If you’ve hung out with me here long enough, you know that I LERVE throwing parties. One of the things I love about parenthood is that it gives me an excuse to throw themed birthday parties for my kids. But when Miss Bean told me this year, she wanted a Paw Patrol party, I was decidedly unexcited. After checking with her multiple times to make sure she really really wanted Paw Patrol this year, I decided that we’d do it my way, and I came up with this glam Paw Patrol party.
Going Glam
The main reason I didn’t want to do a Paw Patrol party was because I didn’t want my house to look like we’d stepped into the Paw Patrol aisle at Party City. Licensed merchandise has a tendency to be really intense and in your face and decidedly un-glam. So I knew I needed a different approach. I didn’t buy a single Paw Patrol party item.
Instead, I used decor from the dollar section at Target to determine our color palette (with colors that are similar to the Paw Patrol characters, but not exactly the same) and my Silhouette
to create decor of my own.
I can’t tell you how much this Silhouette helps me when it comes to parties. It saves me tons of money and lets me create my own decorations. Plus, I can make them as far ahead as I want!
Click here to read my Top 5 Tips to creating Pinterest-worthy parties without losing your mind or blowing your budget!
To create the character decorations, I used my Silhouette software to trace the outline of each Paw Patrol character, then I cut them out of white cardstock to create a negative shape. I found patterned paper in the right colors (adjusted to match the other decor) to place behind it.
I layered these together in dollar store gold frames. I made a total of seven characters and placed them around the house as decor.
We already had these Paw Patrol character figures (yay for not spending more money!) so I used a few of them around. Plus, one of Bean’s friends decided to carry them around with him throughout the whole party. Haha.
I picked up this adorable drink bucket at Target. I really wanted to get the pretty blush pink one but practicality won out and I got the more versatile white one instead. I don’t have space to store stuff that I can’t use for multiple events!
The Food
For food, we kept it pretty simple, with things like “Farmer Yumi’s Veggies,” “Fetch Sticks” (pretzels), and “Kibble” (cocoa puff cereal.)
I found these colorful tins (in just the right color!) in the Target dollar section (2 for $1!) and upgraded them into doggy bowls using my Silhouette and some adhesive vinyl. I used the removable kind so we can use them again later for something else.
Bean also insisted we get gold plates, which worked out perfectly as we already had some gold accents going on.
The napkins are also from the Target dollar section. Can you tell that I basically live at Target? I may have a problem.
I made these sugar cookies to go in the guests’ goodie bags. These were the simplest cookies we’ve ever made, I think. We only made a dozen and only used two colors. We finished them in an hour or two.
Find the cookie cutter I used here.
I had planned to make these doggy treat cookies out of shortbread, but after I made the twelve shield cookies I had a bunch of sugar cookie dough left, so I just rolled it extra thick and it worked perfectly.
The kids went crazy over these dog bone treats! Well, all except for my nephew. My sister put one on his plate and he picked it up, gave it back to her and said, “No. These are for dogs.”
I used this set of cookie cutters for these cookies.
You can’t have a dog-themed party without puppy chow. It’s just not possible!
Side note: I’ve also discovered that puppy chow is my high-carb kryptonite. Lol. I’m going to have to develop a keto version stat!
I invested in the apothecary jars you see above for Bean’s first birthday. I’ve used them for parties ever since and I don’t regret the purchase one bit. I got these at Michael’s, but you can find a similar set here
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I made these adorable dog bone breadsticks by using some pre-made pizza dough (the kind in the can! –gasp!) and cutting it into strips. Then I made a knot on each end and baked until golden. Easy peasy!
This cake was the piece de resistance. The great thing about cakes is that you can easily bake them a day or two ahead as long as you keep them wrapped in plastic wrap. You can even frost them a day ahead if you have space to store them.
That cake topper is just another action figure (that I washed well!)
Rainbow cake!
I used a really simple cake recipe, then split it into two, colored them different colors, and baked them in two 8″ cake pans. I had to repeat this for a total of three times to get all the layers, but I split it up over a few days and just wrapped the cakes well and threw them in the freezer until the night before.
Activities
We kept the activities really simple. I’ve found that mostly the kids like to play on our play set so I stopped fighting it.
We set up two areas. One was Marshall’s Fire Rescue, where the kids used water guns to knock down (put out) the “fire” (plastic cups that I totally didn’t draw flames on like I’d planned.)
The other area was Rubble’s Dig Site. I bought a package of dog bones and then we buried them in one corner of our sand play area. The kids had tons of fun digging for bones and left the party completely filthy.
That’s the mark of a good party, right?
