I love a good theme party! This year my son turned two. I knew I had to throw him a Clifford party because he totes that big red dog everywhere.
Unlike, his Lion King birthday party last year, I wanted it to be more small scale because I recently had a baby (3 month old at the time) and this momma aint got time for endless crafting. Of course, I say that now but once I start planning a party I can’t help myself.
If your kiddo loves all things Clifford you’ll love these party ideas!
THE DECORATIONS:
Clifford Dog House
First, I browsed Pinterest to get a little dog-spiration! I came across this cute idea of making a dog house out of card board. Most of the ones I saw were made as a photo-op decoration using a generic dog with the face cutout. I changed the idea up by making the dog house Clifford specific–yellow dog house with Clifford as the star.
I sketched the dog house on cardboard using this as my reference. Then I used a sharp xacto knife to cut it out. Once I had the dog house cutout I added Clifford.
I found this Clifford picture and used it as reference to draw Clifford on the dog house. First, I made a grid on the dog house and then made a grid on the image. Then I sketched Clifford on the dog house. If drawing isn’t your thing try printing the dog on cardstock instead. You will need to adjust the size of the dog house accordingly because Clifford will be significantly smaller.
Next, I painted Clifford first then painted the dog house. Make sure you allow the paint to dry between steps. I took a couple days to do this. After everything was painted I outlined Clifford using a black sharpie.
Number Two
I’m all about cheap yet cute DIY birthday decor. And cutting your child’s age out of cardboard and painting it is pretty darn cheap. I dressed the two up with red paint and black dog footprints to fit the Clifford theme. Easy peasy!
Dog Bones
I cut red dog bones out of cardstock and randomly placed them on the birthday table. You could also string the dog bones on ribbon and hang it as a banner too!
Dog Paws
I found dog paw clipart and made a template using white cardstock. Then I traced a bunch of them on black cardstock. I taped the dog paws on the wall.
Party Favors
Doggy Bags
I found some cute red party favor bags at the dollar store. Made black bones using the same template as the red bones I made for my table decor. I used a white ink pad to stamp “Doggy Bag”. I filled the bag with sidewalk chalk, play doh, and a snack. I bought a jumbo pack of sidewalk chalk at Target for $3.50 and gave the kids each three. I put the sidewalk chalk in clear plastic gift bags and tied it with ribbon.
Kids Activity
I’m all about having a kids activity for birthday parties. Who doesn’t love preoccupying your kid fun-ness while the adults chat. We bought Jax a bouncy castle for his birthday and set that up for the party. The kids loved it and well it kept them contained! Haha
Party Food
I kept things super simple this year. I bought a bunch of Papa Murphy’s pizzas to cook during the party. Served a variety of chips and fruit ( strawberries, blueberries, and watermelon). I put the chips in these cute red dog dishes I got at the Dollar Tree.
Birthday Cupcakes
I made these delicious chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting embellished with Rice Krispie dog bones. I scoured the internet for a chocolate cupcake recipe and this one is delicious! I was a little nerve as first because I hadn’t made cupcakes in over 10 years. But these cupcakes were super tasty, cute, and easy to make!
I made the rice krispie dog bones the morning of the party. I used a dog bone cookie cutter to make the dog bones. I put the rice krispies on a large cookie sheet so they would be about an inch thick.
Tip: You may want to make the rice krispies the night before so they are harder. Mine were pretty soft. I put the rice krispies dog bones on the cupcakes right before the party so they were fine. But later in the day some of the remainder kind of got flimsy over the cupcake. You could try cookies too. But rice krispies are super easy to make. Plus we doesn’t love eating them?!