We celebrated our cat-loving six-year-old with a glamorous cat party complete with a stuffed cat adoption party. One of the best things about this adorable party theme is that the main activity, the pet adoption, kept the kids busy for almost the entire party. Instead of a house destroyed by kids playing everywhere, the kids were content to adopt and take care of their kitties, which meant less cleanup for me! Read on to learn about all of our cat party decorations, party favors, party invitation, printables and more. If you believe karma is a cat, this is your party.
Cat Birthday Party Ideas
Not just any cat party, our girl wanted to have a fancy cat party and, of course, it had to feature her favorite color – pink. I designed the entire party around a simple cat face I created in black, white and pink. The cat face was repeated on all of the items I designed including the invitation, decorations, vet clinic and adoption papers. I was also able to find the cutest cat face plates, cups and balloons with a similar cat face.
Our daughter and her friends had the best time, and I hope these ideas help you create a party just as magical for your child. You will find shopping links throughout the post to help you plan, some of these are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission on the sale. (But it doesn’t change the price for you!) Thanks for your support.Â
Cat Birthday Party Invitation
Because my daughter’s friends go to different schools, I designed her invitation in a 9×16 ratio (the ratio of most cell phones) so I could text it to their moms. I also wanted a physical copy of the invitation for her scrapbook so I also designed a 5×7 cat birthday party invitation. You can find both invitations available for digital download in my Etsy shop.
You will also find the matching Thank You Note I designed in my Etsy shop.
Cat Adoption Party
The cat adoption was the centerpiece of the party, and I could not have been more pleased with how it turned out. I knew my daughter would be delighted by it, but as the party progressed and I saw how captivated the other girls were by each detail it made every moment of planning worth it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen these five little girls more engaged in something than they were with the cat adoption party.
Upon arrival, each girl was greeted with a choice of cat ears to wear for the party. Having given headbands at other parties, I knew the girls may or may not wear the ears. And that’s OK! If kids don’t want to wear cat ears, there’s no need to make them. My own daughter only wore them for about half of the party before they started giving her a headache. Sensory issues are real, don’t push them! But I was happy three of the girls wore the ears the whole time and one of the moms told me later her daughter wore them every day for a week.
Unable to find the puuuurrrrfect party dress, I made one to match the party for our kitty cat birthday girl. I found the dress on Amazon and created an SVG of the cat face to make a dress with my Cricut. (Note, the dress linked is the softest ballerina twirl dress.) It quickly became her favorite dress, and she wore it so many times after the party. I love being able to use my Cricut to personalize clothing for parties.
Cat Adoption Checklist
The first step in the cat adoption was to receive a pink clipboard with a cat adoption checklist and a kitty clinic checklist. Our daughter had been asking for her very own clipboard for months, so it seemed like a perfect party favor for the girls. It turned out one of the other girls had been asking for one too, and all of the girls were so excited to have their own clipboard to take home. I personalized each clipboard with their girls’ names and the cat face logo I used throughout the party in vinyl with my Cricut.
While I only set out six cats, two of each color, for adoption, I anticipated girls wanting the same color so I purchased extra and had them on standby. I was glad I did when the last girl sadly told me she wanted a pink one too. Like magic, I presented her with another pink one and her face lit up. I purchased most of the Beanie Boo cats from JoAnn online for store pickup using a 50% off coupon code. The grey ones I found at Michaels for 40% off.
The cat adoption checklist includes six steps for adoption. Each of these six steps was set up as an activity station.
- Choose your kitty
- Design a collar
- Give kitty a checkup
- Groom kitty
- Design a kitty house
- Get your certificate
Cat Collar Craft
After choosing their kitty and naming their kitty, the girls made a collar for their kitty. Because our guests were 5 and 6 years old, I did most of the work for them ahead of time. But they still enjoyed assembling them. Each cat collar craft was made of a ribbon with velcro, a small split ring and a little tag. On one side of the tag I used my Cricut to add a black paw print with vinyl. On the other side of the tag, I wrote the kitty’s new name. (Mom win – with their new collars, the kitties could not get confused so no one would worry about someone taking their kitty!)
At the very last minute – like the day before the party. I remembered I had materials left over to make pink bottlecap necklaces. So in addition to a collar for their kitty, party guests also got a collar (necklace) for themselves. This was a surprise for my daughter who squealed with delight.
