Favorite quarantine activity? Celebrating your pooch!

When Princess Lily's mom called me to plan her 14th birthday party, I was so excited, after all, this quarantine situation needed some excitement!  We discussed multiple dog party ideas but focused on the fact that, well, Lily is a princess so it was obvious that was the chosen theme!  

Lily's mom selected our Shabby Chic Pawty kit as a base for her princess theme and let me plan the rest. Below are some ideas on how to use our large dog birthday party kits which include the following:

8 Invitations (Paper & Digital)
8 Pink and Green Dog Party Hats
4 Bow Tie Accessories (can be used on dogs necks or as a headpiece for mom)
4 Flower Accessories (can be used on dogs necks or as a corsage for mom)
8 Mini Bowls (flip them over to create height when displaying cupcakes)
8 Cupcake Wrappers (to beautifully adorn your Pupcakes)
8 Treat Boxes (get creative here, these can be filled with dog cookies or human treats, depending on your guest count)
8 Treat Bags (to-go/doggie bags)
8 Placemats (these can be gifted for your dogs' friends and also used as decorations throughout your event)
1 Dog Party Banner (It's Pawty Time! - You definitely need a banner as a focal point)

So, let's start from the beginning, the Shabby Chic Princess themed Dog Party Invitations were sent out by mail & text.  We decided to mail them because now more than ever, we are craving human connections and because the guests invited were Lily's doggie friends, close family, and friends, 10 to be exact, we wanted that extra beautiful touch of a handwritten invitation while creating the excitement of celebrating Lily's special day.

Then I started brainstorming on ideas to make this Shabby Chic Princess theme Dog Birthday Party for this special client.  I remembered that our friends over at Soulmates Collection had made a pair of custom shoes with Lily's illustrated face on them and was now offering custom masks.  Since we need to keep everyone safe, we decided to have custom masks made with Lily's face printed on them for everyone to wear throughout the party and well, now have a super cute dog mask to use while running errands or going out.  Once we had this idea in motion, I focused on the rest of the details.

Lily's mom had requested the following for humans: a cake, sweet treats, and finger food as well as doggie cupcakes and cookies for guests to enjoy.  For the "hooman cake" and sweet treats we teamed up with Sweet Guilt by Angelica, when she mentioned she could most definitely use the illustration of Lily's face for her cake, I was so excited.  I knew Lily's mom was going to love this, after all, she was not privy to any of the planning details until everything arrived at her home. 

So for the "hooman cake", we went with a vanilla cake filled with Nutella and hazelnut fudge with a pink base and her face, center-front with a gold charm that included her name.  As for the sweet treats, the designer white chocolate covered Oreos were decorated with the same pink as the cake and beautifully adorned with light green bows to match the detailing of our Shabby Chic dog party kit.  The chocolate-flavored Cake pops also matched the cake and the Oreos, light pink with a light green dog bone detail on top.

Now on to the dog birthday party food! For this specific project, I reached out the amazing Style Catering, we spoke about the theme, the custom masks, the cake and my client's specific requests for finger food, she knew exactly what she wanted. To my pleasant surprise, Style Catering took the menu to the next level, not only was the presentation a show stopper but she carefully thought out the details so incredibly, even I was blown away. The dog birthday party menu included the following:

A selection of 3 types of Tea sandwiches:
- Bone Shaped Egg & Watercress
- Smoked Salmon
- Paw shaped, Open-faced Cucumber Cream Cheese

Paw shaped, Bar"bark"oa Are"paws"
- Beef Barbacoa Stuffed Mini Corn Arepas

Croquetas
- Ham Croquettes with Sweet Fig jam

"Snausages"
- Pigs in a blanket

Kettle Chips
- House-made Kettle chips with parmesan and fresh thyme 

The presentation of the food was absolutely spectacular, not only was everything dog-themed but edible flowers decorated the beautiful trays that gave the food display a soft touch.  The food was laid out in different areas of the home, upon entering, we selected the bar area to display the masks, doggie bags, sandwiches, and croquetas.  The arepas, snausages, and chips were displayed in the kitchen bar with a combination of delicious, fresh sauces to accompany each of these tasty dishes.

We also needed dog cookies and cupcakes so I reached out to my go-to "Barkery" in Miami, The Waggin' Barkery. We have collaborated on multiple occasions and I absolutely love to work with them! We discussed the theme and voila, a combination of Dog princess-themed dog cookies matching our kits were in order!

The fresh dog peanut butter cookie selections were:
- Mint Green Dog Bones
- Pink and White Princess Crowns
- Pink Paw shaped heart cookies

In addition to this and since there were only 4 puppy friends, they made 4 peanut butter Pupcakes, lined with our green and pink liners with Lily's name displayed on top of these gorgeous works of art!

Since there were different areas of the home we needed to decorate, I had a combination of fun decorative items throughout the home.  As a backdrop for the cake table, we reached out to Maggie Creative Designs for a spectacular balloon display adorned with the Shabby Chic kit colors with hues of pinks, gold princess crowns, and white dog bones.  Remember if you are using balloons at a dog party, keep them in an area where they are not accessible to dogs, some dogs are sensitive to the sound of popping so be extra careful!  This is why our display was secured to the glass wall behind it.

The focal point of this amazing Princess theme dog party was the table.  An ivory and gold linen adorned the dining table, delicately enhanced with Lily's portrait cake in the center, in front were the 4 peanut butter Pupcakes (for dogs) with Lily's name on them, our pink and ivory bone placemat, pink and green dog party hats (used by the pups and humans including golden crowns), a golden #14 piñata, white tulips, faux hedge arrangement and multiple other items that created dimensions and displayed the party items perfectly!

This party could not be complete without a perfect princess outfit, another surprise in store for Mom & Lily.

If you are in the Miami area and are looking for a dog birthday party planner, I am your girl! Also don't forget, our Pawty Boxes ship throughout the US so go ahead, celebrate your pooch and keep on smiling!!!

Love,

Mandy & Beau Handsome