Leslie's Little Smittles: Olivia's Dog Gone Party!

This past weekend we had Olivia's 8th birthday party. She's been thinking this party up for two years now. HA! After her horse party, Olivia decided her next party would be her other favorite animal-dogs! Well, the next year we ended up doing the joint storybook party for her and KK, so this was her first chance to have her dog party. She had so many ideas that were so great, so we really worked together this time which was fun. She wanted the color scheme to be black and white(like a Dalmatian) with red accents. Here are some pictures of her special day.
I'm not including the invitation, because I didn't take a picture, and there is so much information that needs to be blocked out for safety. BUT, it was a simple invite printed on white card stock, then pasted to cute paw print paper that you'll see later in the pictures.

My old faithful party wreath. I got the paw print ribbon 50% off at Hobby Lobby, and made the bone from card stock. The font I used for this party is called cool dots. I LOVE this font and use it all the time. It's free on one of the font sites out there. Just google cool dots font and I'm sure you'll find it. A good free font can really make a party extra fun. Remember the cute tool font at Brubbs construction party!? So cute.

So, I came up with the idea of doing a photo op dog house. At first it was just going to be a small little house on the wall or fireplace. Well, then I had to go and walk by my entry way wall and think about the fact that it was the perfect shape for a giant dog house. SO, I went over to our dollar store and bought a few rolls of this brown packing paper(my favorite item at the dollar store). We just taped the paper up and painted the door, name, and roof. It was pretty easy(other than just dealing with the stairs and the paper at the same time. Manly did a good job making this dream idea come true. Cute, huh? Then, of course, I didn't remember to take pictures of Olivia with her guests until AFTER the party! BUT, the kids loved it and everyone smiled when they came in to the party!

Call me a mean momma, but I like to block off the upstairs area when we have parties at our house. I like to be able to keep the upstairs untouched so that after a party we can move all the gifts into a clean playroom or bedroom. We also have a loft, which means most kids who are new to our house are going to throw toys over the edge. AND, I always feel nervous about the stairs...ANYWAY, I thought this was a cute idea to block the stairs off without having to stand there and guard them!

The Party Table!

I used the same paper from the doghouse for the table. It looked really cute. I get a rubber stamp of a paw print and stamped it around the table. It turned out great. Those are cow print napkins, but Olivia liked them and said they were Dalmatian print napkins. I used dog bowls for the food. I got them at the dollar tree too, so they were so cheap! plain plates and forks.

I made a little trail of footprints to make it look like the doggie had been getting into trouble.

"Puppy Chow" was cocoa puffs. I made the little food signs with address labels, card stock, and the paw print paper from the invites.

"pup-corn"

This cake is completely Olivia's idea. I thought it turned out so so cute and it was so so easy!! White cake, white icing, and mini oreos. The "toes" are my smallest Pyrex dishes about the size of a cupcake, but a little bigger.

"Kibbles-n-bits" trail mix.

"Chew sticks" were pretzel logs.

The drink table. Sorry if you think this is terrible. Olivia thought it was hysterical!

Yes, that says toilet water. Just be glad it's not lemonade! HA!

The other food table. We decided to just go nuts on the paw prints on this table. It turned out cute too. The centerpiece is just a dog bowl with cheapo dog toys I got in a pack from the dollar store.

The birthday banner. I got a bone template from google, then I made a smaller version, and pasted the two together. I don't have any of those sweet machines that does all this grunt work, so I just have to do it the old fashioned way with scissors and a template. Ha! That's jute twine, so it went well with the paper on the tables.

Every time one of our children has a birthday Manly writes them a prayer and makes them a homemade card. Then, at the party, he reads the special prayer before we sing and eat. It's such a sweet sweet time. This is a picture of him reading his prayer. They aren't laughing, just loving the moment.

Blowing out her EIGHT candle!!

Some of the kids. The other half of them were either not there yet, or still making plates. There were a LOT of children here this time. They had a good time though, so it was fun.

