Muskox Birthday

When I asked my daughter what kind of birthday party she would like, I was not expecting "MUSKOX!"  In fact my first response was something along the lines of, "REALLY?!"  Unbeknownst to me muskox are fluffy, and comfortable, AND her favorite animal!  Who knew.  After the initial shock, I must admit I was really, really excited to have a muskox party.  She knew exactly what she wanted, a muskox pinata, a Pin the Tail on the Muskox game, muskox masks for all her friends, and a muskox cake.

Party preparations started with the muskox pinata.  "So what color would you like the muskox to be?" "BLUE!  I would like a BLUE muskox!"  Obviously, what a silly question.  So early on the muskox party turned into the blue muskox party.  During the making of the pinata, we went from just any ol' blue muskox to "Rachel"...."Rachel the Big Blue Muskox".  

The only problem with naming a pinata is that it makes the thought of breaking the pinata terribly stressful....which is how I ended up making two pinatas and Rachel became a party decoration and NOT a pinata.  

Finally the day of the party arrived!  As requested, we played Pin the Tail on the Muskox.  In my experience, Pin the Tail on the Whatever is wildly popular with the young ones.  Muskox tail pinning was no exception.  

I enjoy making the games a part of the party decoration.  As it turns out, I found painting blue muskoxen very satisfying.....so satisfying we add another game/party decoration....and another blue muskox....

This game we called "Wrangle the Muskox".  Basically a game of ring toss, we used hula hoops and a the muskox painting attached to a post.  We had three hula hoops going at once which made waiting for your turn much shorter, and the game more enjoyable.  

Rachel had her moment in the spotlight when we played, "Feed the Muskox".  I wrote a blog post a few years ago titled, "The Ultimate Birthday Party Game Guide".   Bean Bag toss is one of the tried and true favorites, and can fit almost any themed party.  Like the hula hoops in the ring toss, we had many bean bags making it unnecessary to wait long for a turn.  My son and his friends helped things run smoothly by tossing the bean bags back to the waiting crowd.  

We used the muskox masks in a game of chase.  I gave all the children muskox masks and one a wolf mask. Once you were tagged by the wolf you switched your muskox mask for a wolf mask and became a wolf until everyone was a wolf.  The kids played this game for a very long time and when it was finally over we were very ready for cake! 

OK, fair warning.....no mocking the cake.  If you are ever tasked with making a blue muskox cake with cream cheese frosting and you succeed in making an amazing cake, then you can mock my cake...but until then, only smiles and nods allowed.  It tasted good, and she loved it.  

Our last hoorah was the pinata.  As promised, Rachel was spared.  The pinata was filled with candy and small plastic animals.  

Blue Muskox turned out to be one of my favorite themed birthday parties to create.  Most importantly, our 7 year old had the, "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!"