A Puppy and Kitty Birthday Party

Lily and Liam's birthdays are only 2 weeks apart so we always host a combined birthday party for them. Most of the time the themes just don't coordinate. We end up doing one party with two different themes. This was the first year that the themes coordinated! Lily wanted to have a kitty party and since Liam loves dogs, we decided to have a Puppy and Kitty themed Birthday Party fort their 5th and 3rd Birthdays! 

Let me just say, it was the easiest birthday party to plan. But perhaps the theme should have been It's Raining Cats and Dogs because it stormed half the time! We had to move everything into the garage, which pretty much destroyed the decor. The wind blew off the tassels and banners, wrecked the balloons and the table centerpieces kept getting knocked off.

That's real life. Thankfully, I learned a while back not to expect perfection. Things are going to happen, so I just go with the flow. And guess what? Despite the storms and the intense heat and humidity, everybody had a great time!

FAVORS & CRAFT

The favors were the hit of the party!

I filled a wicker basket with stuffed puppies and put an "Adopt Me" chalkboard sign in front of it. Each child got to pick a puppy to take home with them!

I set up a table with beads and pipe cleaners so each child could make a collar for their puppy before taking it home.

I did print out adoption certificates for the kids to take home with their puppy, but I sat them aside when it started to rain and forgot all about them. This was probably my favorite birthday party favor ever and all the kids loved the puppies!

Stuffed Puppies - Walmart ($3 each)
Chalkboard Sign - Target Dollar Spot
Wicker Basket - TJ Maxx

FOOD

  

It was so much fun to prepare the food for this party!

Goldfish Bowl

I filled a glass fish bowl with Goldfish crackers and added a small fish net to use as a scoop!

Mice & Cheese 

After cutting up some cheese, I added a few toy mice to the plate. It was such a cute touch. The cracker plate had some mice on it, too!

Kitty Litter Pudding

This one is a disgusting concept, but the pudding is so good. It's just a traditional Dirt Pudding Recipe served inside a litter box (or in this case, a dishpan). Use a kitty litter scoop as a serving spoon. Skip the tootsie roll turds, though, because that makes it a bit TOO realistic!

"Dog Bone" Treat Jars

Fill some treat jars with Scooby Doo cereal or Scooby Doo Graham crackers and place them on the tables!

Puppy Chow

It wouldn't be a party without this addictive snack! 

Recipe:

1. Pour 10 cups of corn or rice Chex into an extra large bowl. 
2. In a separate bowl, melt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter and 1/4 cup butter in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
3. Pour in 1 tsp vanilla extract and stir until everything is melted and blended together.
4. Pour chocolate mixture over Chex cereal and stir gently to coat evenly. 
5. Pour 2 cups powdered sugar into a large bag, then add some cereal to the bag. Seal and shake until all the cereal is coated, then transfer to an airtight container. 
6. Repeat until all the cereal is coated with the sugar.

Dog (or cat) Chip Bowls

Instead of regular bowls, use dog or cat food bowls to serve chips!

Glass Betta Bowl - Petsmart 

Fish Net + Scoop + Mice - Walmart

Dishpan + Treat Jars + Dog Bowls - Dollar Tree

 DINNER

We always used to have regular picnic food for our outdoor birthday parties. Last year we had a Pasta Bar because pasta is Liam's favorite food. It's definitely my new favorite party meal idea because it's simple and requires minimal preparation!

I cook several pounds of pasta then transfer the pasta to a large Crockpot set on warm. In smaller Crockpots, I cook a marinara sauce, an alfredo sauce and a cheese sauce. The pasta is served with  salad and garlic bread.

It's such an easy meal idea and everybody seems to love it!

 

GAMES/ACTIVITIES

I rarely plan organized games because I'm just not a fan. Usually only half of the kids want to participate.  I prefer to sit out some items and let the kids do their own thing. Balls, bubbles, balloons, a baby pool, badminton, ride on toys, wagons and sidewalk chalk are perfect items to keep kids busy!

 

The only game I could think of was a litter box relay, but my tootsie rolls ended up getting too sticky from the humidity. EWWWW!

The concept is easy: Fill 2 kitty litter boxes and place 5-10 unwrapped tootsie rolls (one for each kid) in them. Place them side by side at one end of the playing area. At the other end, place two small buckets. Divide the kids into 2 teams, line them up behind each bucket and hand the first kid in each line a kitty litter scoop. The kids must race against each other. They have to race across to the litter box, scoop out a tootsie roll turn and race it back to the starting line. They dump it in the "trash" and hand the scoop to the next kid in line. The first team to clean out the litter box wins!

CAKE

This was the first year the kids could share a cake! We embellished a sheet cake with a stuffed kitty, a stuffed dog, a toy mouse and a tennis ball. It was easy and the kids thought it was really cute! Keeping the toys on the cake are just an extra birthday party perk.

 

 

We also served a dozen pudding-filled cupcakes covered in dog bone sprinkles, too!

Because it's a combined party, we sing Happy Birthday twice. One song for each kid!

GIFTS

Lily and Liam each get a turn to open all their gifts so they have the chance to feel like the only person of honor!

There are ALWAYS helpers!

By the end of the day, everybody was exhausted!

The Puppy and Kitty Themed Birthday Party may not have gone exactly as planned, but it was still a very special day spent celebrating our sweet Lily and Liam. (And we're totally missing a kid in the family picture!) The exhaustion we all felt at the end of the day was only a sign of all the fun we had!

What was your favorite birthday party theme?

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