Puppy Party -3yr- Dog Bone Hunt

My daughter wanted a Puppy Party for her 3 year birthday party so I started a year in advance getting things ready.  This was a huge hit!

The invitations:  I went to www.letteringdelights.com and ordered the Paws journaling delight. I used the one that had the dog collar and paw prints on it for the invitations. It read: Attention All Puppies!! We need your wagging happy tails and your silly sloppy kisses to help us bark Happy Birthday" to Cambrie as she turns 3. Yummy treats will be served. Give us a WOOF if not attending. I made them the size of a square (about two to a page). Then I went to the local scrapbooking store and found the big scrapbook paper that had paw prints on it to make an envelope. I folded the sides on the left and the right then folded the bottom up and the top down and it made a perfect envelope for this cute puppy invitation (make sure the cute paw prints are visible on the outside. You seal with a sticker or tape.

Cake:  I made cupcakes in the shape of paw prints. I bought muffin or jumbo sized cupcake holders and bought 3 boxes of cherry chip cake mix. This made about 36 cupcakes. I then made a homemade white icing.

To make the paw prints: I bought the round thin mints for the base of the paw and I bought junior mints for the toes. It was adorable!! Plus cheap to make. I made peanut butter sandwiches cut out with a dog bone cookie cutter. I bought 3 glass dog bowls at the Dollar Tree and filled them with: carrots pretzels and scooby snacks (that are in the shape of dog bones).  I bought a paw print stamp and put three paw prints on a white napkin since my daughter was turing 3. Then I placed newspaper on the table and put stuffed doggies around the food and cupcakes.

For the activities: As the children came in I had them go to the "Grooming Station" and there I put paw prints on their hands with a stamp and ink pad they put on the dog ears (I will explain this in a minute) and made dog collars.

To make the ears: I bought two packages of girl headbands (came 6 each) at Dollar Tree. I had some batting at home that was white. So I cut out some of the white batting and rolled it onto the headband using my hot glue gun to seal it together. Then I cut ear pieces (two of them) and stuffed them with the batting. I hot glued the two together and that made one ear. Then I had some fluffy blanket material that looks like dog hair(fluffy fleece)and cut a small piece to put in the middle of the outside of the ear. I made two ears and hot glued them to the headbands. Then on the top of the headband I hotglued some of the "dog hair" materal (just a small line). These turned out so cute!! They wore these the whole time.

The dog collars: I bought the red licorice that pulls apart I tied two together (gently) and put a carstock circle with their name on it then they put froot loops on the sides and we gently tied it in the back. Very cute!  I made a dog house out of carboard boxes and used brown paper all around it. Here is where I had the puppies get on their elbows and take a picture (like a dog would).

Then we played a game where I hid real dog bones in two different rooms. They had to get down on their knees and walk like a dog to find the bones and one by one bring it back to put in their dog bowl (that I bought at Dollar Tree). They could only bring one bone at a time and have to crawl the whole time. Each bowl had their name on it in a dog bone shape. This was hilarious!!

I then had them all get together and do dog commands. This was very cute. Then we rewarded ourselves by going over to the Dog Bone Bakery where there was a table that had newspaper all over it. We had the kids bring their dog bowls to the table. They were given three dog shaped cookies and a cup of icing with a popsickle stick in it so they could decorate their own cookies. There was sprinkles chocolate chips dots etc as candy to top their cookies. And when all of this was done we sang Happy Birthday and they barked during each break.  (Ie: Happy birthday to you  BARK!). 

As parting gifts: they got to keep their bowl dog ears and collars. But I found bags that had Paw Prints on them and found tissue paper with paw prints. They got a coloring book that was completely dogs a pack of crayons two different dog stickers and dog bone candy.

This was the best party ever. And I was able to do it for under $60 (including the gift bags). I invited 12 kids.  Have fun at your puppy party!!"