Ender's first birthday is the day before Thanksgiving, so we thought we'd throw him a party a little early and avoid the holiday craziness in everyone's schedules. We joke that we didn't have any friends in Charlotte until we got a dog, and even though it sounds ridiculous, it's actually true--so it was fitting that our Charlotte best friends and their pups all came over for an afternoon of treats and celebration.

We decided on a circus theme, so I ordered some decorations from this suite on Minted--I dreamed that the dogs would wear the paper crowns but kept realistically low expectations, and I was totally surprised by how easily they wore them. Like me, they'll do almost anything for popcorn.

It was so funny and cute and everything worked out exactly the way I hoped it would. I'm about to share a ton of photos with you, so before I get into that I thought I'd list the party details, because I'm still giggling about all of them:

Puppy Party invitations that I addressed to each dog.
Decorations from the suite I linked to above: Bunting Banner, Circle Garlands, Table Signs, Cupcake Toppers, Party Crowns, and Mini Notecard Favors.
Dog birthday cake from Canine Cafe in Charotte. We got the peanut butter banana flavor because the woman who runs the place said it was "paws down the favorite." I also grabbed a few freshly baked dog biscuits while I was picking up the cake and put them in little cellophane bags with blue ribbon as party favors.
Champagne cocktails with cotton candy.
Circus-themed snacks included hot dogs, popcorn, salted peanuts in the shell, and cupcakes.
The other drinks I got were chosen strictly based on how much their labels made me feel like I was at the circus: Not Your Father's Root Beer in bottles and a bunch of PBR in cans.