Stuffed Animal Vet Checkup
The kitty clinic was my favorite station. At this station, my daughter set out her toy vet kit. Party guests were to check the kitty’s eyes, fur, tail, etc and circle if it was healthy or not. If not, they needed to circle how they would fix it with medicine, a shot or snuggles. Since the girls are just not quite readers, I included pictures so they were able to complete the worksheets pretty much on their own. They were so serious about checking out each part of their kitty and deciding how best to care for them.
Next, the girls moved onto the grooming station where we set out several brushes and bowls of water for bathing/drinking. This was the quickest of the stations.
Cat House Decorating
After getting cleaned up, the girls moved on to the kitty cat house decorating. For the cat houses, I used white gable boxes ($.99 each from Hobby Lobby). Before the party, I added the same cat logo I designed to the boxes with vinyl using my Cricut. I also set out pink glitter letter stickers and a pile of Sharpies in pink, purple, silver, gold and black. The girls got to work decorating their cat houses.
One thing I did not anticipate was that the girls wanted to cover the boxes in Sharpie. Very quickly they were writing on my white tablecloth. I quickly grabbed cut-up cardboard boxes for the girls to color on, but the tablecloth was already colorful. If I did it again, I would cover the table with kraft paper instead of a white tablecloth. Still, decorating the kitty houses entertained the girls for much longer than I anticipated. I think this might have been their favorite station.
Cat Toys Craft
At the kitty house station, I also had the girls make a cat toy. Using a paper straw, we tied some pink and white twine to a colorful feather. Very simple and the girls loved having a toy for their kitties.
About the time the girls were making the cat toy they noticed the little yarn balls that decorated the party areas. They kept coming up to me in whispers asking about them. I told them I made the yarn balls as a decoration that doubled as a toy for their cat and they could choose one to take home as a toy for their kitty. They all loved this answer.
The yarn balls were so easy to make. While I saw online others who made them using a styrofoam ball as a base, I don’t like the environmental impact of styrofoam. So I skipped the styrofoam and just wrapped the yarn around itself to create the balls. I did it while watching TV, and it really was easy. I still have a ton of yarn left over, but we will find another use for it another time. The mini yarn balls were so cute as decoration and as a cat toy.
Cat Adoption Certificate
Finally, as the girls finished coloring they came to me to sign their adoption certificate. The whole cat adoption activity took about an hour and 20 minutes. When the girls were finished, it was time for lunch, a round a kitty BINGO, cake, presents and time to leave. The total party length was 2.5 hours.
Cat BINGO Game
My teenager wanted to create something for the party, so she designed a Cat BINGO party game. Using graphic elements I used on other party materials, she designed cat BINGO cards. The Cat BINGO game can also be found in my Etsy shop. (Yes, we even had coordinating pencils!)
Cat Party Food
Since it was a small party, I kept the food very simple. I served chicken nuggets, fruit kabobs, Goldfish (from a glass fish bowl) and gummies. The gummies were not themed, so you won’t see them in my pictures, but my daughter insisted on serving Mott’s gummies.
For the cake, I had the grocery store make a plain white cake. No trim or fancy icing. Then I placed six cat candles on top. The exact cake my daughter described when I asked what she wanted.
Cat Party Decorations
Our cat party featured a mixture of store-bought cat items and things I designed and printed. I bought all of the store-bought items on Etsy. The shop owner was very nice and shipped quickly. I highly recommend her shop for all of your cat party decorations. (Unfortunately, the shop I originally purchased everything from seems to be out of everything but the banner right now. I found the items in other Etsy shops below for now, and I’ll check back and see if she restocks.)
Cat Party Printables
All of the cat party printables I designed for this party are available in my Etsy shop. You can buy them individually or as a bundle to save money. I printed all of the items at home on my printer. If you print at home, I recommend making sure your printer is printing at its highest quality – photo quality.
- Cat Party Invitation
- Cat addition checklist
- Cat vet clinic
- Cat adoption certificate
- Cat party signs
- Cat BINGO
- Cat face SVG for Cricut
Cat Face Signs
One of the easiest and most impressive party decorations was the cat face signs over the cat adoption table. It looks impressive, but it’s a really simple detail. We already have the gallery wall frames, so I just printed out the cat faces on photo paper and used double-sided tape to attach the cat faces to the glass.
Sidewalk Chalk Cat Prints
One final detail that my teen added the morning of the party was to use pink and grey sidewalk chalk cat paw prints up our walk to the front door. It only took a few minutes and the moms each reported how much the little girls liked the paw prints as they arrived at the party.
I hope you enjoyed our kitty cat party and got lots of ideas to help you host your own.
