How We Celebrated Navy’s First Birthday

Parents go all out for their children’s first birthdays, why can’t dog parents do the same? For Navy’s first birthday, we decided to go all out. I mean, baby girl only turns 1 once, right? We really wanted her birthday to be special.

Navy turned 1 on a Tuesday so Mom and Dad unfortunately had to go into work. We did make sure to sleep in for a few minutes and give her some extra morning cuddles. Navy was served her absolute favorite food for breakfast, Vital Essentials Duck, along with a small scoop of Vital Essentials freeze-dried raw turkey toppers. Navy and Momma went on a long walk in the morning and Navy spent the day doing what she does best… nap! Dad made an AMAZING grilled steak dinner for the family with some raw carrots, and a big bowl of dog-friendly “wine” from Pet Winery (thanks @sebastianlovesluna!). We ended our evening by cuddling up and watching a movie, a long game of fetch at the dog park, and lots of cuddles!

How we celebrated…

After attending a couple doggy birthday parties, we wanted to have a special birthday celebration for Navy and include all her little puppy friends. We contemplated whether we wanted to throw the party at a local park or if we wanted to rent out an indoor facility. Ultimately, we decided to rent out an local doggy gym since we were unsure of what the weather would be like in April (it POURED so we made the right choice).

Navy’s “cousin” Matilda’s birthday is around the same time as Navy’s so we decided to have a joint party for the pups and invite their mutual friends. We are very lucky to live in such a dog friendly area where there are a number of doggy gyms and indoor play facilities for pups. We ended up choosing to host their party at an awesome doggy gym, Frolicks. They set out agility obstacles and jumps for all the dogs to play with. Around 20 dogs showed up to party, so there was a lot of running, playing, and yapping (mostly navy, #YapQueen).

The theme of the pawty was BRUNCH, because doggos who brunch together, stay together ;). Humans enjoyed mimosas, iced coffee, bagels, muffins, and donuts while the pups ate granola dog-friendly donuts and a slice (or two) of dog friendly birthday cake. Frolicks supplied our guests with little treat goodie bags and we reached out to Vital Essentials to provide samples of their yummy treats and coupons!

What Navy got…

Navy is an only child at this point so she is a spoiled rotten pup. Mom and Dad didn’t get Navy anything too crazy for her birthday. We did decided to sign her up for Level 2 agility classes (surprise Navy!). Navy’s puppy friends absolutely blessed her with so many cute little presents. We also asked some of our pup friends to bring old toys or leashes/collars so we could donate to a local shelter. We will be going through some of Navy’s old toys and donating them and those that we got from Navy’s party to a local shelter. As soon as we brought all her presents home, Navy stuck her nose right in the bags to inspect them! She got so many cute toys and yummy treats. Mom and Dad were even excited to see our friend @moogle_the_fluffy_corgi, who made some merle cardigan corgi sugar cookies–so cute right? Mom felt a little guilty eating these!

Our little family had so much fun watching all the pups run around and play. It was such a blessing to see all of our local Instagram friends meet and play together. We are so thankful for all of the friendships we have made in the area.

Again, thank you to all who came out to celebrate with us and a special thanks to all that wished us a happy birthday over social media! We love you all *big Navy hugs*.