Puppy Pawty Part I

Yesterday was Raegan's birthday party with play group friends. Here's the rundown on the logistics.

Theme:

Raegan has loved dogs as long as I can remember. She has several stuffed dogs and her dear pup blanket (lovey style). She plays with his ear so much that I don't think she is always aware of it. She kisses her dogs and gives them food and water, complete with sound effects. I tell her these dogs are very lucky to have her for a friend :) She constantly asks about Annie, my parents' dog, and we look at pictures of her on the computer. She gets so excited when we see dogs while we're out for a walk. She yells for them to "sop!" so we can catch up. A dog party is the perfect fit and reflection of her right now.

* Honorable Mention Party Theme goes to Trucks.

I did start working on things a couple of months in advance. I feel a little silly, but I like doing it this way for a few reasons: 1) I don't want to get stressed about it and have a happy celebration become an aggravation. 2) I like working at a leisurely pace and doing things when I feel like it instead of racing to do everything in one weekend. I get to design a lot of things for other people, but I rarely do personal projects, so it's a fun project for me. 3) I can keep my eyes open for ideas and deals when I'm on regular errands and let ideas come to me.

Invitations:

made by me @ www.dyhale.etsy.com

Decorations:

• Raegan's beloved puppies
• Dog bed to hold favor bags (Raegan's reading spot)
• Tissue poms
• Kraft paper table runner with paw prints ~ I made the stencil by printing off some paw prints and cutting them out with an Exacto knife. I already had the kraft paper for wrapping packages for mailing.
• Napkin rings with paw prints ~ I made these in Photoshop and printed on card stock. I thought it would be easier for little hands to handle than loose utensils and napkins).
• Food labels (made in Photoshop and printed on card stock) - I'm not into labeling everything that's sitting still, such as forks, spoons, etc. People know what those things are. But I do think labels are fun for adding to the theme, such as "pupcakes" and "pupcorn." They are also really useful for identifying foods, such as peanut butter, that might be an allergen for some guests.
• Cardboard dog house ~ I saw a really cute dog house on a blog. I didn't find a tutorial, but I could tell through the door opening in the photo that it was a tri-fold board, science fair style. As luck would have it, they were 50% off the following week at Hobby Lobby. I got one and another sheet of foam board for the roof. After I looked at it, my mind started thinking of all sorts of other fun things to do with a tri-fold board: puppet show theater, lemonade stand, pretend store, etc.
• Water bottle wraps - A really easy way to dress up a water bottle and make it coordinate with the theme is with scrapbook paper. A 2" x 8" strip fits the short and tall bottles. You can remove the existing label or leave it and adhere the strip with double-sided tape.
• Dog Grooming sign
• Jar of "dog food"- I filled a glass jar we already had with Puff cereal.
• Purple polka dot paper straws with flags from HeyYoYo. Any size purchase of straws comes with a free PDF of straw flags in tons of colors. You can use them to write a fun message or write kids' names so their cups don't get mixed up. I printed "Sit. Stay. Drink." on address labels and stuck them to the flags. Then I found an empty sauce jar in the pantry and filled the bottom with Cocoa Puffs.

Food:

• mini corn dogs
• grape Crystal Light
• fruit and dip
• graham cracker bones
• cheese slices in the shape of a dog bone
• pupcakes (chocolate with homemade frosting and chocolate paw prints)

Supplies:

• dog bone cookie cutter (Hobby Lobby)
• paw print mold for crayons and chocolates (ebay)
• crayons, unpeeled and melted for paw print molds
• black face paint crayons for drawing puppy noses on guests (Party City)
• tin bucket for utensils (Target Easter section)
• Wilton candy melts (Hobby Lobby)

Favor Bags:

For the favor bags, I tried to keep it simple with a reusable snack bag filled with "dog food" (puff cereal) and paw crayons. I like to stay away from trinkets and give things that will actually be consumed right away or be useful for a long time. With the bags, I was going for a dog collar effect with the name tag tied to the outside.

1. Dog ear headbands for kids to wear during the party and add to the festivities ~ I thought about attaching the dog ears to the invitations for people to wear to the party, but I worried that they would lose them or forget to bring them).

2. Reusable snack bags from KBExquisites

3. Paw print crayons with a bag topper made in Photoshop

4. Snack bag filled with Cocoa Puffs to look like dog food

HOW-TO

Crayons:

Peel new or used crayons and break them into smaller pieces. I was using a plastic candy mold, and I don't think it was supposed to go in the oven. If you are using a silicone mold, you can skip the following instructions and put the crayons pieces directly into the mold and in the oven. Melt them at 150 degrees for 20 minutes. Pour melted wax into molds and let cool. ** Here's what I learned about making clean up as easy as possible. With the first few rounds, I put the crayon pieces in a mini muffin pan lined with mini cupcake liners. The wax still bled through the liners and got all over the muffin pan. It's still not clean. Next I tried the same mini liners on a regular cookie sheet lined with foil. It was so much easier and nothing got on the cookie sheet. The cupcake liners made it really easy to pour the melted wax into the mold. Work quickly or the wax will get chunky and will not pour smoothly.

Chocolate Paws:

Follow directions on package of candy melts and pour into molds.

Icing Recipe:

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dessert/the-best-chocolate-cake.html

Tissue Poms

I worked on these last year for Raegan's first birthday and finally made a decent one. I still feel like there's some trick I'm missing. I saw the instructions on Martha Stewart, but they weren't very helpful to me, so I watched someone make them on Youtube.