One Pawesome Birthday Party!

Like many American preschoolers, my son is obsessed with Paw Patrol. So, when it came time to plan his birthday celebration, it had to be pup-centric. Everything, from the invitation, to the decorations, the favors, and the menu, was inspired by his beloved program. We wanted to keep it small due to the complicated parking situation in our neighborhood, so we only invited a small group of close family friends to attend. But I often find that the smaller the party, the more fun it is to plan.

🐾 Invitation

To to set the tone and theme of the party, I ordered a personalized invitation through Etsy. If you are looking to order an invitation for a child’s birthday party, I highly recommend working with this vendor—she was wonderful: Paw Patrol Birthday Invitation.

Decorations 🐾

Balloons—the way to a four-year-old’s heart. I bought a helium tank at the craft store and ordered a variety of balloons, including white balloons with black paw prints, from Amazon. We had bunches of them everywhere—as the centerpiece on the kitchen table, tied to the mailbox, flanking the entrance of our front porch, and throughout the house.

Rather than spend a lot of money on store-bought decorations, I raided my son’s toy bin. The table and buffet were adorned with the various Paw Patrol characters in their vehicles. A giant foam puzzle (assembled), displayed upright with the help of a plate stand, served as the centerpiece of the buffet set up on our kitchen island; it also had the added benefit of hiding the sink from view. One really important lesson I learned by doing this is that if you want your kid to lose his freaking mind, use his toys to decorate, then tell him he needs to leave them alone until the party is over. 😳

To serve snack items, I purchased an inexpensive 3-pack of plastic dog bowls (red, blue, and black). White ceramic serving platters and bowls were used on the buffet, which allowed the colors of the food to pop. In order to keep cleanup at a minimum, I opted to use paper plates (red; leftover from our 4th of July party), plastic utensils (clear), and paper napkins (yellow). To keep things organized, as well as to provide even more color on the buffet, the forks and spoons (knives weren’t necessary), were presented in two of my son’s plastic cups, one blue, one orange. Grownups drank from clear plastic tumblers (also a leftover from the 4th of July bash), while the kids drank from 3-D Paw Patrol cups with lids and straws, which I ordered on Amazon. The kids’ cups served as an additional party favor.

An old birthday banner, which we have used for years, hung on the mantel. Happily, the colors worked perfectly with the balloons.

When putting together the favor bags for our younger guests, I decided to use the white balloons with black paw prints as my inspiration. I decorated white gift bags purchased at the craft store using a paw print stamp and black ink. The bags, which were filled with Paw Patrol themed treats, were topped with red tissue paper, in honor of my son’s favorite color and his favorite character (Marshal, the fire-pup).

Drinks were served with ice molded in the shapes of bones and paws. The molds were purchased on Amazon.