the world. We also took this time to sing Happy Birthday and enjoy cupcakes.

The kids loved eating their pizzas that they made themselves. Even some of the picky eaters, whose parents didn’t think they would eat it, gobbled it right down!

I am so glad we hosted the party at Young Chefs Academy. It was less stressful than hosting at my house.  As they say “You provide the chef, we provide the rest!” I was responsible to bring the cupcakes, they provided the invitations, the paper goods, drinks and of course the pizza and entertainment. Decorations aren’t needed – although our party was a dinosaur theme so we had dinosaur cups for the kids and balloons. Chef Tina and Chef Sebastian even had a special gift for the birthday boy!

In the end, this party was a great success! Not only did S get the birthday party he wanted, but we also had a fun time with friends (both kids and adults) making memories and enjoying the experience.

YCA has several affordable party options, with upgrades and add ons available!

Head on over to newcityny.youngchefsacademy.com or
send an email to Chef Sebastian newcityny@youngchefsacademy.com

YCA also offers weekly classes, stay tuned for our full review!