Luca’s Puppy + Pancake Party!

There is one thing Luca loves and it is dogs. He sleeps with approximately 6 stuffed animal dogs each night. He squeals with delight when he sees a dog walk by. One of his most used words is “woof woof”. So when it came time to party planning for his 2nd birthday, it was immediately clear that he needed to have a puppy party.

Luca’s birthday falls on Christmas Eve and to make sure some of our closest friends could still celebrate him with us, we decided to do a morning birthday party before all of the Christmas festivities for everyone would begin. This made food extra easy—a pancake bar for the kids and mimosas for the parents. We told our guests to feel free to wear their pajamas and come over to celebrate. In lieu of gifts, we collected dog gear and food to bring the the Humane Society.

Party Activities:

Adopting stuffed puppies: When our guests arrived, we had them pick out a stuffed animal to adopt. My mother in law made little party hats for each dog and we put them in a basket on the table. We used kraft containers to turn into doghouses and spread stickers and makers on the table for them to decorate with. They each filled out a little adoption certificate that I bought off of etsy and printed at home.

Making a collar: I filled a few bowls with beads and glue a dog shaped bone with each kiddo’s name on top. These were glued onto a pipe cleaner for the kids to decorate with beads.

Playdough table: I found this cute set of dog shaped cookie cutters at Target. I made a batch of brown playdough and put it in little jars. Tossed a few rolling pins, pipe cleaners and knick knacks on the table—-along with with a tube of little plastic dogs from the dollar tree. If was a hit for days to come with Luca!

Coloring a giant dog house: I’ve been a big time fan of giant coloring cardboard houses because they always keep my kids entertained. I thought turning one into a dog house would be a fun activity for the party. I cute an arch shape out of the front of the house, added a big dog bone with Luca’s name on it and set out markers and paint sticks for the kids to decorate it. Three weeks later, it’s still in our basement and being used by our kids.

Piñata: There’s nothing that beats the excitement of a piñata at a party when you are young. We had a piñata leftover from a holiday party—I spray painted it blue and taped a dog napkin on the front. Just about as unfancy as you can get.

The Food

Pancake Bar: I am all about easy food at parties. This party may have been the easiest one yet—with just a simple pancake bar. The night before the party, my MIL and SIL made a bunch of little pancakes that we put in the fridge overnight. When it was time of the party, we heated them up and they were ready to go. We filled some bowls with pancake toppings—-berries, bananas, sprinkles, syrup and of course whipped cream. And that, my friend, was the extent of the food at our party.

Dog Food and Treats: @prettyandpaperco tipped me off on using Scooby Snacks cookies and reese’s puff cereal as little dog food bags for the puppies and treats for the dogs. They looked so realistic!

Cake from the grocery store :)

The Decorations

Our basement is a blank canvas (ahem, because we still don’t have furniture down here lol). So we pulled in a picnic table from outside, covered with with table clothes from the dollar store and a roll of festive wrapping paper rolled across the top of the tables (my favorite way to spice up a party table). We added a few balloons, hung up a few little signs and kept it simple.

It was the perfect little celebration for our puppy loving 2 year old. It’s hard to believe how quickly time has flown by.

Get the look:

dog house // book // cupcake toppers // kraft food trays // bone cups // wrapping paper (sold out from target) // dog napkins // stuffed dogs // dog bone stickers // adopt a puppy signage // kraft dog houses // dog lollipops