We just celebrated having our rescue pittie for the one year mark! I can’t believe it’s gone so fast, she has come such a long way from being terrified of anything and everyone to being such a huge part of our family. She has such a sweet and silly personality and brings so much joy and laughter to us every day (and the occasional groan!). To mark this special occasion we had a “Gotcha Day”! Here’s how you can make your own:

Custom Doggy Banner

What’s a party without some decoration? First, I decided to make a cute little banner to celebrate her big day.

Design: I designed three cute but simple little cutouts of a dog bone, her head and a paw print. You can make it be anything or you can grab my design here.

Cut: I used my Circuit machine, but these could easily be made by hand as well. Just print and cut out! I made them out of natural cardstock. Then cut out the banner shapes from different coloured construction paper for a pop of fun.

Assemble: Next, I glued my two pieces together, I alternated the colours to make a pattern but you can mix and match or do it however you like! Then I simply taped some blue string to the back near the top.

Hang: Hang up for your big day and enjoy! Then save it for your next doggy celebration.

Homemade Easy DIY Doggy Treats

Can you even call yourself a dog parent without treats? We decided to make our own for her special day. I looked at a lot of recipes and settled on this one as it was simple, healthy and bonus we had all the ingredients on hand!

Gather Your ingredients: You will need 2 cups of steel cut oats, 2 bananas and 1/2 cup of peanut butter and some flour.

Blend the Oats: Pop the oats into the blender and mix on high until the consistency is like or close to powder. This will make it easier to form the dough!

Mix the dough: Mix in the bananas and peanut butter until it forms into a dough.

Roll & Cut: Sprinkle some flour down and roll out your dough. Use any cookie cutter you like, we picked some simple heart shapes to share our love!

Bake: Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and put in the oven at 300 degrees F (150 C) for 25 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes to harden.

Hand them out generously: Share with the pet of the hour or hand them out to doggy friends! Don’t forget to give them some pets too.

Additional Ways To Celebrate

There are so many other ways you can celebrate your furry family member but here are some ways we added a little bit of fun to her day. I took the girls to the store where they had fun picking out some new toys for her. The ball didn’t last long- but she sure did love it! We also whipped up a cute new bandana for her special day. I had a fun dog bone print fabric on hand that was easy to turn into a handkerchief that I personalised with her name on it.

We pulled out some fun dog-themed party supplies to use for the day including paw print swirly straws for the humans and even puppy face masks to join in on the fun. It definitely helped that my middle is a huge fan of Paw Patrol so we had these things laying around already.

If you’re tech savvy and grab some sticker paper you can also make fun stickers with the dog of the hours face on them. I designed a few with her head and some other cute dog themed stickers that the girls had fun with.

The options are endless, but be sure to have some fun and give out some extra snuggles on your pets gotcha day this year! Happy One Year to our Ellie!

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