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Valentine Puppy Party -6yr- Doghouse Decorating

February 2009

Kerry in Pottstown, PA  USA

Special Mention

VALENTINE PUPPY PARTY My soon to be 6yr old daughter wanted a puppy party and her birthday is close to Valentine's Day so we chose to combine both themes and did a Valentine Puppy Party. 

We bought blank invitations and I let my daughter put puppy and heart stickers all over them.  I wrote the party details on the inside and then asked each child to bring a puppy with them to the party for activities, and for all the adults and kids to wear valentine colors or puppy clothes. 

We decorated of course in red, pink and white balloons, streamers, tablecloths and plastic utensils so it was very festive. It was an adult/child party with 11 kids aged 1-14 so I had to come up with activities that would please all the kids. 

ACTIVTIES:  First I got a ton of smaller boxes (shoebox size)and made doghouses out of them. Each doghouse took 2 small boxes, one for the house itself and one for the roof.  We cut out the semi-circle where the dog would fit in the first one, and cut only 2 sides from the second box and glued that on the top for the roof.  We made 11 and then I painted the doghouse white and the roof red for boys or pink for girls with washable paint.  Each child picked out their doghouse as they came and went to work decorating it. I took all the crafty things from my daughters craft bin (glitter glue, glue, washable markers, confetti, stickers, stencils, etc..) and put it in a dress box in the center of the table for them to decorate it with. 

Next, I had cut out dog shaped cardboard bones (small), painted them white, and had the kids write their dog's name on them.  Then they glued the bone to the front of the house.  Next I bought small souffle size cups (mini muffin cups would work too) that served as the dog bowl. They were white so the kids decorated them and then glued them inside the doghouse.  I had a small bag of cocoa puffs that the kids used for the dog food to put in the dog bowsl.  They got a kick out of that.

Lastly, I bought for $2 a valentine candy necklace kit at Walmart that served as the dog collar.  We only needed a small amount of elastic string since the dogs necks were small, so we used the one kit for all 11 dogs. It had edible heart and circle candies and made a cute dog collar for the dogs.  Lastly, as it only took a short time for the glue to dry, the kids were able to start playing with them right away. The kids loved doing that activity and the younger ones were helped by the older ones.  In fact some of the adults were adding finishing touches to their kid's doghouses like they enjoyed doing it too. 

GAMES:  I had put together a poster saying LOST PUPPY needs to find a new home" and hid it in the house and had them look for it.  On it I drew what the puppy looked like and let them search in the room I had hidden it. For prizes it was really easy to find puppies with valentine colors holding some sort or candy (hershey kisses).  I used one of these for the lost puppy contest.

I used another for the next game which was the lollipop tree.  Since we had kids of all ages I wanted to make sure that everyone won at least one prize.  So I had the aforementioned stuffed valentine puppies puppy pencil cases puppy pencils candy and various valentine toys in color coded bags.  I made a lollipop tree out of the shape of a dog.  I used a paper towel roll for the body and made a dog head cut out of cardboard that I painted in valentine colors. I put holes in it and then used markers to color the bottom of the lollipops to correspond to the prizes I bought.  When they picked the lollipop I let them pick from the color coded bag.  It worked out great cause they got a treat and toy to play with right away.  For the youngest kids I had bought some bouncy balls that I put in a separate bag to give to them regardless of what color they picked. 

Next we did a guess how many game where I put Necco candy hearts with sayings in a valentine jar I bought at the Dollar Store and had all kids and adults guess how many were in the jar.  If a kid won I had a stuffed puppy with candy if an adult won I had valentine fudge with candy in gift bags. Lastly I did a valentine trivia contest where I had 9 questions about St. Valentine the saint and Valentine's Day in general.  I got the information out of a book that my daughter got at the library.  Everyone thought that was fun. I got a red fleece blanket and candy for whomever won that one and put them in a gift bag.  I figured that gift a kid or adult would like.

Food:  Simple party food we had pizza hotdogs chips etc.  But I bought Scooby Graham Cracker snacks that I placed all around the table that everyone was eating.  I got a valentine shaped and colored ice cream cake with a dog  decoration on top for the birthday cake.  I also got cute valentine small sized heart bowls that I placed candy and various treats in.  We made cookies in the shape of hearts and dog bones and sprinkled them with valentine colored sugar and sprinkles. Overall with 2 themes it was pretty easy to put together and the cheapest party I have done to date. Everyone had a good time and is looking forward to my next birthday party.    "

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