This little girl has loved her favorite stuffed animal, "Poodle" since before she could walk. Since the days when Poodle was bigger than Ella. So I loved every second of planning her Poodle themed party.
We held the party at my husband Chris's new office. It's a big, open space...lots of room for little people to run and play! With 25 little poodles coming to the party, we needed a LOT of seating. Thankfully, my best friend Heidi's talented husband, Jamey, has been making long tables like this one, out of plywood, for their daughters' birthdays, for years. I borrowed this one from them, and just covered it with super inexpensive tablecloths from the party store.
(I don't have any good photos of it, but behind the table is a Doggie Obstacle Course that my husband Chris put together in about 2 minutes. It was his one responsibility for the party. And of COURSE Ella later said it was her favorite part of the party! It was a big hit with the kids, too.)
I swear this '5' and this poodle were SO easy to make. All I used was glue, cardboard and coffee filters. I loved these so much I couldn't bear to throw them away, so they're now hanging in Ella's bedroom.
It's hard to see...but this banner contains photos of Ella and Poodle, birth to age 5!
Cupcake toppers with poodles + dog houses (from Foolish Worker Bee, who customized these to Ella's party colors). And some Poodle Fluff Cupcakes with cotton candy on top, too.
Lots of dog-themed food. Puppy chow. Kibble (cocoa puffs). Pupcorn. Bone-nut butter and jelly sandwiches.
(The kids LOVED these little popcorn holders, which I got from Michael's for $8 for 50!)
And the sweetest Poodle cake ever from Kelly's Cakery. (SO, so delicious, too!)
Poodle beautification station. The kiddos could get a dog nose and whiskers, pick up some paper poodle ears, get their nails painted and groom some stuffed dogs in Poodle's dog house while they were at it. (Note to self: If you leave nail polish on a table with a bunch of stuffed animals, children will assume it's OK to paint the DOG'S nails, not just their own!)
Poodle craft station. The kiddows could make a poodle (I got the 'naked' dog shapes from Jo Ann's for relatively cheap; then cut out pink poodle ears, tails, collars, etc., and bought googly eyes for the kids to stick on. The kids could also make their very own dog collar with their name on it.) This was a LOT of cutting and probably the only part of the party that I probably wouldn't do again / recommend...when 25 guests are involved!)
Adopt-a-Poodle station. Each guest could pick their very own pink poodle (from Oriental Trading, super cheap), sign an adoption certificate (found for free at ChicaBug!) promising to love and care for their poodle forever, and take it home in its very own pet carrier. (I bought these chinese takeout containers for my wedding 8 years ago and am STILL using them for parties! I just customize them for each party theme.)
When it was finally time to cut the cake and eat the Poodle Fluff Cupcakes, Ella was so excited to eat directly out of a heart-shaped dog bowl!
My favorite part of the party. My friend Sarah brought her greyhound, Sweetie, whom she adopted from a local greyhound rescue. She spoke to the kids about the importance of being kind to animals and about how she takes care of Sweetie. And the kids were all able to pet Sweetie before they left. Sweetie was an honorary Poodle for her special appearance. :-)
This Fall, one of Ella's friends invited his birthday party gifts to bring dog food to donate to a local shelter, in lieu of gifts. As soon as I read that invitation, Ella exclaimed that she wanted to do the same thing at her party. Chris and I have been wanting to do this since her first birthday; but there's something very special and fitting that it was Ella's idea to implement the whole 'in lieu of gifts' idea this year. Her generous gifts donated more than 30 bags of dog food...and the next day, we took it down to Pets without Parents, a no-kill, all-breed shelter for dogs and cats...together, as a family.
The people at Pets without Parents were wonderful, and let Ella and Kate play with puppies and other animals while we were there. As we left she said "Wow, I bet those doggies are going to get to eat a lot of food for a lot of days with all those bags!" And I realized how happy and proud she was in that moment. I love how good it made her feel to 'do good' for those animals. (Please note the Poodle photo bomb in the above image...Poodle in an outfit matching Ella's!)
...and before we knew it...it was over! All of these little poodles took one final photo, grabbed their newly adopted poodles and went home. All I wanted to do was curl up on the floor and go to sleep!
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