My daugher Cindy goes to a really great pre-school. Every other month the teacher, Sharon plans a party to celebrate the birthdays in that month and the one after. This time there were seven kids having birthdays so she decide to plan a special party.

The theme was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" .The seven birthday children picked the names of the Seven Dwarves out of a hat and would bring a gift and a food matching the personality of that Dwarf. The children could dress up as their dwarf if they wanted to. At first Cindy was disappointed she had gotten "Dopey"., but then I reminded her he was the sweetest of the Seven Dwarves and Snow White probably liked him best. She still wasn't convinced so we put the movie on when we got home. Cindy felt a lot better about having "Dopey" for her Dwarf and had even thought of a food to bring that matched his personality because it was sweet and everyone loved it: Crispy marshmallow treats.

The gift took some more thought, but neither of us could think of anything until we were browsing through a toy store and Cindy found a these cute little plastic flowers that blew bubbles when the base was squeezed. They were perfect, and inexpensive so I bought one for Cindy to keep and one for her to give as a gift.

Cindy decided she wanted to dress up as "Dopey" so we made a costume out of one of her dad's old flannel button-up shirts, a pair of mismatched baggy pants and stocking cap we found at thrift store. That night, Cindy and I had fun making the Crispy marshmallow treats. We got pretty sticky mixing the melted marshmallows and cereal.

The following day I went to Cindy's classroom with her. She had her "Dopey" costume on, but told me she was worried no one else would be dressed up. The classroom looked like a forest from a fairy tale. The children had be busy made talking trees, flowers and little animals out of construction paper. Cindy pointed proudly to a pretty blue bird hanging from the ceiling, she had made.

The other birthday children were all dressed as one of the Seven Dwarves. They were so cute. Sharon, the teacher collected all the wrapped gifts and put them aside on one of the desks. Then she started the games of duck, duck goose, follow the leader and musical chairs. I took pictures while several parents caught as much action as they could with video cameras. One of the parents collected all the tapes and put it all together to make a little movie. He did a terrific job, it was hilarious!

After the games came the snacks and cake. When the kids were done eating, the birthday kids drew numbers to see who got to pick a present first. The child had a choice of giving it away to one of the other "Dwarves" and picking another, but they had to keep the second one. The little boy playing Grumpy got the bubble flower and it made him smile for the rest of the day. Of all the parties they have had at the pre-school "Snow White and The Seven Dwarves" is the one Cindy remembers as the most fun and "Dopey" is now her favorite.