How to Plan a Puppy-Themed Birthday Party (Quarantine Edition)
This past week was Wilder’s 2nd Birthday! In true mom-on-summer-break fashion, I decided to plan an intimate birthday party– quarantine style. Not an easy feat considering, I tend to do things last minute and I wanted to avoid going into any stores to purchase items. BUT it all worked out with Amazon Prime, a few custom orders, and a simple (dozen) “add to cart” clicks later… VOILA! My vision for Wilder’s 2nd “PAW-ty” came to life!
Here are FIVE helpful tips to plan your special Quarantine event:
1. Use Pinterest and/or Influencers to help you DREAM
I’m not naturally good at bringing my vision to life. I’m sorely detail-orientated deficient when it comes to decor. So– I get A LOT of help from Pinterest and my favorite Blogger/Instagram creative mom– almostmakesperfect. I also find that Blogs are a hidden gem to find inspiration for your parties.
I scoured the Internet for “chic” puppy-themed birthday parties and surprisingly, there aren’t too many good ideas. Since Wilder doesn’t have much say yet, I defaulted his birthday theme to one of his favorite things– Puppies! He’d also would have loved Elmo or Lions– but like I said, I still have creative control, for now.
I got inspiration from these puppy-themed parties (rhiannonbosse.com, 100layercakelet , abeautifulmess.com) and then, decided on a simple and muted color scheme. Think: earth-tones and splashes of metallic gold and silver to add just a pop of shine. Also, I hoped Wilder would stand out with his powder blue balloon puppy pullover. Naturally, all eyes SHOULD be on the birthday boy!
*Keep in mind that many decor items are hidden within your own home! I used white acetate plates to display baked goods, well-used cake displays from years past, a mason jar from a recent coffee order, and our “L” initial candle I received as a gift from a student to accent our display. When you do need to purchase, aim to find things you can repurpose or use again and again!
2. Search Etsy for custom-ish details
I find that banners are the easiest way to brighten up a space without being too overwhelming. I found this adorable neutral + gold accent banner with real pictures of puppies. I wanted to keep things realistic for my puppy theme rather than cartoon. I find that the cartoon route especially, with too many details, can feel a little bit generic. The “Happy Birthday” banner is not from Etsy– but from HERE.
The cake topper (inspiration) also came from an amazing Etsy seller. Can you believe it’s actually made of CLAY? Budget Tip: Order a simple cake and order a custom topper to get that fondant bougie look. Definitely the look for less PLUS– you can save the cake topper. I would recommend finding the image you’d like to reproduce and order in advance. Since packages can be delayed and lost in times like this, order it early and save it in a safe place until the party.
3. Ditch the fresh flowers
I love flowers. Most of my DIY home parties are decked with flowers and believe me, I adore them. However, I like to pick my flowers the day of and see what’s looks good for my party. Since that wasn’t an ideal option, I went with dried and preserved greenery instead. I used afloral.com to select three different types of greenery. Honestly, I lucked out because I have never seen the plants in person and/or used this site before.
I went with:
- Textured Natural Tan Pampas Grass— This is a safe option as Instagram is flooded with Pampas Grass. They’re airy, romantic, and add height easily. I went with a natural hue, but there are several different options to choose from.
- Natural Sun Palm leaves— For drama and flare! The breadth of these leaves caught my eye immediately. The color added the perfect amount of muted green to add to my overall neutral theme.
- Natural Bunny Tail– Again, the neutral tone as I wanted the greenery to add dimension rather than pops of color to my table. This was a last minute add– they’re adorable and perfect for detail shots!
I highly recommend checking out the site for other dried flowers and greenery. I only ordered one of each kind and felt like there was enough for my design. After decorating the table, I had a few leftover Palm leaves, a small bunch of bunny tails, and a single not-so photogenic Pampas Grass stem. I plan to continue to display these around my home!
