My little guy turned 2! How can it be! It feels like we just brought him from the hospital! It sure is true… the days are long but the years are short! For his second birthday, I decided on a puppy theme as he just loves doggies! The color scheme for this party was red, aqua, and a vintage brown.
For the dessert table, I made “puppy chow” chex mix and served in these adorable brown paper craft cups and tied a little ribbon around each cup. My sweet friend made adorable puppy cookies in the colors of the party. I had “fetch balls” aka donut holes and made “lolli-pups” paw prints in aqua and red. Cupcakes with adorable fondant toppers from Sugar Kiss Cake Toppers (Etsy) were displayed on a pretty white cake plate. I found some vintage style dog treat tins at Home Goods and that puppy piñata is from Party City! I gave him a fun party hat to complete his look. 😉
Isn’t this doggy with the red scarf so adorable? I found him at Hobby Lobby. I also took a trip to my local vintage market and found the two smaller doggies. I love finding vintage pieces to add to my party styling. The “puppy biscuits” are graham cracker “Scooby” snacks you can find at your local grocery store. I found those glass jar at Home Goods and thought they would look perfect filled with “puppy biscuits”. 🙂
How cute are these cookies?!
I love how the cupcake toppers turned out! There is so much talent on Etsy I tell ya!
I also made “fetch sticks” chocolate covered pretzels. These were so tasty! The perfect sweet and salty mix-you can’t go wrong with that combo!
I added a craft paper mache “K” for my son’s name, Kellan. I simply added some washi tape I had on hand and a circle cupcake topper. And those mini fetch balls are from Harry & Barker. Aren’t they are just adorable?!
No party is complete without pretty paper straws! And can you believe I had all of these in the colors of the party in my party supply stash?! Who hoo! Score! Yes, I have a paper straw addiction, I admit it! I placed the straws in an aqua vintage ball jar (I can’t get enough vintage ball jars either- they are just too pretty!) and added a fun “Let’s Paw-ty” straw flag to complete the look. My graphic designer is awesome!
The kids loved these customized favor bags from For Your Little Monkey (Etsy) – “Thanks for a tail-waggin time! Love, Kellan” So cute!
I filled them with puppy stickers, a puppy pencil, puppy sucker, paw-print stamp, doggy figurine, a balloon, and a puppy party blower.
View of the entire dessert table. “Kellan’s Barkery” established 2014 (the year he was born.) Happy Barkday Kellan! 🙂
For the cake, I ordered a plain white three layer cake from my local bakery or shall I say “barkery” 😉 and then DIY’ed it with a custom puppy cake topper from Miss Sweet Sends (Etsy) and added red and white ribbon around the cake for the collar. I love how it turned out! The little collar tag came with the cake topper too. I like to mix and match making some treats myself and purchasing others. It’s impossible to make everything myself-I have learned the hard way over the years. 😉
As guests entered the party, they were greeted with this fun mat – “Wipe your Paws” 🙂
Welcome Sign on the front door. I love decorating all areas of our home when I host a party. Can you tell? 😉
Entryway welcome decor! I used one of my son’s little stuffed animal puppies and made him a mini party hat and tied a ribbon around him for his collar. So sweet! I used our Boon bottle drying rack as “grass” and added a mini bone and tennis balls.
Little basket of fun-newspapers wrapped up in bows, tennis balls, frisbees. We used these later for some fun puppy paw-ty games!
I found these fun paw print decals on Amazon -the kids loved jumping from one paw print to the other.
Our puppy Brady wanted in on the action!
Tablesetting details-these puppy balloons were so fun and easy to make! Simply cut the ears out of scrapbook paper tape to balloon and draw the puppy face. I tied them to each chair with baker’s twine.
I tied balloons to doggy bones and placed party hats down the center of the table. I used some left over fabric I had on hand for the table cloth.
Mantel Decor – I framed some photos of the birthday boy and his doggie Brady.
Little “Wipe your Paws” sign, napkins, and the cutest wood silverware. And didn’t my brother do a fun job with napkins?
Hand-stamped wood silverware with “Happy Birthday Kellan” and “Kellan is 2.” I love little details like this!
And you can’t have a puppy party with out serving some hot-dogs! I also found these cute hot-dog wrappers on Etsy. Etsy is my go to place for unique party decor!
Hotdog Menu-the guests could pick which “dog” they wanted based on the different toppings.
