Well, I finally did it. I threw one of the MANY non-birthday related parties that I dream up.
Yea me!
This time, we were celebrating the addition of sweet Miss Buttercup to our family. Seemed like as good an excuse as any to have friends over and eat junky food, no?
I felt a bit of urgency to have the party quickly before we got swallowed up by fall commitments and she didn’t look like a puppy anymore.
She is gaining three lbs a week, and is already quite the hoss.
Anyhoo, I just bit the bullet and distributed invitations one Tuesday to force myself to kick things into gear. We had it on a Friday after school but before dinner time.
Here’s the invitation if you missed it.
Guests were invited to come “smooch our new pooch” and to please respond to “the alpha female”. (That’s me.)
Note: when folks at Milk Bones say, “Mini” they mean it. Are those the cutest, tiniest things you’ve ever seen?
Door sign: because our doorbell is pitiful and things were loud.
We had several small pawty tables set up on the back patio.
The kids used frisbees as plates and drank from these cute bone straw sippers.
I made these little tags for everyone’s cup so we could keep up with whose drink was whose. I think they kind of look like dog tags! Must be my subconscious keeping tightly to theme.
Inside we had all the pawty food set up. Here’s the doggy-themed topiary I made for the table. My husband balked at the use of the word “topiary” here, but you see it don’t you?
Never question the alpha female.
You know I love a thematic food selection, and our puppy is a yellow lab named Buttercup (who we sometimes call “Butter” because, let’s face it, “Buttercup” is a mouthful when you’re pleading for mercy with a puppy to let go of the very last pair of yoga pants you own that she hasn’t already bitten holes in).
We served Butterscotch Blondies and Puppy Chow, that yummy mix with Crispex, chocolate, PB and powdered sugar.
For a little something salty we had Cheese Nips and Buttered Popcorn. I made this super sweet and completely addictive Lemon Bark.
We also had Butter Cookies, which make me smile. As kids, we used to eat them off our pinky fingers in Sunday School. Anyone else?
Since my son is named Reese, and we sometimes use the word “peanut” around here as a term of endearment, I set out a bowl of Reese’s Peanut Buttercups! I wonder if I can make that her registered name. Hmmm…
Any finally, drumroll please…
My very first (and probably last) attempt at cake pops.
Or as we called them, “cake pups.” Not too shabby if I do say so myself. The kids really liked them, and my boy immediately requested I make some for his birthday. Whoa, there tiger!
The stand, if you can call it that, was a Wilton cardboard number that you can use to hold them during the dipping and drying process.
I reinforced it with some hot glue and dressed it up with a large lime green paw print cutout.
Confession time: I don’t care for the taste of a cake pop. Gasp! This is why I will likely never make them again. That and the sizable PITA it is to bake, cool, crumble, mix, cool, roll, cool, stick, cool, dip, cool and so on. And these were just regular plain ol’ balls of cake. I am in complete awe of all of you cake pop making phenoms out there even more so than I was before! I am very pleased with the fab tips from my FB fans on how to avoid cake pop disaster. Thanks, y’all!
Back to the pawty…
We served sparkling lemonade. I dressed up the drink dispenser with a ribbon and some D-rings to mimic a dog collar and threw on the new tag for Buttercup that we haven’t put on her yet.
And what’s a pawty without music? Not much of a pawty at all, if you ask me. Among other songs, we played:
George Clinton – Atomic Dog
Baja Men – Who Let the Dogs Out?
Rufus Thomas – Walkin’ the Dog
The Foundations – Build Me Up, Buttercup
George Thorogood – Bad to the Bone
Arrested Development – Wag Your Tail
Widespread Panic – Walkin’ (For Your Love)
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Hot Dog!
Here’s our girl on the prowl. Estimated number of Milk Bones consumed that day: 752.
I know that furrowed look on her brow. It can only mean one of two things:
1) I don’t like this at all.
2) You should run. I am going to eat you now.
This particular time, it was No. 2. Lucky me.
When guests left, they each took home a frisbee plate, bone cup, an XL bone cookie and a doggie bag of assorted goodies for their S, M or L pooches–a sWAG bag, if you will.
Terrorizing all those kids makes a pooch bone tired.
Welcome to the family little girl!
