Dog Show Party   This party was planned for my 8 year old daughter.  My husband and I had decided to give my daughter a basset hound for her 8th birthday.  We had visited a breeded and had the chance to meet over 20 basset hounds.  This really got my daugter excited about the idea of having a dog.  We found ourselves watching all sorts of animal shows and the Westminster Dog Show.  That is where we came up with the idea of a Dog Show Party.  We hand stamped brown cardstock invitations with black paw prints and wrote the words woof in between paw prints. On the inside, we wrote:                    In honor of Grace's 8th birthday,                                            You are invited to a Dog Show!                    Bring your favorite stuffed dog. We also stamped paw prints on the outside of the envelopes.  We used our church gym for the party. We wanted to have plenty of room for the dogs and owners to play. As the owners entered the party with their dogs, they were greeted at the registration table.  My sister took the names of each owner and dog. This list was great when it came time to send thank you notes.  We plan to include the owner's name as well as the dog's name in the notes. The registration table had a sign, special dog pencils to write with and a special picture of our new dog.  Next, guest moved to Fifi's grooming salon. There they could pretend to bathe their dog in the baby doll tub, brush their dog's hair, and add pretty ribbons to their dog. After Fifi's each owner sat at a table where they could decorate a $1 dog bowl with sharpie markers. Most wanted to write their dog's name on it. Each table was centered with coffee cans labeled with dog food (cocoa puffs), a plastic frosting container labeled with dog treats (combos), Clifford fruit chews, colored confetti, and a stuffed dog tied with balloons. The owner loved filling their bowls with treats and food and eating it like their dogs would. We played "Hot Dog" (hot potato to "Who Let the Dogs Out"), frisbee catch (they had to hold on to their dog while catching the frisbee), Drop a Bone (owners had to drop bones into a large pickle jar), Hoop Jump (owners had to throw their dogs through a hula hoop to see who could go the farthest), Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone (we hid several Beanie Baby dogs on the playground and they had to find them), and Can You Guess How Many Treats are in the Jar (we filled a jar with our dog's favorite treats and each owner had to guess how many treats were in the jar...this came in very handy since our dog and my parents' dog attended the party...they got to eat the treats).  In addition to the Registration Table and Fifi's Grooming Salon, we also had the Kennel.  I made dog house fronts out of washer and dryer boxes. I cut them in the shape of dog houses, cut the door out, and decorated them with markers.  We taped them together and let the owners take their dogs to play there. They loved it! The cake table was decorated with a stuffed dog and balloons, another picture of our dog, juice boxes, and a cake decorated with paw prints. There were Beanie Baby dogs everywhere. Goodie bags were filled with puppy pencils, erasers, stickers, notepads, and were printed with puppy dogs all over.  Prizes for the games were puppy puzzles and puppy figurines. I guess you could say we had a dog-gone good time!