We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
How do you create a birthday celebration for a child that spends her days bouncing off the walls with endless energy and goes from ten to sixty on the over-stimulated meter in three seconds flat during every special event and holiday and often results in epic meltdowns?
Have a puppy party.
I noticed a local business flyer on a community board advertising that they bring pups to your location as the main event for a birthday party. The “puppy wrangler” brought around twelve pups, a temporary enclosure, and a tarp to protect the surface (in case of accidents). All I had to do was select a safe place to set up outside, away from parking lot traffic around our apartment building. Thanks to our wonderful building manager (“chief” in our village) who loves my children and was invited to the party, we were able to set up between our building and the next-door neighbor’s retaining wall. It was a perfect spot off the beaten path. The puppies were magical little fur balls that provided a mellow hour of hugs, kisses, cuddles, and giggles for ten little invitees. Some of the “puppies” were probably small adult dogs with high tolerance levels for ear and tail pulling. Snuggling with a puppy is relaxing for children and adults alike.
Word spread throughout the building like wildfire and before long most of our neighbors stopped by to join the fun. One of our neighbors was seriously ill. She managed to come down to hold a puppy or two. Puppy love brought her great pleasure and enabled her to relax and forget about being sick for a little while.
Miss Bee insisted on wearing a slippery princess costume to her party – not ideal with her fine motor skills challenges or the puppies. I had visions of puppies sliding down her costume with a splat. If I tried to convince her to change into comfy pants, Miss Bee would have had an epic meltdown. My daughter had a flair for fashion statements the moment she was able to open her dresser drawers and choose her own outfits. This was a battle I wasn’t willing to wage in order to ensure this party was successful.
The handler immediately recognized that Miss Bee needed some extra attention and subtle supervision. My preschooler was not exactly gentle but with some direction from the wrangler, no puppies were harmed and Miss Bee so loved having the puppies climb all over her. The handler gave Miss Bee a small blanket for her lap. Slippery costume problem solved! The handler clearly had lots of practice working with pre-school aged children. Parents were invited into the enclosure to assist their children.
I asked the handler to provide verbal – ten minute, five minute and two-minute warnings when the puppies needed to leave. She informed the attendees that the puppies were ready for their naps at the designated times. I knew puppies leaving could be an especially hard transition for our guests. I made sure all the children knew we would be going inside to sing happy birthday and eat cake. Of course, the cake was
Cement chalk was a mellow way to end the party. This calm activity that was enjoyed by all of the children. Parents took their leave at their leisure. I previously learned the hard way, to open presents after the party ended. This avoided misunderstandings from children who might not understand ownership. I also learned to keep goody bags simple with healthy snacks such as crackers, cheese stick and juice box for the ride home and one trinket. I often used brown paper lunch bags. Some years Miss Bee decorated them with stamps and stickers. Because children with special needs attended our birthday parties, the simpler, the better.
The party was a success because I kept the number of children invited in line with the number of puppies to enable every child to be in the enclosure for the entire time the puppies were in attendance. Standing outside the enclosure to wait for a turn having to watch other children would have been especially difficult. Hosting the party outside dissipated the sounds of loud happy children and kept the sensory overload to a minimum. Ending the party with a mellow activity was ideal. A quick hosing of the chalk off the cement and all traces of the party were gone. I love a party with minimal cleanup!
It is a pleasure to support local small businesses. I worked with Puppies and Reptiles for Parties. In addition to puppies, they provide reptile parties (ick!) if your child is into creepy crawly instead of warm and furry.
Years later this puppy party is remembered with great fondness and often talked about by the children and adults alike.