4. Custom Order a few important things
My initial hope was to order custom puppy cookies, cupcakes, and a cake. But I decided to weed out the puppy-cakes especially, since they cost a lot more than I had hoped. I went local and small business for both my cookies and cake. I reached out to 3-5 individuals and bakeries for both before selecting. Since I wanted to pickup the cake + cookies, I had to think about location– some were too far away. Also– I believe taking the time to research and having options will give you the highest satisfaction with the final product.
Cookies by OpsBakeshop
I was thrilled with how they came out! Again, I wanted realistic puppies since Wilder loves REAL puppies. Some of the designs I had seen across Pinterest were all slightly too cartoon-ish for me. But Sunoak is a true artist and painted these portraits of Wilder’s favorite puppies! Not to mention, he LOVED how they tasted too! Sunoak was easy to work with and went ABOVE and beyond what I could have hoped for! Just scope out her Instagram to be in awe of her diverse range of custom cookies!
I’d recommend a dozen to have PLENTY to decorate and enjoy during and even long after your party ends! If you plan to have a safe, socially distanced party in-person, I’d recommend an extra dozen on top of the ones you plan to give out.
Cake by dollops.and.crumbs
For our cake, I went with a Funfetti cake with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd filling. I considered ordering from Milk Bar and Magnolia’s Bakery– but decided to support a local business instead! The cake was simple, but exactly what I had envisioned! We would have gone with chocolate ganache filling (how YUM does that sound?!) but Wilder hates chocolate. Again– save on your cake by going with yummy flavors and simple design, but make it your own with a cake topper!
Don’t forget color- appropriate candles to top with your cake! I went with these from Amazon because I realized too late! But I would have gone with either of these (1 or 2) if I was you know, I bit more prepared!
5. Get creative with your guests!
Our family felt most comfortable with having Zoom Party for our human guests to limit exposure and any risk at all. We decided instead to have balloon dogs as Wilder’s unofficial official present guests! I ordered these from Amazon and just blew them up with a straw. I’d recommend either looking for balloon characters or dig up all the stuff animals you have to make the party feel festive. Bonus: Your child will play with the balloons until they deflate– double win!
We used Paperless Post to send out our online invitations for our other VIP guests on Zoom/FaceTime. I don’t use Zoom regularly but it’s quite easy to setup your private event with a password to avoid any unpleasant surprises. We placed our Link + Password right on our invites to make it easy!
Some of our guests had fun backgrounds, party hats, etc to still join in on the fun! Set a reminder to take a screenshot of the guests before you leave! We forgot but luckily, had friends who did the honors for us. Since the free version of Zoom only allows 40 minutes of meeting time, we kept it casual and sang Happy Birthday to Wilder. Wilder was a bit camera shy, but he loved all the attention! You can invite up to 100 guests to join on Zoom or keep it as intimate as you want!
Other helpful tips:
- Inspired by almostmakesperfect, consider using wrapped presents to add to your table! I scoured Amazon for puppy wrapping paper (1 and 2) and I’m glad I did. This can add a two-in-one purpose to your table by 1) incorporating height and dimension AND 2) having your presents wrapped that needed to be anyways!
- Balloon Garlands are all the rage and I personally purchased a balloon garland kit on Amazon. Needless to say, it didn’t work out! I recommend keeping things simple OR hiring the professional if you really want it! We plucked the balloons from our failed arch and used them as a fun walkway for Wilder to enter the party 🙂 Making lemonade with the lemons, right?!
- Be flexible with your decor! I ordered puppy plates from Merimeri and I ended up using one as a prop instead of a plate. A game time decision and I’m so glad I did.
- Use cheaper dessert items to add to your main table. The night before I thought it would helpful to have some white cupcakes and neutral colored muffins (lemon poppy seed) to add to the table. I had them delivered from Whole Foods by the morning and they fit right onto the table!
Whatever your planning during this strange time of Stay-at-Home/Quarantine, just have fun with it! Trust me, it will be memorable no matter what! I hope this inspires you to be creative and still hallmark your special events. I love celebrations and even in these hard times, there are things to thank God for and celebrate!
Truth be told, I found myself intimated by so many impressive displays and creative work that it can be discouraging! But fear not, I’m PROOF you can still make your party dreams come true—even on a smaller budget.