101 Dalmatians and Treats

 Now what to do with all of those leftover fireman party treats....



Dalmatian Spots (aka: Raisinets)



 I sent the dalmatian spots to my son's preschool with the books 101 Dalmatians and Firehouse Sal. I also sent our leftover fireman napkins.

I figured they might enjoy fitting in an extra story while munching on some treats to go with it. For those of you that may not know, dalmatians are born with a plain white coat. Their spots usually appear about a week after birth. Oh, the wonderful things you learn from the Disney animation 101 Dalmatians! (I really did not know about the spots before that movie. Lol!)

Fireman Party Games

We used some very traditional games for our party because they were most age appropriate and a lot of fun. I found a pin the helmet on the dalmation at Party City. It is also available online at partycity.com

If you can't get a hold of this one you could just use a picture of a dalmatian and cut some fire helmets out of red construction paper. This classic game seems to always be a kid pleaser!

We also made a fireman obstacle course. Cade received a fire pole from Santa for Christmas so that was an extra special touch. The course involved going down a slide, crossing a plank, stepping through tires, crawling under a table, sliding down the pole,



and then grabbing an old fire hose to put out the fire. We gave each of the kids fire helmets as party favors and they wore them on the course. (I found very nice fire hats at the dollar store near Halloween) We also had about 6 fire coats that I bought on sale afer Halloween for the kids to dress up in.

Oh, and I almost forgot...we rang a bell to signal the fire alarm and the kids raced off. The children ranged from 2-10 years of age and they all loved it!

Fireman Party Table Back Drop and Cupcake Stand

I love jazzing up a party table for effect. The bigger and bolder the better! I took a piece of plywood 4x4 and wrapped it in brick paper. (This can often be found at a teaching supply store) Next I painted a board black and screwed it into the backdrop. Another small scrap board painted black served as my sign on top (Fire Chief Cade). A few nails, jackets, and helmets later...

I used the rest of the brick paper to wrap three different sizes of boxes to create a cupcake stand and centerpiece. A toy firetruck added some extra attention with a fireman climbing to the top of the cupcake stand. I am surprised one of the kids did not pull it off in the middle of the party to play with!

Fireman Party Chocolate Helmets

I just couldn't stop on the fireman treats. I found some precious fireman helmet candy molds on eBay. I bought some red chocolate from Michael's and some lollipop sticks.

My candy molds were not designed to make suckers but they worked just fine. I melted the chocolate into the helmets and let them partially set. Then I carefully put in the lollipop sticks.

I used an old piece of Styrofoam and painted it. Next I adorned some tissue paper and some yellow strips of paper for effect and....

My husband said this was one of his favorite things and go figure...it was the easiest. Ha!

Fireman Birthday Party Treats

After making the fireman pretzel matchsticks and books I decided we needed some more fun treats for the party. My next ideas included red hot fire extinguishers, dalmatian dots, and hot tamales (an old favorite).
Again, I was able to find all the free graphics I needed online to design the little bag toppers. First the red hot fire extinguishers...

And then the dalmatian dots (dark chocolate raisinets)...

We put a few cute stuffed dalmatians around as decoration.

And then our hot tamales...




And then our popcorn bags...




Here is an up close view of the little bags and toppers.

Have fun...these take some time...but are worth it!

Fireman Birthday Party Matchsticks

I decided to go with all fireman themed food for the party. Less cooking for me (ha!) and it went with the theme. My mom was really excited about all the crafting so she helped search for graphics online to design a matchbook cover. We printed these on cardstock.

I folded them and left a little ledge on the bottom to tuck in the top cover like a real matchbook and staple in the treats.

For the matches I melted red chocolate (from Michael's) in a bowl. I dipped the tips of the pretzels in and laid them on wax paper to set. I found little "jewelry" bags at Michael's as well and placed 5-6 "matches" in each. I stapled the bag at the bottom to keep them in.

I wrapped a box in brick paper and added a few pieces of tissues paper and ....

They were cute and delicious. I am not sure if the kids or the adults enjoyed them more! 



Fireman Birthday Party Idea Week

Sound the alarm! My oldest son is turning 3! We are planning his party around the fireman theme because he is "obsessed." He can often be found around the house wearing a fireman helmet, jacket, and carrying a mini fire extinguisher or a hose.

We started out as the above picture for his party invitations and I bought a design off of ebay for the rest of the invite. I used http://stores.ebay.com/Little-Prints-Baby-Shop

The invitations with the fireman picture above turned out adorable. My favorite part is little prints sends you the designed invitation for around $15 and you may print them anywhere you like. (This really helped when we had to send a whopping 30 plus invites out. Our family is huge!!!) I received great customer service and they promise a 12-24 turnaround.

Stay tuned. I will be posting our party ideas, decorations, and games all week!