Gwen's Veterinarian Birthday Party

**If you read this entire blog post, you will be rewarded by a funny story at the end**

As Gwen's fourth birthday approached, we talked a lot about what kind of party she wanted. First she wanted a Pirate Party. Then she wanted a Blue's Clues party (at my persuasion). For a short while, she wanted a Farm Party. Finally, she settled on a Veterinarian Party. I was a little worried that she would change her mind, so for a week I kept reminding her of the theme and told her that we couldn't change it. She seemed to have her heart set on it, so we were good to go.

We sent out invitations and instructed Gwen's friends to bring their favorite stuffed pet to have a check up at the vet clinic.

When the big day came, we spent the morning cleaning and putting up decorations. We also set up our "vet clinic". Cathy and Jessica came to help, which was awesome. My favorite part of the decorations were the medical glove balloons.

We had veterinarian coloring pages ready to go to occupy the kids as they arrived

Cole was the first to arrive. He and Gwen chose to chase each other around rather than color.

I made cakes to try and look like a dogs' food dish. It kind of looked nasty, but I think I got my point across. Gwen loved it!

Rick and I are dorks and wore costumes

Rick later changed into a lab coat, realizing that he would really rather be a vet than to have his medical needs taken care of by one.

Soon the party started and the kids had a blast taking care of their animals. The put on all sorts of bandages, weighed and measured them, and gave them lots of shots. They even brushed their teeth. Of course we observe the highest hygiene standards at our clinic, so there were plenty of gloves and sterilized cotton balls to go around.

After all the pets were checked out, all the vets got to make personalized doggy collars for their patients. They were a little wide, so they ended up looking more like neck braces! It still fit the theme, so it was all good.

Next up was our version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. It was "Put the Band-Aid on the Doggy". I put a little bit of red tape on the bum of a big stuffed dog to look like an owie. Rick didn't think the location of the tape was appropriate, but whatever.

The vets waiting for the turn to play. Left to right: Kade, MG, Gwen, Lucy, Olivia, and Cole. Not pictured: Charlie. He must have been running around somewhere.

Next we played "Find the Veterinarian" which was Gwen's contribution to the game planning session. A few weeks before the party, we discussed what games to play. Gwen insisted on playing "Find the Veterinarian" which had something to do with Rick (the vet) hiding in the garage while the kids found him and looked for Easter eggs. I think the egg thing came from ideas we were coming up with for the farm party. What we ended up doing was basically just sardines (the hide and seek game where you hide with the person who is hiding when you find him). Of course, for every round, Gwen kept looking for him in the garage, but he didn't hide there because it didn't seem like the safest location.

The kids worked up an appetite while having so much fun. We ate my nasty looking cake and had ice cream cups too.

After dessert, Gwen opened her presents. She got the cutest, most thoughtful things. I was actually really surprised by it. Not that I thought they were going to give her a bunch of junk, but she was really, really spoiled. She has such great friends (with sweet mommy's!) We haven't even done thank you cards yet and the guilt is keeping me up at night.

What good is a party without a pinata? Actually, I can do without them, but Gwen loves them.

The funniest part of the pinata activity was occurred after the pinata broke. The kids all picked up a few handfuls of candy and left a ton laying on the ground. Who leaves candy on the ground? I thought it was cute, and rather ungreedy on their part.

Gwen and Cole wearing what's left of the pinata

The kids were sent home with fun (at least in my opinion) party favors in little personalized medical bags. (ok, white lunch sacks)

Inside the bag: Dog and cat stickers, band-aids, a cheap plastic toy cat, a mini fuzzy velvet coloring doggy poster, and capsules that you put in water that grow into animal sponges.

I really worried that the kids would think the capsules were candy and would try to eat them. I made sure to tell all the moms not to let their kids eat them. As the party ended and they were leaving, I kept repeating myself calling out to them..."Don't let the kids eat the sponges!"

When the party ended, we closed the door after thanking the last guest. I walked into the kitchen where Gwen was sitting at the table, and she said, "Mom, I ate one of those growing sponges. It was orange." Really? After all that.

I wasn't really sure she was serious until two days later I was helping Gwen in the bathroom. I saw something strange in the toilet. It was orange. I started laughing as I realized what it was. Gwen's response? "What animal is it?" At that point, we couldn't really tell.