You celebrate your pup every day, but on their birthday, they should feel extra special. Especially when it comes to big milestones! The perfect way to do that is to throw a party!

Party planning can sometimes seem overwhelming, but if you follow this guide, you’re sure to plan the best celebration your pup (and their friends) have ever attended.

PICK A FUN BIRTHDAY THEME

The first step in planning your party is picking a theme. Every party needs a theme, right? A theme will help set the vibe for your party and keep cohesion amongst all your decorations and tasty treats (but more on those later).

For Rue’s first birthday, the theme was “Come, Sit, Stay” and we paired it with a wide hue of summer colors and paw prints since her birthday is in August. We hosted the party in our backyard, so we wanted the color scheme to pop and set a casual, open-house vibe where guests could come and go, but also feel they could stay as long as they wanted (even if it was into the wee hours of the night).

An easy trick to keep your decorations affordable is to plan some DIY decor, use cute jars and trays to display treats and props (like birthday hats, koozies, and party favors) and scatter birthday themed photographs around your space. Another way to keep things in budget is to throw a joint birthday. We happened to become really good friends with Ruby’s brother’s parents, so we threw a joint first birthday party.

If you need some inspiration, check out our list of Dog Birthday Theme Ideas. Whether you’re throwing a party and celebrating at home with cake and photos, a theme is always needed.

INVITE ALL YOUR DOGGIE PALS

The guest list for a party is crucial. You want to make sure you invite all your pup’s friends, but if they’re social and have several circles you want to be cautious of everyone getting along. You also want to ensure your party space is the right size for your guest list. Ensure everyone has enough room to mingle and play, but also take breaks from socializing as needed.

SERVE ALL YOUR FAVORITE DOG TREATS

For a lot of people, a party is all about the food. And a dog party is no different. Assemble a treat bar featuring all your pup’s favorites. Be sure to select a variety of styles and flavors to satisfy all those puppy palettes – single ingredient, freeze dried, novel proteins, peanut butter, etc. This will also help accommodate any allergies or food sensitivities.

Once you have the pups taken care of, don’t forget about the humans! Having plenty of refreshments for them will help keep the party going. Get creative with a signature cocktail, provide small finger foods so sitting down isn’t required and make sure you keep all the human snacks up high so no counter surfing occurs. Nothing ends a party faster than a trip to the vet.

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KEEP YOUR GUESTS ENTERTAINED

To keep things lively, which isn’t really hard with several dogs, make sure your guests have options for activities. Things like a kiddy pool, sprinkler, balls and frisbees, and yard games can be fun activities for the pups and humans to do if you’re hosting outside.

If you’re hosting inside, consider a Photo Booth with props, travel beer pong, dog toys, games and prizes, music and anything else that might play into your party theme.

GO OVERBOARD ON THE BIRTHDAY CAKE

It’s not a celebration until everyone sings “Happy Barkday” and eats cake. For this tasty dessert, take advantage of your theme and tie it into your cake. Go wild with cake flavor options depending on your cake size and to be safe with your cake selection, ask your guests about food allergies beforehand. Things like dairy, wheat, eggs, and certain proteins are common allergens.

For Rue’s 1st birthday, I ordered her cake from Three Dog Bakery and selected a carob filling with white icing encrusted in nuts. It was a huge hit with the pups and plenty big. Despite having 12 doggos, Rue was still eating leftover cake for a week!

DON’T FORGET THE PARTY FAVORS

To help thank your guests for coming, consider a party favor that matches your party theme (I know, I know. I think you get it by now.).

Some fun things to consider that we’ve given in the past:

Custom koozies: For Rue’s first birthday I created a custom koozie design that featured the party theme and colors, the party hashtag #MaxandRuby1 and a picture of Rue and her brother Max. We got our koozies through 24hourwristbands.com. I created the initial design, but they cleaned it up a bit and we got endless proofs before printing. Once we signed off, we received the koozies within a week.
Your dogs favorite toy/treat: In addition to the koozies for the humans, we gifted the pups an outdoor ball and some treats that were featured at the backyard party as a goodie bag.
Photos: We had a photographer attend the backyard bash for the first couple of hours to capture the party setup and snap candids throughout. She even had a photo booth setup with dog themed props. The photo booth was a great opportunity for the pups and their humans to take family pics or join in with friends for group shots. This is probably our favorite party favor because we have such great memories documented from the party and we got to share all the photos with our guests afterwards. For many, it was their first dog party so they really got a kick out of the photos and appreciated the high-quality images of them with their furry friends.

PLAN YOUR OUTFIT ACCORDINGLY

Since it is your big day, make sure you don’t forget about your outfit. I always try to tie the theme into Rue’s attire or select a birthday bandana that represents her personality. We also always provide birthday hats for our guests that match the theme of the party.

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CAPTURE THE DAY WITH A LOT OF PHOTOS

If you’re going to be throwing this amazing party, you need to make sure you document it with A LOT of pictures. Revel in your skills and get pics of your setup before your guests arrive. Then, make sure you capture candids and all the highlights, like guests playing games and the cutting of the cake. Even better if you incorporate a photo booth and can share these memories with your guests after the party is over.

Have you thrown your pup a birthday party? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.

For more birthday and gotcha day party ideas check out Pawty Like a Pup: 10 Gotcha Day Party Ideas To Celebrate Your Pet by ApartmentGuide. We were featured among nine other pet parents in this article and shared our top tips for how to throw the best party for your pet.