“Paw-tato” chips served in cute doggy bowls.
“Wag Your Tail Watermelon” cut into individual bone shapes. Thank you to my dad for completely this task! 🙂 The kids loved eating these-they went fast!
Individual cups of “Pupcorn.” I kept the food menu pretty simple as we had lots of desserts on the sweets table.
For the beverage area, I found these adorable bone cups on Oriental Trading and added some fun paw-print scrapbook paper and a little bow. The kids took these bone cups home as a party favor.
Bone shape ice cubes! I told you I am all about the details! 🙂 I only bought one ice cube tray so I had to start making these bones a few days ahead of the party so there would be enough.
“Puppy Punch” for the kiddos! I simply mixed fruit punch and lemonade for a yummy mix.
One of the sweetest parts of this party was the “Puppy Shoppe” area where the kids adopted a puppy to take home and love. They filled out an Adoption Certificate and took him or her home in these cute little gable boxes. I found these adorable little puppies on Oriental Trading.
I made little collars and tags for each puppy-I used my circle punch to cut out circles and added a ribbon. The kids wrote their puppy’s name on the tag. So fun!
Each puppy also went home with “puppy vitamins”(gummy fruit snacks) and “puppy food” (chocolate cocoa puff cereal).
Next up were some fun games! We played “pass the bone” to “Who let the dogs out” song. The kids LOVED this game! So much fun!
We also played musical chairs-to the same song “Who let the dogs out!” The kids loved every minute!
Another simple and fun game we played was throwing tennis balls into three doggy bowls. The balls bounced out the bowls pretty easily but the kids had fun and were pretty determined to get the balls to stay in the bowls! I love having games/activities for the kids at my parties. They love it and have so much fun; sometimes the most simple activity can be the most fun!
Another fun activity was a coloring area with a special coloring sheet the kids colored for the birthday boy.
I had a little “Puppy Pictures” photo area set up with some cute puppy fabric I found on etsy for the backdrop. We drew puppy faces on the kids with face paint crayons. Oh how adorable!
The birthday boy didn’t want to get his face painted but he did wear the puppy ears! Too cute!
The birthday boy’s big brother! He loves his baby bro so much and is such a fun and loving big brother.
The birthday boy wondering what these two silly girls are up to. 🙂
Our sweet little friend! She looked so cute in her outfit.
Oh how we love our sweet little guy! Happy 2 Kellan!
All the kiddos… aka puppies! 🙂
Time for cake! The birthday boy was a little overwhelmed by all the action I think! 😉
Such a fun bunch of kiddos!
After cake and ice cream, the guests were invited to take home treats from the dessert table in a “doggy bag.”
In lieu of gifts, we asked for donations for doggies at a local pet shelter. We received so many amazing donations!
This was after the party was over…had to get a photo of the tee-pee I made into “Kellan’s Doghouse.” 🙂
It was such a fun party celebrating our little guy! Yes it’s a lot of work, but oh so worth it! We love you Kellan!
Vendor Credits:
Party Planning and Styling- The Party Porch
Graphic Design/Printables- Grace & Guy
Puppy Cupcake Toppers – Sweet Idea Creations
Puppy Cake Fondant Topper – Miss Sweet Sends
Bone Cups and puppies – Oriental Trading
Red and aqua tennis balls – Harry Barker
Custom Favor Bags – For Your Little Monkey
Vintage Hotdog Wrappers – The Party Fairy
Kraft Paper Cups – Piper Grace Supply Co.
Doggy Bags – The Wooden Bear
Puppy Fabric – Premier Prints Express
Stamped Wooden Silverware – Ella Jane Crafts
Paw-print decals, doggy bowls, paw-print balloons, gable boxes, and “wipe your paws” mat- Amazon
Birthday boy’s “Two” shirt – Patches and Puppies
Birthday boy’s brother’s “Woof” t-shirt – The Oysters Pearl
Cookies – Heatherly Sweet Cookies
Goldie says
I love this party so much! The photos definitely tell the story of the theme. You’re so talented and creative.
Shayla says
This was adorable!! Is it sad that I would totally do something like this for my dog???? Lol
Nicole says
Thank you so much Shayla! How fun! 🙂
Meghan Gencev says
I loved your puppy party and got some more ideas for the party I’m throwing in a few weeks!
Nicole says
Aww thanks sweet friend!! Yay for puppy parties, they are so fun! Can’t wait to see yours!