hello titus: Elliott's 2 Year Puppy Party

Last week we celebrated Elliott's second birthday party with some of our close friends and family. We didn't have her party until the week after her actual birthday because we wanted her aunt Jenn and cousins to be there and they got back from SC that week. I'm so glad we waited! It wouldn't have been the same without them.

This year, Elliott's party theme was puppies (thanks to Josh). We've decided to take turns on the themes for our kids parties (until they want to have a say in it, which will probably be soon). We are lucky enough to live in a fun college town full of awesome stuff, including the ability to rent puppies! There is a company called PuppiesForRent that rents puppies by the hour. It's genius, especially for college students (such a fun date idea!). They get puppies given to them from all over the place, and while they go through the process of finding a new adoption family for the puppy, they rent them out. We decided it would be the perfect idea for a party full of toddlers. The week of Elliott's party, the company had four puppies, so we rented all four, for an hour and a half. It was perfect.

The party included lots of other puppy themed things as well. I definitely didn't go as all out as I did with her first party, but you really can't when the party is at a park. It was perfect though. I love how it turned out.

For the food we did a BBQ. We made hot dogs and hamburgers which were super easy to prepare and make there at the park. We had chips, soda and then lots of snacky things that fell in the puppy theme. The day before the party, I prepped all the food and got everything ready, so I wouldn't have to worry about it on the actual day. I'm so glad I did. It made things a lot less stressful. Kendal also came over and helped, which was soooo helpful! Elliott and I woke up that morning and immediately got started on treats. We made about 4 dozen sugar cookies in the shapes of dog bones and dog paws. We dipped a couple dozen pretzel rods in chocolate (fetch sticks) and we made a big batch of muddy buddies (or puppy chow). When Kendal came, we baked the cakes and she helped us make a special frosting for the cookies that hardens and has a gloss to it. I wasn't planning on frosting the cookies, but I'm so glad Kendal convinced me to, because they turned out way cuter! I did a really simple cake this year. I just baked a white box cake and did two 8" pans. I laid the first one down and then cut the second in half and put each half on the sides as ears for the dog. Then I made brown and dark brown frosting and piped on a black face. It was really simple and easy, which I loved.

I tried so hard to get a picture of her helping us, but she was just too excited to sit still. :)

Adorable, right? Thanks Kendal!

For decorations, I kept things really simple for the park. I got gold balloons and drew little dog faces on them to hang up around the pavilion and then we put up a tablecloth with the food on it and had our little picture prop set up near by.

The picture prop turned out a million times more amazing than I imagined. We bought some ply wood at Home Depot for $10. Morgan and Josh used his saw the cut out the shape of the dog house and the hole for their faces. Then I painted the dog onto it. In total, it cost about $25 and I think it turned out adorable.

Josh had a last minute meeting come up for work the day of the party. It was pretty frustrating, but it worked out ok. Morgan was so gracious and came over before the party to help me transport everything to the park. Then Kendal and Matt met us at the park to help set up. The party started at 4pm. Josh got there about 4:45, which was okay, because the puppies didn't come until 4:30, so he really didn't miss too much. Thankfully!

Morgan had made a little pen for the puppies out of chicken wire so we could contain them when someone wasn't holding them. That turned out to be really helpful.

Just before the puppies arrived, Elliott was running down the sidewalk to see Jack when she tripped on a crack and fell. She hit the pavement pretty hard and busted her lip open. I felt so terrible. It bled quite a bit and we had to pull some skin off that was hanging there. Luckily it wasn't bad enough to need stitches and thank goodness she didn't damage her teeth. But she had quite the fat lip, and she was pretty upset for a while. Poor girl. What a sad start to her party. She had blood and chocolate all over her new outfit. Josh had to stop at the house to change after his meeting, so he was able to pick her up clean clothes and some tylenol, which helped a ton.

These were my original plans for the balloons, but the paper was too heavy! So they wouldn't float. I was so bummed.

So they have lame marker ears. Not as cute, but oh well!

The picture prop and the dog ears I made for everyone to take pictures with.

Balls for the dogs.

Adoption puppies. (Party favors)

The puppies were so adorable. There were four puppies, two boys and two girls. There was Neo (a border collie) and Oso (a little black fluffy one), then Anne (a hound/lab mix) and Nellie (a chihuahua/shitzu mix). They were seriously all so adorable! The kids didn't last quite as long (on the interest level) than I expected, but an hour and a half was still a good amount of time, since the adults loved playing with them too.

Waiting on the puppies.

Jane petting Anne.

Elliott holding Oso. He was seriously so tiny.

Cuties!

Anne looks so ferocious here! Haha. It cracks me up.

Playing with Neo.

After the puppies left, Josh started the food and we ate burgers and dogs. Yum! Then we had Elliott open her gifts. She was so spoiled by all her family and friends. Then we cut the cake and took pictures with the prop before everyone left. For party favors, each of the kids got to "adopt" a puppy. I think they had fun picking out their puppies and getting their adoption cards to go with them.