Abundantly Blessed: Doggie Party -- The Preparations

For some unknown reason, Cody and Jaden have always been BIG dog lovers. Even though we don't own a dog (or any pet, for that matter), our boys absolutely adore dogs. They want to pet every dog they see and have never seemed to be afraid of them, even when receiving doggie licks, kisses, sniffs, and up-close barks. In fact, more often than not, the fear typically seems to be reverse-- the dogs often seem a bit frightened, or at least overwhelmed, by our over-zealous little guys! Even when we see dogs in picture books or merely hear a dog's bark, both boys will giggle and point enthusiastically.

So, when it came time for our boys' birthday party planning, our theme idea was an obvious choice. We planned a doggie party! Due to our family's vacation over the boys' actual birthday, we held the party in mid-May, about 2 weeks before their big day. Mommy put together some doggie-themed invites for our friends and family.

Front: "Come. Sit. Stay. Play"
Back: "It's time to Paw-ty! Jaden and Cody are turning two!
(party details) Be ready for a doggone good time!"

The day before the party, everyone had a job to do. Jaden and Cody saw everyone else working hard and took it upon themselves to dust some furniture.

Daddy did an excellent job of ready-ing the yard. His mowing and weed-whacking made our yard look picture-perfect. :)

We were SO pleased to have Grammy visit us again this year to help with the boys' party. She is always such a hard worker and doesn't hesitate to jump right in and help with any task. Mommy was especially excited to have Grammy's help with a lot of the food preparations. Grammy mixed up some of our jello "puppy water bowls."

Then, came the involved task of making dog bone pretzels. I'm terming the pretzel-making a task because (a) neither of us had ever made them before and (b) the job is a multi-step process. On my own, I'm not sure I would've attempted this menu item. With Grammy's help, however, the task was quite fun! First, we made the dough and let it rise. Then, we rolled out small sections of the dough and tied the ends into knots.

Here are our pre-baked doggie bones.

The final step was dipping each pretzel into a baking soda/hot water solution (to achieve the pretzel taste) and sprinkling on the kosher salt.

Finally... ready to bake!

The final product! Quite tasty, too. :)

The last major kitchen projects to be completed on the pre-party day were the 2 birthday cakes. Mommy decided that the boys each needed their own cake this year. (Last year we had made 1 cake and two individual kinds of cupcakes.) Grammy bought a couple of heart shaped pans for cake #1.

This was Jaden's cake, the doggie head. Grammy brought along an easy-to-make recipe for icing that was super easy to spread and just delicious!

Grammy had also pre-cut patterns for us to use when cutting the doggie's ears. They had to be formed just right to fit right alongside the dog's head.

We used chocolate icing for the doggie's ears.

Lastly, we added icing facial features and a cookie topped with jam for the tongue.

Cody's cake, a doggie dish, used two round cakes instead of heart-shaped. We stacked these on top of each other and covered the cakes with blue icing.

Reeses Puffs cereal was our dog food topping, and Scooby Snacks were perfect for lining the doggie dish.

Cody's cake... complete!

Here are both boys' cakes together. Gotta love the cute & easy-to-imitate Pinterest ideas!

On the morning of the party, our primary job was setting up all the decorations. On the mantel, we displayed each boy's Year 2 photo poster, plus another poster of both boys combined. It's fun seeing all these memories combined and comparing how much they've changed over the year. I LOVE these fast & inexpensive posters from Costco. We display them on our downstairs wall throughout the whole year.

This was our guest sign-in table. My sister Kim had given me the fantastic idea last year to buy books for the boys that are based on the party theme. Then, the party guests can sign the inside of the book for a precious yearly keepsake. Of course, the boys already love having 2 more doggie books to add to their collection. :)

In the "dog bed" basket above, we set out party favors for all the guests-- homemade puppy chow. We, of course, had to let Cody and Jaden sample some of the treat before the party (their first official taste of peanut butter). They were BIG fans!

The label reads, "Thanks for chowing down with us!
Hope you had some tail-waggin' fun! Love Cody & Jaden

Behind our food table, we displayed a Happy Birthday banner, handmade by their crafty Aunt Sarah a few years ago. We love thinking of her whenever we take out this trendy banner!

On the food table inside, and the on the outdoor drink table, we set out doggie #2 centerpieces. This was a perfect way to use some of our leftover Reeses Puffs!

We also gave in to the cute-factor and purchased some dog-themed plates and napkins. Cody and Jaden couldn't stop saying "bark, bark, bark" and giggling whenever they saw these plates, so I think the splurge was worthwhile.

Here is our partially-filled food table (more menu details and food pics to come).

On the front door, we hung a welcome to the "paw-ty" sign.

These fire hydrant signs alerted our guests as to the locations of the bathrooms.

Finally, we created a "Play Fetch" basket, filled with frisbees and various sports balls, to entertain both little and big kids outdoors during the party.

We waited until the last possible minute to put Jaden and Cody into their party-gear. It's hard to see in these pics, but the boys' shirts each have a little white dog on their left side.