An End-of-Year Elephant and Piggie Party

This post is sponsored by Disney-Hyperion as part of the 10th anniversary of Elephant and Piggie. Could there be something I was more excited to partner on than Elephant and Piggie? I don’t think so. 

One thing I love about my girls is that they are so enthusiastic about basically any project or activity I want to do with them.

When I told them a few weeks ago that we were going to celebrate the end of the school year with an Elephant and Piggie party, though, well . . . enthusiastic isn’t a strong enough word.

They talked about it for WEEKS before hand and asked about every detail, asking on a daily basis if this was the day.

Finally, last week the day for our Elephant and Piggie Party arrived.

We only had a few days left of school and it was one of the only nights we’d all be home before we left on our first summer vacation.

After quiet time, the girls and I gathered in my office to assemble the paper lanterns. We cut out the paper pieces for the Piggie and Gerald lanterns and even Ani, who generally goes crazy with scissors, was very careful and accurate, which was so cute. (If you want to make your own, you can download the facial features here, then print them off on gray and pink paper (or just print on white and color them in)).

We hung up the lanterns, set the table with festive straws and party hats, and then finished off the decorations with a wrapped Elephant and Piggie book for everyone.

In addition to celebrating the end of the school year, this month also marks the 10 year anniversary of Elephant & Piggie.

Ten years ago, I’d never heard of Elephant & Piggie books or Mo Willems for that matter.

Then, I started library school and after that I had four children of my own and now I know LOTS about Elephant & Piggie. We own many of the books and I have read them hundreds of times, and I never get tired of them.

I think they are so clever and fun, and I’ve been equally impressed with the new spin-off series, Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!

The best Elephant and Piggie books

During dinner, we talked about some of our favorite Elephant and Piggie books and we each picked two for a total of ten favorite in honor of ten years.

Mine are Watch Me Throw the Ball! and Happy Pig Day, Bart’s are Should I Share My Ice Cream? and I Really Like Slop, Ella’s are I Broke My Trunk! and A Big Guy Took My Ball, Ani’s are Let’s Go for a Drive and I’m a Frog, and Star’s are I Will Take a Nap and We are in a Book.

After dinner, we opened up the new Elephant and Piggie books, which I’d wrapped in Elephant and Piggie paper.

After we finished our food, we cleared off the table and read some of the new ones, including The Good for Nothing Button, which is delightful. The girls thought it as the best party ever.

I feel so lucky to live in this golden age of children’s literature, with so many amazing new children’s books being published every year and such easy access to them.

And for me, Mo Willems is one of the very best authors working today.

Here’s to another decade of loving Piggie and Gerald.

If you liked this post about Elephant and Piggie, you might also enjoy these posts:

• A 15 Minute Date with Elephant and Piggie Books
• The newest of the Piggie and Gerald books: We Are in an ART-ivity Book!
• 30 chapter books to read aloud to preschoolers