Puppy Party -4yr- Chocolate Paw Cupcakes

Puppy Party for 4 year old daughter  My daughter loves puppies/dogs so I planned a puppy birthday party and it was great because she could invite boys and girls to it.  There were kids ranging in ages from 2-10 and everyone had a great time!  I made the invitations using our new puppy on the front.  It said "Are you ready to party" and then inside they read "Kelly's turning 4,come help her have a Dog gone good time" with information as to when and where the party will be (note - it said it was at Kelly's doghouse).   

When everyone arrived they had to crawl through a dog house that I made using a large box.  I made a top for it that was triangular and painted the sides brown and the top black and covered it with black construction paper rectangles overlapping to look like shingles.  I made arch shaped doors on both sides so they could crawl through but on one side I didn't cut it totally off so it can also close up and be a play house.  I put my daughters name above the door with a paw print.  I also put a piece of carpet down inside (all the kids LOVED the dog house).   

Then the kids were directed to the puppy parlor- where they got puppy ears (I got 6 headbands for $1 at the dollar store) and used various colors of felt (shades of brown, white and black) to cover them and made floppy dog shapped ears.  Used hot glue to assemble- I did this before the party since I didnt' want the kids to use the hot glue and they were time consuming.  They also got a collar- used strips of felt (purple for the girls, red for the boys) and made tags out of cardstock, put a paw print stamp on it and each kids name and covered with clear contact paper, used pipe cleaner to attach to collar.  Used velcro to attach ends of collar so kids could take them on and off.  THey also got their face painted with dog noses, whiskers, etc.  When they finished that I had various stuffed dogs, dog books, some dog games, and a dog vet kit in the living room for the kids to play with until it was time to eat and everyone arrived (just to keep things organized and keep kids in the puppy mode).  They had a good time with this stuff.   

For the table- I used brown paper (the kind that comes on rolls) and got 2 different sized paw print stamps.  Stamped all over the paper with brown and black inks, this made an adorable table cloth.  Other decorations included- labels for each game/activity with picture of a dog on it and (made them on print shop and downloaded pics of dogs on google images), balloons, got puppy plates, napkins called Party Pups- very cute set!   

For lunch we had (and each item was labeled with a stand-up card that had a picture of the type of dog that it represented): corn dogs (used a weiner dog), scooby mac and cheese, puppy chow (can get this recipe online), vizsla veggies (vizsla is a breed of dog), mutt-r-melon (aka-watermelon), bulldog bones (aka, scooby dog bones that are graham crackers but look like real dog bones), pink poodle punch (pink lemonade). 

After they ate- they played hot dog (instead of hot potato) and we did this to the song Who let the dogs out.  They loved it and wanted to play again and again!  I had music playing the whole time.  I downloaded the following songs- BINGO, Do Your Ears Hang Low, How Much is That Doggie in the Window, Who Let the Dogs Out, Hound Dog, Oh Where has My Little Dog Gone, Me and YOu and a Dog named Boo, Pawsuup!!, Positive Doggone Attitude, Wag & Wiggle, Bow Wow Boogie, Gonna Buy me a Dog (all these songs were found at itunes for .99 cents each).  I made a copy for each family to have and put them in a case and labeled it puppy tunes. 

After that game we went outside for a puppet show (I draped a purple blanket over the railing of our deck and the kids sat on a blanket in front of the deck).  My husband and I each had a dog puppet and I made up a skit for the show which included various dog jokes, knock knock jokes and audience participation.  The two dog puppets argued over who was better before letting the kids get back to playing more games!  THey loved the puppet show (also printed a fire hyrdant and my husbands puppet made use of it in doggy terms- and used a squirt gun for fun effects- it was a hot day so the kids thought it was funny!)   

The next game was called Where's Spots' Spots?  I drew an outline of a dalmation on large poster board.  I asked the kids what was wrong with this picture and they said "he has no spots".  I then told them all his spots were around the yard and they had to get one at a time and bring them back to spot.  Within minutes Spot was covered!  They had fun with that too.  Then we had a relay race called Dalmation Dig (each game had a sign with it with a picture of that dog too).  I put real dog biscuits/bones in plastic totes and covered them with sand.  The kids were divided into 2 teams and I gave them 5 minutes to play it.  THey had to one at a time dig up and bring back 1 bone and put it in the bowl.  At the end of 5 minutes the team with the most bones won.   

The last game was called Dog Bath.  I had 2 large buckets of water with plastic cups in them.  At the end of the row were smaller buckets with a plastic dog inside.  THey kids had to fill up the cup and dump it in the smaller bucket to give the dog a bath.  The first team to overflow the bucket won (we played boys verses girls for added fun!)   I took pictures of the kids as they gave their gift to my daugther.  It was cute because they all had their dog ears and faces on.  I will use them for the thank you cards. 

I made cupcakes and frosted them white.  Put a mini peppermint patty on top and then four upside down chocolate chips in front of that to look like a paw print. I got nice dog bowls (for $1) and gave the kids their cupcake in the dog bowl and told them to eat like a puppy!  This was a HUGE hit!  They got right into their bowls and I have some great pictures of this.  the kids got to take home their bowls, dog ears, collars, CD of music.  I made treat bags with brown paper bags and used the same paw print stamps as on the table (I also wrote thanks for coming to Kelly's puppy party" on them.  Inside I put scooby fruit snacks, dog stickers, mini plastic dogs, and I made bones using 4 dum dum lolipops ( 2 at each end) and wrapped them in white crepe paper to look like dog bones.  Everyone had a great time!