It was Kitty’s 3rd birthday last Tuesday, so the previous Saturday we had a little party for her. She absolutely loves dogs, so, from the outset, it was clear we were going to have a puppy party. With my mum primed to produce a canine cake, I headed over to Pinterest for ideas. I decided to set up four different activity tables, each with a few chairs round, so not all the guests were doing the same thing at the same time.
There were quite a lots of older siblings/cousins coming, so I needed activities suitable for a wide range of ages. First up, puppy balloons. This is such a simple activity, but the children loved it. We blew up loads of white balloons, I cut black craft paper into dog ear shapes and attached double-sided sticky tape to the top of each, then we let the children loose with permanent black marker (has to be permanent or it will just rub off – I tried it and Kitty ended up with black hands). Obviously, the little ones needed help from grown-ups, but some of the older ones’ efforts were rather good.
On the invitation, we had asked children to bring along a favourite soft toy dog for the Dog Show (I was prepared with spares for those who forgot) and we had an awards ceremony where each of them won a paw print rosette – some of the winners were tiniest, biggest eyes, most colourful, fluffiest etc. The mini rosettes were 49p each from Sashes (they also do mini horse ones for pony parties) and were a big hit.
Probably the most popular table was Decorate a Biscuit, where we had bone and dog-shaped shortbread, plus bowls of butter icing, sprinkles and chocolate chips to decorate them with. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of the finished biscuits before them were munched, so I think we can safely say it was a success!
Finally, we had a craft table where the children could Make a Collar. I cut small lengths of different coloured ribbon (Flying Tiger) and attached sticky velcro pieces to each end to fasten then popped them in a metal dog food bowl (new not used!). I filled another bowl with self-adhesive jewels and pom poms (Tiger again) and other bits and pieces and let them go crazy with the glue. It was, needless to say, messy but fun.
After the activities we had party tea (served on My Little Day Multi Colour Triangles plates, cups and napkins from Molly Meg) – including bone-shaped sandwiches, marshmallow puppy pops and my mum’s brilliant dog face cake (I might get her to share the method if anyone’s interested), followed by ice cream in these super-cute teeny cupcake liners, also from Molly Meg, £4.60 for 25 – ideal for toddlers – with bright spoons (another Tiger buy).
Finally, instead of party bags, we had Adopt a Puppy. Each child came up to the table, chose a toy puppy (Living Nature beanie buddies, £2.25 each, Angels & Heroes) and gave it a name, which I filled in on the adoption certificate. They then had to sign (or scribble) to say they would love and care for their puppy (and never pull its tail). I popped the puppy and certificate into a ‘pet carrier’ (bright yellow food boxes which I’d decorated with vinyl paw print stickers) which already had vintage puppy stickers (£2.20 for three sheets from Minilabel) and a small dog figurine inside, plus a slice of the fab cake.
We do like attention to detail, so Kitty wore a Boden dog print dress – a lucky eBay find – and puppy hair clips from ILoveHearts. I think it was a success – Kitty couldn’t stop talking about it and has played with her pup every day since and I have literally never had so many compliments after a party – the children (of all ages) adored the adopt a puppy idea so much, I might plan a cat, farm or jungle animal party using the same concept next year.
All photographs © Lucy Davies, Harry Mole
Have you had a themed party for your child? We’d love to hear about it. Comment or email team@bambinogoodies.co.uk.
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