“Oh, the places you’ll go!” Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Seuss Geisel in 1904, authored and illustrated 44 children’s books and even after he passed in 1991, continues to be among the best-selling children’s authors in the world. http://www.seussville.com/main.php?section=home&isbn=&catalogID=&eventID= Since so many kids and their parents love Dr. Seuss, you may want to know how to plan a Dr. Seuss theme party.

One of Sr. Seuss’s most recognizable characters is the Cat in the Hat, but there are dozens more, many of which lots of people have forgotten about. With 44 titles, you’ll have a lot to choose from, with all the characters and the colorful illustrations to use for decorating ideas.

Even though the Cat in the Hat is popular with party planners, and many Dr. Seuss parties are centered around him, this article will incorporate several more characters and books, to provide you with lots of options. Once all the ideas are put together, you should have a wonderful Dr. Seuss theme party. http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/dr_seuss_party.html

Before you begin planning the party, try to collect as many Dr. Seuss books as you can. Most likely, if you’re a fan, you will have some of your own. You can borrow some from friends or the library, but the idea will be to spread them around the party for decoration and for kids or parents to read if they’d like. You’ll also use them for props when you serve Green Eggs and Ham and Oobleck, count the Colored Goldfish (there are no blue ones!), and many more fun ideas for your party. Therefore, borrowed copies could get a bit “beat up.” It’s wiser to use your own.

Frequently, Dr. Seuss parties for a birthday celebration. For all the obvious reasons, they are also perfect for teachers who want to plan a special day at school, or for a play date or Mommy and Me, or are very popular for baby showers. http://baby-shower.yeahbaby.com/theme.php?page=Dr-Seuss-baby-shower-theme For the purposes of this How To page, the party will be arranged for a Dr. Seuss birthday, but easily adaptable for your other party purposes.

Invitations: There are three basic options for invitations for your party - make them yourself, buy them at the party store, or have custom invitations designed if it is a particularly special event. If you make your own, you can simply buy red construction paper, cover it with Dr. Seuss stickers and include your information on the inside. If you do want the Cat in the Hat to be the party ambassador (much like many Disney parties feature Mickey Mouse), you can readily find Cat in the Hat invitations at the party store. If you’d like to include more characters, you might have to look a bit further, but search under “Dr. Seuss Invitations.” There you are likely to come across invitations featuring Sam I Am, The Grinch, Horton, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Fox in Sox, the Sneetches, a Yellow Fish, and (of course) The Cat in the Hat. With this sort of invitation, you have a lot of options for incorporating the books with activities, decorations, party supplies and party food.

Goody Bags: If you did decide to “mix it up” with the characters, you might want to consider the following items for the goody bags you’ll give the guests to take home. Each of them can be found by searching the individual items: “Horton Hears a Who!” temporary tattoos; Dr. Seuss sticker sheets; “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” pencils; Dr. Seuss bookmarks; Dr. Seuss pens; Dr. Seuss bounce balls

Decorations: Even if he is not the focal point of the party, you can buy a big “Cat in the Hat Welcome Vertical Banner” for the front door. You can punctuate the decorations with the characters, and then fill in with solid colors. For instance, if you search under “Dr. Seuss 18" Foil Balloon, you can find them with several characters on them, or Sam I Am and/or The Cat in the Hat. You can then take the colors depicted on the larger Mylar balloons and have the rest be solid color latex balloons. Helium is required for the Mylar and recommended for the latex.

“Dr. Seuss Removable Wall Decorations” cling to the walls and include even more characters like Yertle the Turtle, The Lorax, The Grinch and Max – there are about 10, depending on the manufacturer.

Party Supplies: You can go one of two ways with this idea – you can either buy a table cover that is covered with images, or buy a solid color table cloth and then your paper plates, etc., with characters on them. Red is a good tie-in color for Dr. Seuss.

There are “Dr. Seuss Deluxe Party Packs” with items for 8 guests. Here’s an example of one of these packs: invitations (multiple characters), dinner plates (Cat in the Hat), paper cups (features Horton and other characters), activity placemats (games and puzzles printed on the back), red forks and spoons, 16 napkins (multiple characters), red solid-color tablecover, centerpiece (multiple characters), Mylar balloon (Sam I Am on one side, multiple characters on the other), 18 balloons (3 colors – red, yellow, blue), curling ribbon (3 colors – red, yellow, blue), crepe paper streamers (3 colors - white, red, yellow) “mini foil party balloons” confetti and red cake candles.

Even if you do not decide to buy a packaged set, this represents a comprehensive list of the items you’ll need. You can buy “add ons” if you need more of something, or if you want to add more items, such as dessert plates, paper hats, thank-you notes, favor boxes, or a wide variety of other Dr. Seuss items.

Food: If you plan to take food ideas and activities based on the books and their characters, you can have a lot of fun with creative ideas. http://www.imperfectparent.com/books/ For all of these ideas, put signs on the food table next to each item. “Truffula Tree Tufts” from the Lorax (he said it was okay) – cotton candy. “Yink’s Pink Ink” - in “One Fish, Two Fish,” the Yink loves to drink pink ink. Any pink party drink will do. “Sneetch Belly Stars” – star shaped cookies, cut with a cookie cutter, and frosted green. “Oobleck” – green Jello/pudding. http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/dr_seuss_parties_3.html

If you search under “Green Eggs and Ham: Recipes,” you will find three recipes for green eggs and ham. http://www.seussville.com/titles/greeneggs/recipes.html

A Cat in the Hat Snack – You’ll need Ritz crackers, gummy lifesavers and a little vanilla frosting. The recipe is on “Activity Village.co.uk” http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/dr_seuss_recipes.htm

Activities: In “One Fish, Two Fish” the fish come in several different colors. In “Goldfish Colors” snack crackers, ask the kids to name the color before they eat the fish. There do not appear to be any blue ones, so if you ask the kids to see if they can find a blue fish, the game can become a search – great fun for color matching. http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/ProductDetail.aspx?catID=773&prdID=112152

Play the “Sneetch Says” game – make green belly stars, enough to go around, and let the kids hold them next to their tummies. Play a game of “Simon Says,” but with the leader of the game saying, “Sneetch says, Star On!” and “Sneetch says, star off!” then “Put on your star!” Ohhhh – someone is out, and the game proceeds until you have one sneetch and a star left standing. Take a break and eat marshmallows on a blunt stick, toasted or plain, just like the sneetches do at the end of the story.

While it’s marshmallow time, the kids can listen to someone read “The Sneetches” to them, or they can watch a DVD of the animated version.

There are free coloring pages online, if the kids would appreciate some quiet coloring time, perhaps while watching the DVD or listening to the story, if someone gets restless. http://coloringpagesforkids.info/seuss-coloring-pages/

If the kids are old enough, you can find a Cat in the Hat connect the numbers, and a Cat in the Hat lost hat maze, which are also coloring pages. http://www.seussville.com//games/dots/catdot.html , http://www.seussville.com//games/maze/