This month marks the premiere of Disney’s new show, Special Agent Oso. Oso, voiced by Sean Astin, is a panda in the ranks of U.N.I.Q.U.E (United Network for Investigating Quite Usual Events). He seeks the help of his viewers to complete his important missions, such as mailing a letter, brushing his teeth, and using the library. Oso is a James Bond type of panda who is in the business of helping kids learn everyday tasks in a fun and special way.

Special Agent Oso would make a fun party theme or play date activity theme as well. If you are planning a special birthday outing, you could turn it into a Special Agent Oso Mission to get the kids excited!

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The Littlest Pet Shop is a line of toys from Hasbro that has been popular for years. It is also TV show that features five miniature animals: Stu (a blue dog), Chloe (a purple cat), Viv (a pink rabbit), Chet (a yellow horse), and Squeaks (a red monkey). The animals live on Littlest Lane in a treehouse.  Many children love these little characters, so “Littlest Pet Shop” would make a fantastic party theme!

For your party invitation, ask your birthday child who her favorite Littlest Pet is, and create an invitation based on that character. As an example, if your child picks Stu, cut a small dog paw out of heavy card stock and write your party details on it. You can make the invitation even more thematic by hole punching it and attaching a small bag of pet treats with a ribbon. Ask your guests to bring the treats to your party.

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Welcome guest party blogger, Wendy Thomas! She is the mother of six children and lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Marc. Wendy writes a weekly column in the Nashua Telegraph called “Simple Thrift”  that offers thrifty tips for today’s times. She also blogs about her family’s budget experiments (including the great hamburger experiment) at www.simplethrift.wordpress.com.

This weekend I tried to do the near impossible. I tried to have a Birthday party for my 9 year old daughter with a budget of less than 10 dollars.

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Williams-Sonoma has a wonderful new pan that will make the perfect cake for any of your upcoming spring parties: a Caterpillar Cakelet Pan. This cake is actually eight mini cakes that are placed together and decorated to look like Eric Carle’s darling Very Hungry Caterpillar. Whether you are having an Eric Carle party, bug party, garden party or just a special spring party, this is a great addition. The decorating and sprinkle items make a great party activity as well. 

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Easter is just around the corner, and you may be looking for alternatives to candy to hand out to your kids. Here’s a quick list of ideas:

• Sidewalk chalk
• Pastel crayons or markers with an Easter coloring book
• A watercolor set and sketch pad
• Bubbles
• Bubble bath with a rubber ducky
• Small stuffed animals (chicks and bunnies work well)
• Rabbit ears (purchase them or make your own pair to wear throughout the day)
• Easter books (small Beatrix Potter books would be perfect)
• Easter cookie cutters and Play-Doh
• Sheets of Easter stickers
• Flower seeds
• Small finger puppets

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Spring is already here! Soon summer will be knocking and everyone will once again be screaming for ice cream. To get ready, how about entering a contest for a chance to win an ice cream party for your entire neighborhood from Edy’s Slow Churned? The company is currently accepting submissions for its fifth annual Neighborhood Salute. 1500 people will win all of the fix’ns to host this event for up to 100 neighbors this summer. Wow! How easy and delicious is this contest? To enter, click here and submit writing or video explaining why your neighborhood should win! 

Edy’s Slow Churned also offers a great planning guide for an ice cream party. In the past five years, Edy’s Slow Churned has thrown 7500 ice cream parties for over 750,000 happy neighbors. Enter for your chance to make your neighbors happy too!

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The Dreamworks 3D animated film Monsters vs. Aliens hit theaters recently. How fun—especially in 3D! You can head to the mymonstermakeover.com website for extra movie trailers, monster games, computer wallpaper, and screensavers, and to find out what monster you are most like.

While you’re on the site, enter the Office Depot and HP My Monster Makeover Sweepstakes for a chance to win $5,000 in Office Depot gift cards, a trip for four to San Francisco, an HP TouchSmart computer, and an HP wireless printer (the film was powered by HP technology). There are also additional prizes ranging from HP notebook computers and printers to Office Depot gift cards and movie tickets.

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