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Christmas Dog Party
A dog party at Christmas is a great way to celebrate the holidays.
Plan your Christmas dog theme party early, get the pet party invitations out, order your pet party supplies, make the holiday dog treats, and get ready for an awesome Christmas party for dogs!
Photo by Randy Son of Robert (flckr.com)
The keys to having a successful Christmas dog party or dog holiday party are planning and preparation.
Map out your plans on paper, so you don't forget anything, plan ahead for your shopping trip, mail your personalized invitations that go along with your theme, and bake the homemade dog treats.
Christmas Dog Party Activities
The theme for this party is easy—it's a Christmas dog party. From here, you can go in any direction. Here are some activity ideas to get your creative juices started:
Holiday dog costumes - Have your guests dress for the season. They can be reindeer, santas, elves, snowmen, etc. If you decide to have the guests dress for your dog party, have a contest for the best dog costume.
Photo by stevegatto2 (flckr.com)
Celebrate Express has a great selection of costumes and party supplies with free shipping over $75.
Visit from Santa - Everyone loves to have Santa come, loaded down with lots of special gifts. Fill little stockings with dog toys and your homemade holiday dog treats or wrap the gifts in Christmas paper, to be placed in Santa's sack.
Photo by Jim Moore (flckr.com)
Contest for Tricks - Have a contest for the best trick. Each dog will know different tricks, so you'll have to allow for this. Have the judges pick the most unusual or “best of show” trick. Reward the winner with a bag of special holiday treats.
Photo Shoot - Take a photo or two of each of the guests with a cool holiday stand-up or a photo with a live Santa.
A stand-up is a flat cardboard (usually life-sized, or at least big) picture that looks real. You've seen them in resort areas, like the beach. Sometimes you put your head through a hole to make it look like you are in the picture. Often they are used for old fashioned photos, cowboy or rodeo photos or you look like you are in a guillotine.
Make sure that you have copies of the photos made for each of the guests. Later, when you send thank-yous to the guests, enclose a couple of photos to remember the dog party.
Christmas Dog Hat Contest - If you prefer keeping the apparel simple, have a hat contest. There are a number of cute hats for dogs. Have the dogs model their hats, walking around in a circle (on leashes) for the judges. Reward the winner with some homemade holiday treats.
Those little hats can be hard to find. (Last year I had a dickens of a time--shopping to find a Santa hat that we could use for photos of Skipper.)
Of course every holiday party is centered around food. If you're having a dog party for Christmas, you will have to serve food for the dogs, as well as food for the people who will be attending.
In addition, you'll need to make sure that there are bowls of fresh water for the dogs.
This is a neat way to serve cupcakes (or pupcakes) to your guests. You can get a cupcake stand that is smaller, but similar to the one above by clicking on the link above.
If you have children, enlist their help with making the treats for the dog party. If you make holiday dog cookies or dog biscuits, they can be made a week or two ahead of time.
If you decide to serve dog muffins or dog cakes, they will have to be made the day before the party, so they don't get stale.
Or, you can make them ahead and freeze the dog cakes in plastic containers (I sometimes use a pie keeper). Take them out of the freezer the morning of the Christmas dog event. They don't take very long to defrost. And they will still be quite good!
Cooking with Children Christmas Dog Cookies
If your children will be making the dog treats, here are a few tips to keep the activity moving smoothly:
Organize the children's activity so that everything is ready and handy.
Photo by terren in VA, (flckr.com)
Keep the activity moving. Children and dogs have short attention spans, and they won't do well if they have to “wait” for something to happen.
Use color. Even if you decide to use white or carob icing, use colored sprinkles to decorate the treats. Children love color!
Praise the children's efforts. Little hands may not make cookies that look as professional as yours, but, remember, everyone has to start somewhere. Children will be delighted if you think their cookies are “cool”.
Have the children gift wrap the dog treats that will be given out as favors (when the guests leave to go home). Presentation is everything!
As guests leave, let the cooks (your children) give the favors to the dogs and their pet parents. The children will be proud of their work and will have a ball doing this.
Depending on when you decide to have your dog party, you may already have your home decorated for Christmas. I suggest that you have the party in a “safe” area. By that I mean that you are comfortable having several dogs in the area, and they won't hurt anything.
Depending on where you live, it may be cold at Christmas-time. A basement or back yard might work—depending on your home and the weather.
No matter where it is--a party needs decorations. But this one is special, because you need to have unbreakable decorations.
Use plastic, inflatables, cardboard, streamers, ceiling decorations—anything that you like, but make sure that anything that is in the Christmas party area is dog-proof.
Parties take a lot of time and effort. But the results can be awesome! Behind every Christmas pet party, there is a special story. It may be in the preparation or it may be during the party itself.
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