Blurry, but here are some of the adults(and babies).

My dad with Brubb and Mia.

Aunt Steph loving on Mia. So sweet.

This picture cracks me up. I kept having to wait to take pictures because some of Olivia's friends brought their mobile devices! SERIOUSLY! They were having her pose for pictures! Ha! I guess we are seriously behind the times...I'm OK with that!

Olivia's "favorite present of all time from someone other than her mom and dad." My Aunt Teresa caught wind that Olivia loves sewing and got her a splendid sewing kit along with a heap of cute fabrics and a cutting board. Olivia LOVED this gift so so much!

Another special gift from Aunt Steph. Big girl sketching materials.

SO, when Olivia was probably around 2 she started loving animals. She'd had a dog for a few weeks as a baby, but it just didn't turn out to be a good thing and we got rid of it pretty quick. BUT, in the last few years she's really started to long for a dog to take care of. Being the ~~controlling~~ smart mother I am, I knew I DID NOT want to take care of an animal, so I've been putting her off. About 2 years ago she finally asked the dreaded question, "PLEASE tell me WHEN I CAN get a dog, mom?" SO, I answered her with a number that seemed forever away...EIGHT! Now, I'm still not an animal person and that won't change, but for the love of Olivia and the other kids and their daddy, I decided I'd be OK with it if they'd just do the hard work. I know she won't do perfectly at it because she's a kid, but I do know that she'll love that doggie and take the best care of it she can, SO, the next few pictures are how we FINALLY told her she could have a dog...

I bought her a pretty collar and put it in a box full of filler paper. At first she didn't know for sure what it was.

Then she saw this adoption certificate I made for her that said she could get a shelter dog.

Then she made this face! Ha!

And then she tried to read the certificate aloud and just started crying she was so excited. Sweet sweet girl.

After presents it was GAME TIME! Manly and Olivia sat up this killer "dog show" course.

Push a ball with your nose, cross the balance beam, go through the hoop, go over the teeter board.

These were all made with things we already had at home, cost: FREE!

Chase tail 3 times around the pole, then jumping over a bar.

Last, weave through the cones.

KK pushing the ball. She LOVED the course. I think she did it 3 or 4 times.

Addi jumping the bar.

Cousin Harrison going through the hoop.

This game was "Test Your Sniffer" we had six scents that they had to sniff out.

popcorn peanut butter pickles garlic vinegar coffee

The kids really got a kick out of this game.

Meanwhile, the littles were trying to make the teeter board into a see saw. Ha! Isaiah loves his cousin, Harrison. They are about 6 months apart in age. Addi is probably bossing them telling them how to make it work. Ha!

Other games we played.

Doggie Doggie Where is Your Bone?

Use a dog bone to pass to kids and ask, “Doggie Doggie where is your bone? Somebody stole it from your home. GUESS WHO!?”

Catch the cat

Basically freeze tag. Just make the person who is it be “the dog" chasing "the cats."

Charade Dog Bark

This game was a lot of fun, just have cards made before hand with a kind of dog bark, then have guests come up one at a time and do one of them. The kids really really liked this game. You can be as creative as you want to come up with different barks.

shy happy angry bored singing hyper sad scared excited baby

Dog Tricks Game

Kids pass around the dog toy while a song plays(We played "Who Let the Dogs Out" but any song will do). When the music stops the person who is holding the toy has to perform a dog trick.

*Bark like a big dog *Speak *Play dead *roll over *shake hands *chase tail *Bark like a Chihuahua *howl at the moon *sniff *Beg *wag tail

Because there were several kids there without parents we just kept playing games until parents started to arrive. We could have played more or less as time allowed.

Party Favors

I made bone shaped sugar cookies as party favors. Some of Olivia's friends thought they were real dog bones! Ha! I just used the clear favor sacks you can get at Hobby Lobby 50 for $1.99, and used scrap paper and labels for the tops. They turned out really cute! I loved the sugar cookie recipe too. They were really tasty!