Four years ago, a preemie hippo named Fiona took the world by storm and stole Cincinnati’s heart. That tiny 29-pound hippo is now a whopping 1,500 pounds, nearing a ton, but still just as sweet and endearing as the day she came on the scene.
The Cincinnati Zoo usually throws some kind of birthday bash for the plump princess.
My favorite was her first birthday – a festive day at the zoo, complete with an opportunity to sign her birthday card, birthday cake, cookies, and her own signature flavor of Graeter’s ice cream!
This year, due to Covid, there aren’t many in-person gatherings planned to celebrate Princess Fiona, but there is still plenty of fun to be had. You can opt to celebrate our girl’s special day at the zoo when the zoo opens after this event and pay a visit to the birthday girl (be sure to remember your Fiona masks and social distance in style!)
But if you’d rather stay in, here are some fun Fiona ideas to get the party hopping:
- Don a festive Fiona birthday t-shirt or any of the other Fiona t-shirts you may have collected over the years.
- Hippo adoption! Pick out some stuffed hippos for your littles to adopt and have them create adoption certificates. Or you can even adopt Fiona herself!
- Busken sells special cookies every year to commemorate Fiona. You can purchase them through the zoo/Rookwood or Busken’s site directly.
- Fiona tablewear – No birthday table would be complete without these specially-designed dessert plates and ice cream bowls. Pass the cookies, please!
- Chunky Chunky Hippo. Don’t forget to pick up a pint (or 2!) of Graeter’s signature flavor to celebrate the birthday girl – two scoops, please!
- Play Hungry, Hungry Hippos! This is a classic game from childhood that has universal appeal. Not sure if we’re quite ready to try this in our home with our super active 3-year-old and 1-year-old…
- Play Pin the Tail on the Hippo! A fun twist on the classic game. Or for another twist, you could play “Plant the Kiss on Fiona!” Make cut-out lips to try to put on Fiona’s face.
- Tune in to Cincinnati Pop’s Digital Lollipops Family Concert: Carnival of the Animals on Feb. 27!
- Hippo-themed storytime! There are several books written about Fiona for babies, toddlers, and older kids, that even parents will enjoy reading with their kiddos available in the Zoo’s online shop. We have a sizeable collection going. Our a new one for this year that we will read for our bedtime story is Fiona, It’s Bedtime!
