Cheetah Party!

A funny thing happens in Belgrade this time of year. Just when summertime hits full swing, everyone leaves for vacation or, in the case of the diplomatic community, to visit family in the States. Eden's birthday is not for another couple of weeks but, as it turns out, not a single one of her friends would be in town in July for her birthday. So, we moved things up a bit. Even then only a few of her friends could make it, but as one was her "best friend" and another her "boyfriend," she was OK with it (Andrew informed her that, in fact, Fox was her best friend and her dad is her boyfriend). When asked, Eden told us she wanted a cheetah party. This has been her favorite animal for a years, not to mention her inspiration for running as fast as she can. We did our best to accomadate her, and I think we were successful.

Looking around online gave us zero ideas. Google "cheetah party for girls" and all you get is pink leopard prints. That wouldn't fly for a girl who idolizes the fastest land animal on earth. So we had to be creative. Making use of a great local craft store, we procured paints and cat masks for the kids to decorate. The final products were really impressive, I have to say. While the masks dried, Andrew read them a book about cheetahs so they could learn a little trivia--which would come in useful for a later activity. Next we headed outdoors for a little competition. It wouldn't be a cheetah party without giving the kids a chance to test their speed and prowess against that of a real cheetah. Andrew used sidewalk chalk to mark off the length of a cheetah's stride--6.7 meters (over 22 feet)--and the kids (and adults) did their best to match it in a longjump competition. Then we timed the kids in a 50 meter race, which would take a cheetah at top speed only 2 seconds! After that we headed inside for a scavenger hunt. First, the kids watched a segment of a nature video where a mother cheetah bates some lions away from her cubs. Having outrun the big cats, she now has to find her 5 lost cubs. Here we stopped the movie and told the kids that they were going to help find all the baby cheetahs. Andrew was totally in charge of this activity. He wrote all of the clues, which even rhymed, and picked some clever hiding spots. And each kid had to answer trivia questions about cheetahs along the way. They had so much fun! Everyone got to take home a cheetah cub and in the end, Eden found the mother cheetah and final cub. I think she was pretty surprised to find a life-sized cheetah upstairs. For lunch the kids made their own pizzas and ate cheetos! The spotted cake is topped with Wonder Woman nemisis Barbara Menerva, a.k.a. Cheetah. Cool right? I actually think Eden had more fun with thi small group than she would have had a dozen kids come. The birthday party chaos was a little more contained and she got to spend time with family, friends, and her favorite animal.