Thinking about throwing a Dog Themed Birthday Party?  These simple dog or puppy-themed party ideas (plus lots of free printables) are not only budget-friendly but great for both boys and girls too.

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I have just started thinking about organising my eldest daughter’s birthday party which is next week.

As I was making my lists, I suddenly realised that I had not actually shared the ideas from my youngest daughter’s party that was back in January. So I thought I’d share it with you now.

This year she wanted a dog-themed party which was really fun and easy to do.

I made a few items and also bought a few cheap props.

For this theme, there were so many options available.

Being on a budget I narrowed it down to a few fun items which I found at a local discount store.

How To Create A Budget Friendly Dog Themed Birthday Party

Dog Birthday Party Theme Decor

This year I didn’t go over the top with the decor but managed to add some fun touches to the room to reflect the theme.

• Table Cloth – I used just my plain white cloth which I topped with cute tiny dog paw print fleece blankets. They were super cheap and instantly transformed the table – my daughter still plays with them as bedding for her cuddly toys. Another alternative is to use these fun plastic paw print tablecloths
• Serving Dishes – I found some white plastic dog bowls with little paw prints at my local discount store and used them to serve different snacks and crisps.
• Dog Face Clip Art Print Out – I printed out a lot of A4 dog faces and just stuck them up around the house.  These can also be used as face masks for the children. Just cut out the eyes and add elastic. You can find the download link to the dog face I designed on the free resources page.

Simple Party Food

Because I had spent quite a bit of time making the finger puppets, puppy adoption certificates, and the little kennel gift boxes I decided to keep the food pretty simple.

I filled the table with healthy picky bits and yummy party treats.

Here’s what I served;

Savoury Food Ideas

• Plain slices of baguette (for the kids to add their own toppings)
• Cheese
• Ham
• Sliced Cheese
• Jam
• Chocolate Spread
• Cream Cheese
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Cucumber Slices
• Red Pepper Slices
• Crisps & Snacks
• Mini Pizzas
• Mini Sausages

Chocolate Dip Plate

This has now become a party favourite in our house.

• Breadsticks
• Chocolate Dip (I just melt pieces of chocolate in the microwave and add a bit of milk)
• Grapes
• Strawberries
• Marshmallows

Dog-Themed Snack Idea

White Chocolate Pretzel & Marshmallow Bones (I found this idea here Sweet & Simple Spooky Pretzel Bones)

Simple Dog-Themed Birthday Cake

For the birthday cake, I had very little time to come up with something but didn’t want to disappoint my daughter.

So I made two basic chocolate cakes.

One in a heart-shaped tin (for the face).

One in a round-shaped tin (for the ears)

Plus I added a little of the mixture into a little heart-shaped muffin form (for the nose)

Once I had cut the round cake in half and arranged to make the ears, I simply covered it in chocolate buttercream

The fur texture was done using a fork.

I then created the features using white fondant icing.

To make the colours I need for the eyes, tongue, and bow, I just added a bit of blue and pink food coloring to the white fondant.

If the truth be told, I was actually umming and aaahing as to whether I should add it on here. Because er… I know it’s not…er…. super professional.

But… then I thought, well maybe it could help someone like myself who is short of time and just needs a quick do-able idea – I’m sure you could do it better than me if you have more time.

Easy Kid-Friendly Recipe Ideas

As well as the snacks and ideas mentioned above you could also make one of these simple kid-friendly recipes as they are great for children’s birthday parties.

These Tropical Fresh Tropical Fruit Popsicles are great if it is warm weather as they will cool the kids down and great if you have kids with allergies because you know exactly what is in them.

And this recipe for Traditional British Flapjacks, which is a really easy traybake made from oats and syrup, goes down a storm with the kids.

The little pieces of flapjack are perfect for tiny fingers.

Once the cakes were baked it literally took me less than an hour to finish. I quickly whipped up some chocolate buttercream, coloured the fondant icing, and added the features.  The kids loved it!

Job done!

Dog Birthday Party Games & Activities

Pin The Tail On The Dog Party Game

This is a dog-themed version of the classic party game pin the tail on the donkey.

Blindfold the player, and spin them around a few times. Then hand them the dog tail and tell them to stick it on.

Whoever has their tail in the best position wins.

Pin The Tail On The Dog Free Printable

I have created a free printable pin the tail on the puppy party game that you can download for free via the Happy Home In Holland – Free Resources Page. 

This is a 3-page downloadable printout.

I did this in order to make it a little bit bigger than A4 which is the standard size printer that most people have at home.

I have added the body on one page, a head and a tail on the 2nd page, and 8 separate tails with numbers on the 3rd page. 

Just cut them out and stick them together either on a larger piece of paper or directly onto the wall.

How To Make A Bigger Version Of Pin The Tail On The Dog

The dog picture image is very simple so if you do want a bigger version of this then you can always copy the design out by hand onto a bigger piece of paper (the back of a piece of wallpaper is ideal for this). 

If you are not so handy at drawing then draw a faint grid over the printed image and an enlarged version of the grid onto the big piece of paper.  Then just copy it section by section. 

Once you have copied it across to the large piece of paper then you can either paint it or get the kids to color it in.

If you are not sure what I mean then Wikihow has a great tutorial for this: How To Enlarge An Image Using The Grid Method

Puppy Art Activity

I used the multi-colour scraper foil card for this, then showed the girls how to draw simple dog faces – this went down really well!

