Two Let the Dogs Out — A Puppy-Themed Birthday Party
Our dog-obsessed daughter turned two, so we had to plan a puppy-themed birthday party for her!
I know most of you are here for quick links, so I’ll start with them first, and you can continue reading if you want my whole spiel.
Affordable Dog-Themed Party DIY “Kit”
IKEA clothing rack that you can use as a backdrop stand — Only $8.99 and one of my favorite IKEA “hacks”!
Balloon garland kit — We got the 4ft long and skipped the Bluey balloon add-on.
Puppy-themed backdrop sign — We make these and can customize all wording.
Velvet ribbon — We used this ribbon to hang the banner on the stand and create bows.
Mini dog figurines — I made these little dog figurines tiny party hats using scrap paper and mini pom poms and used them as cake toppers! I used glue dots to stick the hats onto their little heads.
Cake — We just bought our favorite Berry Chantilly cake from Whole Foods, scraped off the fruit topping and smoothed the icing back out. Any plain white cake will do if you decide to add the dog cake toppers!
The Night Before
My husband Luke and I are Christmas elves the night before our children’s birthdays. It’s become a tradition of sorts to swig some coffee together and prepare to burn the midnight oil to surprise them with the decor when they wake up.
Luke is actually our resident balloon artist and responsible for all the many lush balloon garlands that have adorned our children’s birthday parties over the years.
I start all my party planning by coming up with the main banner backdrop and designing everything else off of that visual centerpiece.
We assembled the backdrop stand and balloon garland and gave all our canine friends a party hat, including our daughter’s favorite stuffies. For the mini figurines that we used as cake toppers, I used glue dots to stick the part hats onto the heads. I love glue dots because they’re a quick and mess-free option that you can just peel off afterwards. She got a kick out of them seeing them in their pawty gear in the morning.
The Day-Of
Year 1-2 is my favorite stage. It was for my son, and it was again this time around. It’s so fun… They’re more independent in ways that are so helpful but still dependent on you in the ways that you know you will miss. The cuteness is at its peak, and the sass is at its nadir. You see their little personalities come out. And just like the first time, this year flew by. Le sigh.
We started the morning off surprising our daughter (and her older brother) with the decorations and letting them play with the balloon dogs. The real stars of the show were our guests of honor, two dogs that look just like our daughter’s favorite stuffies. Our friends were kind enough to bring their cockapoos overs, and they were the goodest dogs, letting the kids pet them and performing tricks for treats.
We had Chick-Fil-A for our guests and a Berry Chantilly cake for dessert. E’s favorite snacks were flowing, and her favorite tunes were playing in the background. It was her first birthday where she had some sense of what was going on, that all the hoopla was about her, and it was so sweet to see her take it all in, surrounded by her favorite people.