My son loves puppies and dogs. He is not partial to any dog character but he gets really excited when he sees a real puppy or dog, including our two. I wanted to do something special and still cute & age appropriate. I started with a puppy invitation that was hand stamped with paw prints, fire hydrants, and a dog stamped on a little tag tied to the invitation with a ribbon. Inside read: For a HowlinÆ good time, help us celebrate (my sonÆs) second birthday with a puppy party on (date, time) at (my sonÆs) dog house, Ruff.S.V.P. We placed a heavy ceramic puppy by the front mailbox, where we tied a balloon bouquet. I found napkins with teal blue, lime green and purple paw prints that read æwipe your pawsÆ I used plates in coordinating colors. I ordered balloons with paw prints in the same colors to decorate and also used some with the number two.  I placed balloons on the chairs in the party room to add to the dTcor. Our guest ages ranged from almost 2 û 5 years, so I decided to keep it to one simple activity appropriate for all of them. I cut out dog shapes (paw print, bones, and fire hydrants) using cookie cutters to trace. I hid them in the back yard and told each child to bring back 2 of each shape. (2 because it was a 2nd birthday, parents helped the smaller children) After they found the shapes they brought them to me and picked something from the prize bag. (stuffed dogs, stickers, etc.) We served lunch of hot dogs, jello jigglers (in dog bone shapes) fruit, puppy chow mix (made with melted peanut butter & chocolate chips, drizzled on chex cereal then shaken in powdered sugar) dog bone shaped sandwiches, and grilled chicken tenders on skewers. I found adorable stainless dog bowls with paw prints imprinted around the sides and one pottery dog bowl (that had stripes in our blue & green color theme with a paw print too) at Target to serve my food. I left a scoop in the puppy chow. We used alternating blue and green plaid table cloths on the party & food tables, with a stainless dog treat container, full of purple flowers and alternating breeds of puppy dog statues as centerpieces. I scattered the candy dog bones and individual dog head noise makers on the party table. On the food table, I also placed a recent picture of my son in a black frame with a silver dog bone attached. We placed all his favorite stuffed dogs and puppets around the house. I made a 13 x9 chocolate cake used green icing on top to make grass and placed a couple of my sonÆs toy dogs on top with candy dog bones. I served cake & ice cream in new, blue dog bowls with little black paws on each corner which each child also got to take home. Treat bags included personalized coloring book with all puppy pages that I printed off the internet, crayons, dog stamp, stickers, and some dog gummies. I also added individual bags of puppy chow to each bag. The weather was perfect and the kids enjoyed a lot of free play outside with my sonÆs new wagon and battery operated dog, named GOGO. My son and his friends loved the puppy party. I used puppy clip art to create Thank You notes which were sent to each guest.