If You Give A Moose A Muffin Birthday Party

Whew!  I'm back!  Sorry for the delay in posts!  We had some computer "issues" and couldn't upload pictures for about a month!  I'm back and so happy to share with you my son's 4th birthday party, which was themed after his favorite book, "If You Give A Moose A Muffin".  If you missed the post, check out the invitations here, designed by Alice of Qualls Creative.

First up, meet Mr. Moose.  This guy was created from paper mache, by none other than my very talented dad.  He is just the cutest thing and was the perfect "centerpiece" for the party (and quite a conversations piece, I might add).   

I chose to do a brunch (duh, muffins) for food.  It was so fun to put together the menu.  Almost everything I made was mini or a small serving, so everyone had a little bit of everything.  I made copies of the entire book and mounted parts on foam board.  I tried to re-create some of the more detailed parts of the book as decoration.  In the book (I wrote out the book below), Moose gets cold so he asks to borrow a sweater....then he notices one of the buttons is loose.  So, I ordered red, cabled sweater fabric to act as a thick, cozy tablecloth. It matched perfectly!

I made these mini chocolate chip pancake muffins.  I had been saving this recipe from Bakerella for awhile and Micah's party was the perfect excuse to make them.  I served them with maple dipping syrup.  Delish and super easy. 

 

I also made these Donut Muffins.  These are dense just like donuts and are topped with cinnamon and sugar.  Perfect for dipping into coffee, which we had plenty of Starbucks on hand.  Please note, that I am so crazy with the details that these cupcake liners matched a napkin Moose uses in the book.  I'm sure I'm the only person who noticed!  :)

 

Mini chocolate cupcakes with a blackberry frosting with real blackberries on top, compliments of Elizabethan Desserts, one of my favorite local bakeries.  Moose loves blackberry jam, so naturally, I'm sure he would love a blackberry cupcake.  They were almost too pretty to eat.  Almost.

Next up was my homemade Chocolate Moose.  Yep, moose, not mousse.  Thanks to my clever mom for thinking this one up.

The chocolate milk shots with chocolate sprinkled rim were a hit too.  I think my son had about 5.  I stocked up on cute supplies from my favorite Sweet Lulu.   And there is my birthday boy, pre sugar coma.  And yep, that's a moose on his shirt.

I thought it would be yummy to also make smoothies.  I re-created my favorite Jamba Juice smoothie, the Aloha Pineapple (strawberries, banana, pineapple juice, plain yogurt, and pineapple sherbet).  This picture was taken after I ran out of the smaller shot cups.  I didn't expect them to be as popular as they were!  Also not pictured was the candied bacon (basically thick cut bacon smothered in brown sugar) I did.  Not only did this make my house smell amazing, it tasted wonderful.  Check out my Pinterest board to find the recipe I used! 

I am obsessed with this apple pie oatmeal recipe I found on Pinterest.  You put it in the slow cooker overnight and have a yummy and healthy (well, healthy before all the brown sugar I added on top) breakfast.  I got these mini plastic bowls and kept the crock pot close so people could serve it up nice and warm.  Soooo good. 

I had to have blackberry jam.   I set some out on a wood slab left over from Micah's 1st Camp Out  Party and added those beautiful fresh blackberries into Sweet Lulu's berry basket, left over from Drew's 2nd Pretty Picnic Party.

 

For one of the activities, we had a sock puppet station because Moose loves to make sock puppets and put on puppet shoes. 

Moose paints a backdrop for their puppet show, which I re-created.  We set up poster board and had paint cups and brushes for the kiddos. Lastly, we had story time, where I read the book for all the kids.

For favors, we had a muffin in these adorable red boxes from Sweet Lulu.  We also just had to have Moose Munch! 

Overall, I think this was probably my favorite party.  I loved doing brunch-type food and it was really fun doing a theme based on such a cute book...especially this time of year.  Hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures!

If You Give A Moose A Muffin

by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If you give a moose a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it.  

So, you'll bring out some of your mother's homemade blackberry jam.  

When he's finished eating the muffin, he'll want another, and another, and another. 

When they're all gone, he'll ask you to make more.  

You'll have to go to the store to get some muffin mix. He'll want to go with you.  

When he opens the door and feels how chilly it is, he'll ask to borrow a sweater.  

When he puts the sweater on, he'll notice one of the buttons in loose.  

He'll ask for a needle and thread. He'll start sewing.  

The button will remind him of the sock puppets his grandmother used to make. 

So he'll ask for some old socks.  He'll make sock puppets.  

When they're done, he'll want to put on a puppet show.  He'll need some cardboard and paints.  

Then he'll ask you to help make the scenery.  

When the scenery is finished, he'll get behind the couch, but his antlers will stick out.  

He'll ask you for something to cover them up. You'll bring him a sheet from your bed.  

When he sees the sheet he'll remember he wants to be a ghost for Halloween.  

He'll try it on and shout, "BOO!"  It'll scare him so much he'll knock over the paints. 

So he'll use the sheet to clean up the mess.  Then he'll ask for some soap to wash it out.  

He'll probably want to hang the sheet up to dry.  He'll go outside to put it on the clothesline.  

When he's out in the yard, he'll see your mother's blackberry bushes.  

Seeing the blackberries will remind him of her jam.  He'll probably ask you for some.  

And chances are...if you give him the jam, he'll want a muffin to go with it.