Earlier this month, we celebrated Margot’s third birthday with a PAW Patrol-themed party at our house. Margot’s love for PAW Patrol, and her favorite pup Marshall in particular, has been a life-long obsession. After last year’s wonderful Frozen-themed party with Anna and Elsa, I didn’t know if we’d be able to top it.
Margot’s early January birthday is challenging if only for the fact that planning a party within weeks of the holidays can feel overwhelming. It’s hard to think ahead to her birthday when we’re in Christmas mode, so that is why we’ve ended up holding birthday parties for her later in January.
Thanks to a wonderful face painter and balloon art duo, fun party favors, and several friends and family members braving yet another Margot Party Winter Storm, it was a great day.
My good friend Stephanie is a wonderful graphic designer and has designed invites for the girls’ parties in the past. Her company is called Millstar Creative. She kindly put together the perfect PAW Patrol invitation for Margot’s party to help set the mood.
As I was looking for PAW Patrol party favors on Amazon, I stumbled upon these adorable PAW Patrol girls’ dresses that are inspired by the different pups. While Margot has a Marshall Halloween costume, I couldn’t pass up having her wear the adorable Marshall version of the dress or getting the Skye one for Stella. The Peter Pan collar and ruffled shoulders, as well as the low price point (under $20 each), had me sold.
Along with the dresses, I found really fun felt masks featuring the different pups from PAW Patrol and fire hydrant drink cups. I tried to find some firefighter hats on Amazon as well, but wasn’t sure about the quality based on the reviews I found.
Having some sort of entertainment at the party was key, particularly when it’s a wintertime birthday party and you’re stuck with indoor activities. I learned about Just for FUN Ink from Macaroni Kid and Not Your Mother’s Networking Group on Facebook. After emailing owner Coleen about her availability, we agreed to have her come to the party for both face painting and balloon art.
Coleen and Laura were so great to work with and the kids had a lot of fun with them. I told Coleen about the theme of the party, but I never expected that they’d be able to do PAW Patrol characters with both the face painting AND balloons. They made sure everyone was happy and got what they wanted, even making extra balloons for the kids in case theirs broke and balloon flower corsages for the grownups. I would have them for a party again in a second and highly recommend them!
One of the things Margot requested was a Marshall cake, naturally. I’ve learned from spending a lot on cakes in the past that sometimes, sticking with something like a Costco cake is a delicious and affordable alternative. However, I still wanted to make Margot’s Marshall cake wishes come true.
Mitten Raised Bakery is a wonderful place in East Lansing. The owner Katie first opened her shop a few years ago in downtown Okemos. We actually ordered Margot’s baptism cake from her shortly after they opened. They’re now located near Hagadorn and Grand River, and have the most delicious treats. Seriously, their glazed donut stands up to just about any other I’ve had. I decided to order Margot an eight-inch round cake from Mitten Raised, which was a lower cost option, and still ordered a sheet cake from Costco in case we needed it.
The staff at Mitten Raised was great. They suggested a chocolate chip flavored cake to go along with the Marshall design. I wasn’t super picky about the design, so I was so pleasantly surprised to pick it up the morning of the party and see what they did.
Mitten Raised found a Marshall hat with pup ears attached to top the cake, and even added the detail of the little dog bone with her name and Happy Birthday on it. She was so thrilled with this cake and it was absolutely delicious. We barely had any left after the party.
When it came to the rest of the food, it was all about Gordon Food Service and Costco. In the past, we’ve gotten food catered by local restaurants, which is really great but can be tough to gauge as far as quantity. Often, we have a lot of food leftover and send guests home with leftovers.
This time around, I relied on favorites like GFS’s pulled pork, cornbread, and corndogs, and Costco’s macaroni and Asian salad bagged mix. For the kids, I also served Uncrustable sandwiches and PAW Patrol-themed yogurt and string cheese. The biggest hits of the day were the corndogs and pulled pork from GFS and the cherry BBQ chips I found at Costco.
While it meant a bit more work to prep food for the party, it cost a lot less and kept things simple for planning ahead.
We also served my mom’s famous beer margaritas. This recipe is pretty close to what she does when she makes them. In the past, they’ve been called Margot-ritas. For this party, they were Marshall-ritas.
Finally, as a take-away for our guests, it only made sense to make puppy chow. Puppy chow is such a yummy treat and easy to make in large quantities. I use one bag of Nestle chocolate chips, about 2/3 cup of smooth JIF peanut butter, Chex cereal, and powdered sugar. Just melt the chocolate chips in a saucepan, add the peanut butter and stir until mixed, then pour over a large bowl of Chex cereal. I’ve found it’s easiest to do it in batches. Make sure the cereal is completely coated by the chocolate mixture, then add to a container with powdered sugar and shake. I use a large rectangular Gladware container with a lid to shake up the mixture.
I made it the night before the party and packed it in favor bags for each family to take home.
All in all, it was a really fun afternoon celebrating our new little three-year-old. We loved spending time with family and friends and hosting them in our home.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the details and perhaps even got some inspiration for your future parties.
Happy birthday, Margot!
