Zoo birthday prep

Owen turns 3 on Sunday, but we'll have a little "zoo animal" party for him here tomorrow, so we spent much of today preparing. I decided to go the sort-of-lazy route, this year and just make cupcakes from a box with store-bought icing. Not as healthy, but it was nice and easy. So much so that they boys were able to help bake and decorate the cake. I held my breath as I let them ice the cupcakes alongside me (I did some follow up detail and repair work to make our giraffe recognizable if somewhat funky.)


We also assembled an even funkier elephant pinyata, which we've been making in stages over the past week. The boys named him "Cutie" and took turns photographing him perched on our dining room table.

Then they went off to gather any stuffed zoo animals they could find in their bedroom to place strategically around the house as 3-d decorations. I heartily recommend zoo animal birthdays. You've already got all your party supplies just lying around in the toy chest.

Here's one Web site I consulted for pinyata-making advice: "How to Paper Mache"