I always try to include a come and go activity during my kids’ birthday parties as something to do while waiting for everyone to show up. I don’t know why I do this. My kids always end up just playing with their friends somewhere else with normal every day toys. This adopt a puppy party activity was no exception, but it was fun for the kids who decided to make one later in the party.
I found this idea from Coffee and Confetti Mom while brainstorming ideas for my daughter’s Paw Patrol birthday party. She used little stuffed animal dogs and had a grooming station and pet houses to make for them. I tweaked this idea and made plain white dogs for the kids to color and make bead collars for. They doubled as an activity and a party favor.
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How to Make an Adopt a Puppy Party Activity
Materials:
- Cardboard box lid or large gift box
- Green paint
- Cardstock
- Hot glue
- Laminator (optional)
- White puppy toys
- Crayons and/or colored pencils
- Pipe cleaners
- Beads
Making the Puppy Enclosure:
First, I made a fun enclosure to place the puppies in. You can just buy one, or make a super simple one. I had a cardboard box lid laying around that worked perfectly. A large gift box would work too. To start, I painted the bottom of it with green paint.
Then, I cut a piece of cardstock into small strips with an angled top. I hot glued each of these on to the side of the box. Lastly, I printed a sign for the front, laminated it, and hot glued it to the front.
Making the Puppies:
For the puppies, I wanted something cheap that I could turn into an activity. So instead of stuffed animals, I used white puppies that could be colored. My husband 3d printed me all the dogs I needed, but you can buy some instead. You can also go the more common stuffed animal route. If you want to 3d print them, but don’t have a 3d printer check out all these places you can use one.
Putting the Adopt a Puppy Party Together:
Now that I had all the pieces, I just needed to put them out. First, I put all the puppies in the enclosure. Then, I put out craft supplies to color with and make collars with. For coloring, I put out colored pencils and crayons. If you have really young kids coming, be very careful if you decide to use colored pencils. My 2 year old son poked himself in the eye with one. Thankfully he was ok, but it took a very expensive ER visit to make sure. Lastly, I put out small sections of pipe cleaners and beads to make them collars with. Pipe cleaners are also sharp, so be extra mindful with them as well.
Lastly, I made an example puppy to place out. First, I colored it. Then, I made it a collar by stringing beads onto a pipe cleaner. Lastly, I wrapped the collar around the neck and twisted the ends together to keep it on.
Conclusion of Our Adopt a Puppy Party Activity
I placed the adopt a puppy activity out on a little card table for the kids to do while waiting for everyone to show up. My kids were super excited about it until the first guests showed up. Then, they all started playing with their toys downstairs instead. A couple kids noticed the adopt a puppy party later and made one but not everyone. They seemed to enjoy coloring them and making collars. We ended up with a lot of extra white dogs that my kids have had fun with since the party.
Overall, It had potential, but it was the least favorite activity of my daughter’s party. I should have drawn the kids attention to it better and I think it would have been used more. Maybe using stuffed animals like the blog I was inspired by would have been more exciting for the kids too. Let me know in the comments how it goes at your party.
Check out all the other things we made for my daughter’s Paw Patrol party that were more successful.