How To Throw a Pet Birthday Party

For your pet's birthday party, invite all of your friends that have dogs with whom your dog has played with, as well as dog park buddies.

Also invite any friends and family members who know and love your dog, even if they don't have their own pets to bring to the celebration.

Neighborhood kids who you know would probably love the opportunity to play with dogs all day, so invite them too if you have a friendly group of pooches at the party.

2. Pet Party Invitations:

Since you might not have all of the e-mail addresses for your dog's friends, sending an online invitation probably isn‘t an option.

Instead, give your pet's birthday party invitations out by hand or mail. Follow these easy steps to create a charming canine invite:

• Create cute dog-biscuit shaped invitations on brown kraft paper.
  

• On the front, write: "No Bones About It, Fido Is Turning 5!" (or other variation on the dog bone theme).
  

• On the back of the invite, list all of the party details: what, when, where and how long.
  

• Hand them out at the weekly dog park meet-up and mail them to whoever else should be invited.
  

• Go to Stamps.com and upload a picture of the birthday pup to create custom stamps for the invitations.

3. What You'll Need for the Party:

It may seem that planning for a pet's birthday is easier than planning for a person's birthday, but it takes a surprising amount of thought and effort.

Consider that you'll not only be hosting people, you'll be hosting dogs as well - two groups with distinctly different needs.

Our list below should help ensure you have everything on hand for both sets of guests:

For People:

• Appetizer or snack food set up buffet style for easy self-serving.

• Dessert or candy for a sweet treat - birthday cake, cupcakes or old fashioned candy are always popular picks.
  

• Cold beverages if your party is taking place outside. A good mix includes some soda, ice water, juice, lemonade and beer for an alcoholic beverage.
  

• A Polaroid or disposable camera set out for guests to enjoy documenting the fun and games.

For Pooches:

• A big cookie jar filled with kibble, and plastic dishes if guests want to feed their pups.

• Another two or three smaller cookie jars filled with assorted treats. Be sure to label all the food and treat jars so guests know what they are feeding their pooch.
  

• 1 large bowl of ice water for every three dogs at your puppy's party. Scatter the bowls around the party area to make sure dogs can easily find water if they are thirsty. Also, be sure to check on the bowls every few hours to refill them or add ice.
  

• A good variety of toys for dogs to entertain themselves with. Sturdy knotted ropes, strong squeaky toys and balls in all shapes and sizes should do the trick.

• A plastic baby wading pool filled with 6 inches of water provides a fun way for dogs to stay cool in the summer sun.

• Plenty of poop bags to keep the grass clean for the humans to walk through.
  

• No matter how loveable your dog can sometimes be, if he or she has ever shown any sign of dog or human aggression, be safe and leave them at home.
• The fastest way to ruin a pet birthday party is a dog fight.
  

• Keep him or her on the leash for a while until they calm down. 

• Walk your pup around the yard once to get her acclimated to the new space, and give her a chance to sniff noses with her new playmates. 

• If you notice any issues arising (your dog playing too rough, growling, your dog getting picked on), place the leash back on your dog for the remainder of the party to keep things safe and under control. 

• Bring your own doggie poop bags and a gift for the birthday pup.
  
• A gift can be as simple as a ball or small bag of treats; it's the gesture that counts, and a small gesture will go a long way toward ingratiating you to your host.