Puppy Care Game

For this we did a “Pick Up The Poop” game – now you may think eeuuw! But this was quite hilarious and I think it was actually their favourite game 🙂

• Inflate (well underinflate actually) lots of mini 5″ balloons
• Set out 3 big baskets
• Put the girls into teams of 3 (I had 9 children)
• Give them all a plastic poop bag
• Then tell them to “pick up the poop” and put it into their team’s basket
• The team that has collected the most balloons within a minute is the winner

Other Party Game Ideas

You can find the other party games that we did here —> K3 / Girls Pop Star Party Idea (the games are also suitable for boys).  Where you’ll find some classics as well as a really fun XL Dice Roll Activity game.

Party Favors & Gift Ideas For A Dog Themed Party

Puppy Adoption

I wanted to give all the children a puppy that they could take home as a gift.

Luckily enough, I was able to find some super cute (and cheap) little plush puppies at a local discount store.

They came in their own little carry bag and I knew instantly that they would make a perfect party favor gift.

These were displayed in a large wicker basket (sorry it was a madhouse and I forgot to take proper photos of them all displayed together)

On the basket, I added a sign that said adopt me.

And I designed some simple puppy adoption certificates. I laid these next to the basket ready for the girls to fill in after they picked their pup.

Puppy Party Adoption Certificate Printable

The girls all had to choose a name for their puppy.

We then filled all the details into their puppy adoption certificate (you can download this from the Happy Home In Holland Free Resources Library which you can find at the top of the page).

I have added both an English and Dutch version of the free printable for you to download.

Idea To Wrap Up Sweets & Treats

Another good idea for a party favor is to wrap up sweets and treats in a little container. I did this in another post How To Wrap A Gift Card For Kids & Teens and I think this would also be great to use as a party favor (minus the gift card). Just add themed snacks or ribbon and you are good to go.

Dog Kennel Party Favor Boxes

In addition to the little dog toy, I also wanted to give them some treats in a dog-themed favor box.

I could not find what I wanted online. So I created some little red dog kennel favor boxes on the computer.

I have also added these dog kennel favor box templates to the free resources library for you to download

Materials & Equipment Needed To Make Dog Kennel Favor Boxes

• Printer
• Scissors
• Thin card stock paper or photographic paper
• Paper glue
• String or ribbon

Instructions To Make Dog Kennel Favor Boxes

• Print out the free printable dog kennel template
• Cut out template pieces
• Make sharp creases on the folds
• Assemble the gift box base
• Glue the base together using the paper glue
• Use a hole punch to make 2 holes about 2cm apart, do this on both sides of the base
• Repeat and add 2 holes on the roof section of the box
• Cut 2 lengths of string or ribbon
• Fold the roof section in half making a sharp crease
• Tie the base and roof together using the pieces of string

Notes

They need to be printed on thin card stock or photographic paper (that’s what I used). This is to make them stiff enough to make into a box.

The roof from the kennel is just a flat piece.

So I attached this by making holes in the kennel and tying it on with red and white decorative string.

You can download the free printable Dog Kennel Favor Box Template from the subscribers’ resource library (at the top of the page).

Dog Finger Puppet Favors (Traktaties in the Netherlands)

These little dog finger puppets are very simple to make.

They are great to use not only as favors but also as a fun craft activity for the kids too.

I made them by sewing the basic shape together with the ears. Then I just used glue for the facial features.

I used a sewing machine to sew mine (I had to make over 30)

But you can just as easily sew them by hand.

Materials Needed To Make Dog Finger Puppets

• Felt
• Plastic googly eyes
• Matching Thread
• Sewing Machine or Needle
• Strong all-purpose glue
• Printer (if you want to use the free printable template)
• Paper
• Chocolates or marshmallows (optional)

Instructions For Dog Finger Puppets

• Cut the felt material into 10cm x 5cm rectangles
• Take two rectangles and line them up placing one on top of the other
• Trim the rectangles on one end to make the rounded head shape
• Cut out the ear shapes (I did this freehand and made them all different to make different breeds of dogs)
• Place the ears between the front and back headpieces and sew them together
• Glue on plastic googly eyes
• Cut-out felt face features
• Glue onto finger puppet head

Notes

If you want them all uniform and don’t want to cut these freehand.

I have included an A4 printable with 3 different dog faces that you can use as a template (also available in the free resource library)

Once your basic finger puppet shape is complete you can now begin to have a bit of fun.

You can really go to town and give these little fellows a bit of personality.

I took the easy option and decided to use plastic googly eyes. This was much easier than trying to cut tiny pieces of felt for the eyes.

For the snouts and noses, I used a combination of hearts, triangles, and oval shapes.

And I also added cheeky little pink tongues to a few.

I used a strong all-purpose clear glue to stick these on.

Filler Ideas For Dog Party Favors

For the actual party, we filled them with some super cute little dog-themed chocolate bars.

We also used them as a school ‘traktatie’ (on your birthday here in the Netherlands, it’s traditional for children to treat their classmates at school).

Normally with “traktaties” the kids expect something “lekker” (yummy) so I filled them with marshmallows.

I had some really long ones so I cut them in half.

I then pushed a wooden tapas stick right the way through the marshmallows with the top rounded end still sticking out.

Then added the dog finger puppet on top of the wooden tapas stick.

We displayed the puppy puppets in a pretty box.

It was really nice to see that the kids loved them. They went down really well with all of my daughter’s classmates.

Now I hope you liked these Dog Birthday Party Ideas and have enough inspiration to throw an amazing themed party. If you have more ideas that could be included then be sure to share them in the comments below.

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