For my oldest’s fifth birthday, she wanted a “puppy and kitten” theme.
Surprisingly (or not), this is not one of the party sections you can find in Party City. So I had to get creative, and piece together our own party using items I found online and things I made myself.
I’ve included some links to supplies and other items in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
The party supplies
First things first: I looked for puppy and kitten party supplies. It’s hard (or maybe even impossible) to find party supplies with both puppies and kittens, so I had to mix and match in order to get the desired effect.
I love Meri Meri’s aesthetic for party supplies–it’s cute and simple, with pretty pastel colors. So here are some of the supplies I found:
- A “Pawty Time” puppy banner and a kitten garland
- Kitten napkins and puppy napkins
- Kitten cups and puppy cups
- And not Meri Meri brand, but this pawprint tablecloth helps bridge the two “themes” perfectly
Food ideas
Cake with toppers: I’m not one to spend a lot of money on a custom cake for a kid’s party, so I bought a grocery store cake with my daughter’s preferred icing color and found toppers on Amazon to match the theme. There are lots of options, but these puppy cupcake toppers and kitten cupcake toppers are adorable!
For our other food, I made:
- Puppy chow (AKA muddy buddies–I use the recipe on the Chex box.)
- Meow mix (Just a bowl of Goldfish!)
Birthday favors
If you’re like me, your house does NOT need any more tiny plastic party favor toys. I’d much rather give guests things that might get more than 10 minutes of play out of them!
So we did an “Adopt a Pet” station, where the kids could pick out a small stuffed puppy or kitten toy and fill out an adoption certificate and a “Make a Collar” station, where they could make a collar for their new friend with pipe cleaners and beads.
I did also have some kitty ear headbands on hand.
Here are the puppy stuffies I bought, and here are the kitten stuffies. They were so cute and soft! We still have the ones my girls “adopted” and they get played with often.
So, the guests got to take home 1.) a stuffy they adopted, 2.) the adoption certificate, and 3.) a collar if they made one.
Party games and activities
After “adopting” their kitten or puppy stuffy, the kids could go to the next station to make a collar for their new pet.
This was super simple–I just set out:
- A tub full of pipe cleaners.
- Several containers of beads, including letter beads (so they could spell out their pet’s name if they chose).
That’s it! Super simple to set up, and the kids loved it. Some of them got super crafty and made bracelets or headbands for themselves, too.
In addition to this, I also created my own “Find Your Pet Name” printable and scattered it on the tables. Kids and adults alike had fun finding out what their “pet names” were!
Get my free printables
Like I said, I did this party (and most of my kids’ birthday parties) on a budget. That meant creating things like signage and party games from scratch.
Lucky for you, I already did the work. I’d love to send you the printable I made so they can get used for even more kitten and puppy pet birthdays. Just join my email list and I’ll get the link straight to your inbox.
Gumboots and Rainbows 