LET’S PAWTY: Gracie’s First Birthday Party

This girl loves dogs. I, obviously, had nothing to do with this. 😉
When I first started planning Gracie’s 1st Birthday party (when she was about 2 weeks old if I’m being honest), I had decided that it would be a desert theme with cute little cacti cupcakes and succulents everywhere. I had even started perusing Pinterest for ideas. Gracie really threw a wrench in my plans, however, when she started to become obsessed with dogs. How could I NOT have her party be dog-themed when she basically lives her life solely to give dogs open-mouthed kisses? Every time she sees a dog (in real life or stuffed animal form–or even on a plate for that matter!) her face lights up and she says “DAHG!! DAHG!” So–I decided to put my cactus cupcakes aside and went all in on throwing her a dog everything PAWty.

PUPCAKES & PUPPY CHOW

First things first: the food. I kept it simple because in reality there weren’t going to be many people at the party so I didn’t want to go overboard (Don’t worry, I still did go overboard on every other aspect).  Dog-theme-wise, we had Mini Dawgs in a Blanket, Puppy Chow, and PUPcakes! My sister helped me with both the cupcakes and the smash cake and they honestly came out better than I was expecting! We used coconut flakes and brown sprinkles for fur, almonds for ears, gum for tongues, chocolate covered berries for noses, and peppermint patties for paw prints. S’CUTE, RIGHT?

For the smash cake, we baked two round cakes and used one for the head (we cut it down to a smaller circle) and the other for the ears and ‘snout.’

DAWGY DECO

For the decorations, I basically just ordered everything on Amazon. I especially loved these dog balloons that you could actually ‘take for a walk!’ Too stinkin’ cute! The “Let’s PAWTY” sign was a no-brainer because who doesn’t love a good pun? JIC you’re also planning a dog-themed party, here are the links to everything else: puppy plates 1, puppy plates 2, confetti balloons, paw prints on her high chair, paw print balloons, and #1 balloon. Also, Gracie’s birthday outfit–they have a million tutu colors!

ADOPT A PUPPY FAVORS

This idea I stole from Pinterest and I thought it was so fun! I ordered a set of stuffed dogs on Amazon for the kiddies at the party to ‘adopt’ and take home! To be honest, I had big plans of creating actual adoption certificates, too, but I ended up just writing ‘Adopt a Puppy’ on a piece of paper with a sharpie and calling it a day. HAHA!

We also had a foster puppy as a party guest–you can see her in the photo below. We decided to start fostering puppies again now that Gracie is older…and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t plan to have a puppy for her party! She has already found her forever family, though, and they have 3 kids!

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL

I still can’t believe my little baby is ONE and we have spent 365 days loving on her! Watching her eat cake and open presents (AND WALK AROUND!) was honestly so surreal. I’ll miss the baby stage, but as my mom says, “every stage becomes your favorite stage!” and I couldn’t agree more! I’m so excited to see her little personality develop even more and watch as her obsession with dogs continues to grow. 🙂

And finally, post-sugar crash perfection.