She’s two and it’s all about puppies! No better way to celebrate than to have a puppy party!

I’m writing this just after the party finished, my toddler is napping and I am exhausted! BUT, putting it all together on my blog is a nice way to unwind and I do love to share our fun ideas with you, so I hope you enjoy it!

Outfit

You all know I love to sew for my girl. Days before her birthday I was searching through my fabric stash for puppy fabric and I couldn’t find any! I know, right? [If you saw my fabric stash you would be surprised too]. I did however, spot one puppy on this brown bear fabric. You know that book right? Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Such a classic. Because I am on a fabric spending freeze (yeah, I keep telling myself that anyways), I sewed it up with puppy in the front! Paired with some black tights, black Sew Bright headband and JadyBabys; it was just perfect. And for our outside adventures on her birthday it went perfect with her new Manitobah Mukluks! {Spoiled from her grandma <3}. I think I need a pair now!

And of course, the photos are limited because, well, she’s 2 and standing still is not a favourite activity…

Party Favours

So I have to admit, I’m really not big on party favours. We have so much “stuff” and I’m just not into buying useless things that are going to be thrown away, but I did want to do something fun. With a little help from Pinterest, we had an Adopt a Puppy basket as our party favours. Of course I drove around the city only one day before the party, looking for stuffed puppies. As much as I was trying to avoid Toys R Us, that’s where I ended up and they had them! I got these cute beanie baby puppies from the movie The Secret Life of Pets. I had no idea about this movie, but my nephew thought they were pretty cool, so #AuntieWin! I made up name tags that I printed with ribbon and a sign and put it all together in a basket with dog poop bags in the back for taking them home in.

I even have printable versions for you to use of the “Hello my name is” tags and the “Adopt a Puppy” sign. Just email [email protected] and I’ll email them for FREE!

 

Decorations

We made puppy balloons with brown construction paper, tape and a sharpie [big shout out to my husband for blowing up all the balloons], puppy prints drawn with chalk on the front steps, puppy hair bands with vinyl fabric glue gunned to a headband and the paper plates were all from The Secret Life of Pets [because that’s what I could find with puppies on them!]. I also did some puppy face painting but that was a FAIL and not recommended, ha.

Cutest little puppy ever!!

For food we went a little overboard with the bone shaped cookie cutter. Watermelon, cucumber and even sandwiches in the shape of a bone. Friends, this is what we call bone-wiches! Egg, salmon, ham and cheese. We aren’t fancy that’s for sure!

Sandwich tip: take the top piece of bread off and cut the bone shape, then cut the middle and bottom piece together. If you try and cut through all three layers in one go, it just makes a mess like the one on the bottom left of the tray. 

Cake

My mother always taught me to get help from Betty (Betty Crocker) whenever you’re in need of a cake! And that’s just what I did; thanks mom! I made two cakes, one rainbow bit and one chocolate and cut the cake pieces as shown on the Betty Crocker website HERE. Click under the “Expert Tips” to download a printable pattern. Once it was all cut and put together I froze it overnight. It doesn’t have to freeze overnight, but I find it easier to ice frozen cakes. As I started icing it I was quickly discouraged. My ideas in reality never EVER turn out as well as they look on Pinterest!

In the end it turned out okay and the birthday girl loved it, so that’s all that matters. [It was hard not to get the icing all mixed in with the cake and I didn’t have enough icing to go over the whole thing like the legs and ears]. My advice is to make extra icing! The icing is a secret family recipe…maybe one day I’ll share it 😉

Thank you to all our family and friends for making the day special for Em! [And putting up with her *little* episodes!].

For the party planners – have fun and good luck! Last year was a Ladybug theme; read more HERE.