Hi Friends! COME. SIT. STAY. It’s Riley’s 10th Birthday…and a hot dog shop dog party!
Our gentle giant yellow lab, Riley, is turning 10! We have had Riley since he was 8 weeks old and he has been such a huge part of our lives and our family. He’s been by our sides through so many happy times…he’s seen an engagement ring, wedding plans, moving boxes, and two sweet baby boys walk through our front door. He’s been a loyal companion through it all…110 pounds of pure love…the true definition of “man’s best friend.” So, for such a huge milestone birthday, we had to celebrate our fur baby in style!
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We created Riley’s Barkery and Hot Dog Shop, complete with all of Riley’s favorites…biscuits, bones, fetch sticks and tennis balls! Most of the food items at the party were for people, but we made sure our 4-legged friends had plenty of special treats too!
Riley’s Barkery and Hot Dog Shop: The Food
The food at the party included a mounded chocolate malt ball puppy chow birthday cake, “A Day at the Park” cupcakes topped with graham cracker bones and sour tennis ball candies, “Good Boy Biscuits” frosted bone-shaped cookies, jello water bowls, pretzel “fetch sticks” and a DIY Hot Dog Bar! At the Hot Dog Bar you could create your favorite dog… such as the “Yellow Lab” with mustard only, or “The Chihuahua” with pico de gallo and jalapenos, or just the hot dog only (no bun!) for “The Dachshund.”
If you are curious how I made the mounded chocolate malt ball puppy chow birthday cake below are the step-by-step instructions. It really was so easy! I used a giant cupcake cake mold similar to this one. (*affiliate link)
How to make a puppy chow birthday cake:
First, wash and dry a new dog bowl thoroughly. Next, bake the giant cupcake cake using the instructions on the pan packaging. (Note: if using boxed cake mixes, the cake pan will require two box mixes–one for each side of the cake pan.) After baking, allow cake to cool completely. Then, remove both halves of the cake from the pan and apply frosting in between each half. Next, put two halves together, creating the giant cupcake shape. Place the entire cupcake cake into the dog bowl. Then, shave off the top of the cupcake cake to make it a smooth rounded mound shape. Time to add the frosting! Frost the entire dome portion of the cake with a frosting of your choice. I would recommend chocolate frosting so the malt balls will blend in nicely. Lastly, place malt balls all over the cake. I found that it worked well to create vertical rows of the malt balls as you are covering the cake. Also, I would recommend refrigerating the cake until the time of the party so that all of the malt balls will stay nicely in place.
Riley’s Barkery and Hot Dog Shop: The Favors
All of our party go-ers, both 2-legged and 4-legged, couldn’t leave without a doggie bag! Our pup friends took home a bag of biscuits. All of their owners left with sour tennis ball candies in a custom designed carton that looked just like the storefront of Riley’s Barkery and Hot Dog Shop!
Happy birthday, Riley!
After seeing how much fun everyone had at the celebration, we realized that this could be an adorable “paw-ty” theme for any birthday, human or pup, alike! It really was a “dog-gone” good time!
Riley’s Barkery and Hot Dog Shop: Party Printables
I hope you enjoyed Riley’s Barkery and Hot Dog Shop dog party! If you would like to recreate this party yourself, you can find all of the party printables in my etsy shop, here, here and here! If you create this celebration, I’d love to see it! Please tag me @justaddconfetti on Instagram and use the #justaddconfettiprintables hashtag.
I am so thrilled to have Riley’s Barkery and Hot Dog Shop celebration included in the most recent issue of Twinkle Twinkle Little Party magazine. It’s such a beautiful publication full of so many inspiring ideas from a collection of incredibly talented party stylists. It’s such an honor to be included! You can see all of the wonderful celebrations, here.
PIN FOR LATER:
Hi! Where did you get the blue and white hot dog wrappers?
Hi Sophie,
Thank you so much for your message! I made the hot dog wrappers out of cookie bags. The cookie bags were square paper cookie sleeves so I just cut them and folded them around the hot dogs. Then I used the hot dog wrap around labels that I made to hold them in place. I bought the cookie bags from Hobby Lobby.
Please let me know if you have any other questions. I’m happy to help!
Thanks again,
Alison