Unique and Exciting Ideas for a Dog-Themed Birthday Party

INSIDE : UNIQUE AND EXCITING IDEAS FOR A DOG-THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY, MAKING FOR ONE HAPPY KID AND MANY HAPPY PUPS

What do you do when the little person turning 7 has an upcoming birthday? Easy…..you help her pick a theme centered around the thing she loves the most in the world (maybe more than her parents)…..

Come see how we planned our own dog themed birthday party!

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Theme

DOGS!!!!!!!!!!

Using my trusty birthday planning guide, we set off to make an awesome party for our silly little dog lover!

Location

Since sleepovers are out of the question and I’m not interested in lugging party supplies all over the place…our house was our location.

Date

Our date always depends on weather and other events. So we picked the weekend just after her actual birthday. We knew her friends would be in town, no one else had a party, and the weather was going to cooperate.

Invitation

This year, we found a cute dog invitation on….you guessed it, ETSY!

Decorations

I was short on time because…well…just because (I have an overflowing plate)…I went to Target for my decorations. Dinner plates, dessert plates, cups, tablecloth, napkins, and stickers…all with doggies!!!

Food

We started at 2:30pm so I didn’t go overboard with food. I figured lunch was over and we don’t want to ruin everyone’s dinner. So we kept with the dog theme.

Menu

Pups in a Blanket

Supplies

• Turkey hot dogs (less greasy)
• Velveeta Cheese
• Crescent Rolls

Directions

1. Cut the turkey dogs in half down the middle (vertically not horizontally)
2. Slice each piece horizontally without going all the way through to the other side
3. Stuff the hot dog with….CHEESE!!!
4. Pop open a can of crescent rolls
5. Cut those in half (as best as a triangle can be cut in half)
6. Wrap the dogs up

Paw-tato Chips

We picked the birthday girl’s two favorite flavors – BBQ and wavy

Fetch Sticks

• Pretzel sticks
• Pretzel rods

Pup-corn

I took the easy way out here….microwaved popcorn

Fruit and Veggie Tray

• Mango
• Carrots with ranch dressing
• Strawberries
• Cherry tomatoes
• Grapes

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to report that I made this cake from scratch. Lots of texts to an expert but when all was said and done, one mom asked me if I bought it from a well-known bakery in town. I was so shocked I didn’t even realize where she said.

Games

Games are my favorite. I always plan way too many and the kids never get to all of them. This year was no different:

Pin the Tail to the Dog

I drew the outline of a dog on a poster board. The birthday girl’s older sister finished the drawing then they both colored it. The kids all made their own tails when we started.

Paw Necklaces

As part of their goody bags, all the kids made a necklace or bracelet.

Supplies

• Stretch String
• Initial charms
• Paw charms
• Colored hearts

Directions

1. Pre-cut the stretchy string for necklaces and bracelets
2. Have the kids add their initials, paw charms, and colored hearts
3. Make sure you tie them tight, the stretchy string is tricky

Vet Station

The birthday girl gathered all of her stuffed pups and we made a vet station. Using these “tools” and one of my lab jackets the kids had a blast “healing” the puppies.

Dog Dress Up

The kids dressed up using eyes, ears, noses, mouths, and accessories

Goody Bags

I came up with a GENIUS plan for the goody bags, if I do say so myself. How can I get rid of all the cake/cupcakes and not spend a ton of money on useless toys for goody bags?!?

Easy – send the cupcakes home with the kids! The birthday girls helped decorate these. We used an Oreo as the paw pad and M&Ms for the toes.

I found these “to go” containers and the cupcakes fit perfectly into them. We took a rainbow stamp pad and a paw print stamp to make very special “To Go” containers for our dog themed birthday party.

We went easy with the goody bags. I used these bags to stencil pups on them using something similar to this. We had black and white acrylic paints already. Added some stickers and POOF!

Then we put the “to go” boxes with the cupcakes inside the stenciled goody bags with a few small bags of Jelly Bellies.

I do have a soapbox moment with this dog themed birthday party – if you don’t do anything else – RSVP to every party!!!!! I’m not kidding, I had 4 kids show up that did not RSVP. I didn’t have enough goody bags.

Have you ever had that happen? Kids show up that you didn’t plan on having? What did you do to avert the disaster?

Happy Party Planning,