May 5th - Boys' Birthday Party (5).JPG

dog & cat

Party

We threw the boys a dog & cat themed birthday party to celebrate Fisher’s 5th, Jack’s 3rd, and Sam’s 1st birthdays. In the off season, our local park is open (and free) for people to use, so we set up our party under one of their gazebos. The party included:

  • An “Animal Adoption” Station: We bought a bunch of small dog and cat stuffed animals on Amazon, and my kids painted a backdrop on a cardboard display board, which we then added a “Pet Adoptions” sign to. We also bought beads and pipe cleaners, which the kids used to make collars for their new pets. IKEA had white frames for 99 cents, so we printed adoption certificates to put in each of these for the kids to fill out. Amazon also sold small white goodie boxes that we cut circles from one side of. The kids painted these boxes and used them as pet carriers.

  • Dog Tail Ring Toss: We used our tracer to project and trace a large paw print onto a piece of plywood, and then cut it out with a jig saw. A router was then used to cut out the insides of each paw section. We bought 5 dog tail hooks form IKEA to attach to the 5 paw sections, and then rings were made by cutting small sections of rope and hot gluing them together.

  • Photo Booth: We bought paw print wrapping paper from The Dollar Tree, which we used to cover a large piece of cardboard. We then found various dog and cat ears and noses on the internet and made some cat and dog sound bubbles, cut them out, and glued them onto sticks.

  • Snacks: We bought a bunch of dog and cat dishes from The Dollar Tree, and all of our snacks were served in these. After the party, we cleaned them, and donated them to the animal shelter.

  • Dog & Cat Cake: Fisher drew a picture of one of our dogs and one of our cats, and Shop Rite printed the picture on a sheet cake.

  • Donations!: In lieu of gifts, the boys asked that everyone bring donations for our local animal shelter (we asked them for a wish list ahead of time and included it on our invitations). The next day, we loaded up our car, and they delivered all of the money, food, toys, treats, bowls, blankets, beds, and towels. They also got to meet a few of the animals who they helped!