Blues Clues Party Guide

• Blue and yellow balloons and streamers can give a real blues clues look.
• Put inexpensive blues clues figures around the house
• Put life size blues clues stand ups and blues clues posters through the house.
• Put paw prints leading from the parking area to the front door.

Who’s That Pup?
Ask your guests to bring a baby photo from when they were about 1-year-old, and a puppy photo of their dog (if they have a dog, of course). Put the photos into a large envelope until all guests have arrived. Then attach photos to a board or wall and ask everyone to match pictures to the correct guests!

Mr. Salt’s Baby Food Wonder
It may have been a long time since some of your guests have tried baby food. Test their bravery and curiosity with this fun taste test (no seasoning allowed)! Purchase 5-10 jars of baby food in different flavors. Cover the labels with paper and number the jars. Give each guest a paper, pen and spoon. Invite everyone to taste a little from each jar and write down their guesses as to what the correct flavors are. The person with the most correct guesses wins.

Handy Dandy Notebook Trivia
See how well your guests know the birthday child. Pass out notebooks and pens, then ask questions. Good ones might be time of birth, middle name, birth height and weight, first word, favorite toy, dates child first started to crawl or walk, etc. See who captures the most facts in their notebook!

Bury It
Select a future age for your birthday baby, and ask guests to write a letter to him or her at that age. Provide colored paper, envelopes and pens. Use a shoebox or popcorn tin as a time capsule. Collect all letters, the day’s newspaper clippings and photos from the party. Put everything in the time capsule and seal it up. “Bury it” somewhere in the house, to be opened at a party years in the future.

The Paw Print Express
Put on a favorite kids’ music CD and invite guests to form a human weiner dog (train) that moves from room to room, in time to the music. Invite everyone to sing along.

Puppy Tale
Select a picture book with dogs in the story (perhaps a favorite Blue’s Clues adventure). Seat everyone in a circle to hear the tale. Toddlers may not understand the words, but they’ll enjoy looking at the pictures.

Hot Doggie
Put on lively music. Seat everyone in a circle. Invite guests to pass around a stuffed dog (Magenta and Blue toys are perfect) while the music plays. When music stops, the player holding the dog wins a treat. Continue until everyone has won a prize, or invite kids who have already won to give their second prize to someone who hasn’t. (Prepare them for this by explaining before game begins.)

Mailbox Fetch
Roll up a small section of newspaper for each guest and cover it in plastic wrap. Divide guests into 2 teams and set out a pile of newspapers for each, a short distance from the starting line. When the command is given, the first “pooch” on each team crawls to its pile at their imaginary “mailbox” and picks up a paper in its mouth. Then the pup returns and drops the paper. Second player goes, and so on, until the entire team has fetched a paper. The first team to finish wins! Award the winning team candy dog bones or bone-shaped cookies.

Magenta & Blue’s Best Barks Contest
Enlist adults to be judges of the competition. (If possible, record the event on video—it’ll be fun to watch later.) Give each “dog” a chance to demonstrate his or her best bark. When everyone has had a turn, award prizes (like dog bone cookies) for the loudest, saddest, squeakiest, most real, funniest, etc., so everybody wins.

Mail your blues clues party invitations at least two weeks before the party date.

Plan a safe, comfortable place for the blues clues party where the children can have fun, but will not hurt themselves or your home. If planning an outdoor party be sure to have a backup plan in case of bad weather.

Prepare more activities than you plan to use in advance. Activities often take less time than planned and you may want to keep the children busy.

Include the birthday child in preparations as often as possible. Let him or her stuff the party favor bags, make suggestions for games, help with the decorations, set the table, and mail the invitations - even if that only means putting them in the mailbox.

 

Green Puppy’s Dog Bone Sandwiches
Your party pups will love digging into these bones!

Ingredients:
- variety of sandwich fillings
- sliced bread

You’ll also need a dog bone-shaped cookie cutter (or cardboard dog bone template and a knife).

Create tiny, healthy treats for your guests by making sandwiches with different fillings, and cutting them into dog bone shapes. You can even fix up grilled cheese “bones” for the kids. Simply cut out the shapes after you’ve grilled the sandwiches. Bow wow!

Blue’s Favorite Graham Cracker Snacks
Blue loves graham crackers...and youngsters will savor these gooey ones, too. They’re easy to whip up in the microwave! (But you might need some “Slippery Soap” to help the little pups clean up!)

Ingredients:
- chocolate chips
- marshmallows
- graham crackers

Place a spoonful of chocolate chips on half of a graham cracker, top with a marshmallow and heat in the microwave approximately 1 minute. (Keep on a plate or paper towel.) Then put the other graham cracker half on top.

Pup-cakes
Perfect for little 1-year-old “paws,” and bigger ones too!

Ingredients:
- miniature cupcakes (for homemade, you’ll need a miniature cupcake baking tin and mini wrappers)
- blue frosting and colored gel
- blueberries

Bake cupcakes according to package directions, or use your own recipe. When cool, frost them blue. Using the gel, decorate each cupcake with a little puppy face and add blueberries for ears. Yum!

Shovel & Pail’s Dig-in-the-Dirt Pudding
Shovel & Pail have all the fun uncovering hidden delights. So give kids the opportunity to discover what’s buried in these tasty dishes. (Adults can dive in, too.)

Ingredients:
- chocolate instant pudding and gummy worms

You’ll also need small dog dishes.

Label each dog dish with a guest’s name. Make the pudding. Cool. Mix in gummy worms. Spoon into dog dishes.

Colorful Fruit Sundaes
Blue and most of her dearest friends are named after colors, so serve up something tasty and filled with bright colors that match the characters on her show. Ask your younger guests to name which characters match the fruit colors.

Ingredients:
- sliced fruit (blueberries for Blue, kiwis for Green Puppy, cherries for Magenta, oranges for Orange Kitten, etc.)
- whipped cream, chocolate and caramel
- maraschino cherries

Pour sliced fruit into separate bowls or sundae glasses. Add a couple dollops of whipped cream to each. Drizzle with chocolate and caramel (warmed separately in a microwave). Then top with maraschino cherries. Yum!

Blue’s Smoothies
Just in case your guests have missed the clue that blue is the color of the day, this tasty recipe will remind them.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 sliced banana
- 1 cup vanilla yogurt
- 1 cup regular milk or almond milk

For each serving, place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth and frothy. Serve in fun cups.