While they’re still young, you (fortunately) get to pick out the theme of your child’s party. Naturally you go for the cute stuff, and I thought (naively) that it was going to be easy to find exactly what I need. After all, I live in a major metropolitan area. One trip to the discount party supply store and I’m finished with that chore. Yep.
My odyssey began with Busytown. My son loves Huckle, Bananas Gorilla and their friends, so I thought Busytown could be the theme of his second birthday. (Just like Huckle, I even had lederhosen for him to wear. Really, I did). I had previously visited a party supply store in my area and asked the teenage clerk if he had Busytown. The blank look I received was a pretty good indication that I would be shopping online for Hilda Hippo and Miss Honey. Thanks for all your help.
That evening I went online and found several party supply sites, including: www.1800partyshop.com (over 100 party themes in-a-box) and www.greatentertaining.com (a beautiful site, I might add). But the site that seemed to have everything I was looking for was www.partypro.com. Miraculously, they had Busytown, although they called it “Richard Scarry”. $138 later, I had my paper goods, favors, treat bags, banners, centerpiece, blowouts, everything in the theme I wanted. Hey, this is easy. I don’t need this stuff until next month. I am awesome. I have actual time left over.
Early the following week, the party supplies arrived. I anxiously awaited naptime with more fervor than normal to open my party-in-a-box, but when I opened it, I understood why they called the collection “Richard Scarry” (no, it didn’t frighten me). Every item, from cake plate to candle, balloon to blowout was emblazoned with “The Busy World Of Richard Scarry”. The plates had Huckle and 1-2-3, the napkins had Bananas Gorilla and A-B-C, with no mention of, gee, Happy Birthday. (OK, so it’s on the fold-out birthday banner, but that’s it). For some reason, this really bothered me. Even the block candle for the cake had Lowly, the apple Car, and the advertising message. I sent it all back, irritated. My awesomeness as a one-stop-shopper was quickly subsiding.
The good news is, Snoopy has recently fallen into favor in our household, so I went back online, and saw that my www.Partypro.com had “New! Snoopy and the Peanuts Gang” partygoods, in “birthday packs for 8″ for $24.50. So, I was on my way, (for A LOT LESS than the $138 for BWORS), with the exception of the favors, which I thought would be fun to find. Then, coincidentally, Charles Schultz retired. Then, he died. Then, Snoopy was nowhere. Collectors ran amuck. Hallmark stores’ shelves were emptied of Charlie Brown and his friends. And I was left looking for a few favors for my treat bags, and the ever-elusive Snoopy cake pan.
When I received my paper goods in the mail, I was thrilled. Great colors, appropriately festive for the occasion. Partypro had definitely come through. But where to turn for favors? I started with the yellow pages, and called every party supply, Hallmark, craft and drugstore in the area (10 stores), but no one had Snoopy or Charlie Brown. I ended up at Party America for plastic utensils, and it turned out that they had all kinds of Snoopy/Linus/Woodstock dolls, mugs, sippers, keychains and bowls, great for favors and the buffet table. (At age two, you can still invite all your family and friends ‘ so we’re having 20). Although happy to have found what I was looking for, what really bugged me was this: as I was getting my $92 sale rung up, (including a helium tank, balloons, utensils and all-things-Peanuts), I realized the teenage girl behind the counter was the one I spoke with on the phone. I had asked her if they had any Peanuts party goods, and she replied,” I think we have a doll or something.” Oh.
I again returned to the web, and found a great site for Peanuts items: www.Snoopygift.com. This is The Snoopy Gift Gallery of Santa Rosa, CA., which I believe is owned and operated by the Schultz family. They also led me to 1-800-4-SNOOPY for a cake topper. Finally, I was near the end of my quest. I am baking my son’s cake, so I naturally wanted a cake pan of you-know-who. I knew I had gone over the edge when I actually considered a vintage 1971 Snoopy and the Red Baron cake pan on Ebay for a whopping $35!! Before I had completely lost my mind, I called a friend who happened to have taken every Wilton class ever, and she had an oversized Snoopy-on-the-doghouse cookie cutter that I will use as a template on top of my cake. I’ll just pipe him on top. (This is after making a half-dozen 8″ sugar cookies out of the rest of the gang and realizing I could not pipe their fingers small enough to make them look good).
I need to remember that my son doesn’t care about any of this; he lets out a shrill of delight if you put a rock in a can and let him shake it. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is definitely setting in.
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Written By: Dawn Gottlieb, Please contact her with your comments or suggestions for future articles.
