John’s 3rd Paw Patrol Themed Birthday Party

Someone slow down time, because John is somehow already THREE! This past month, we celebrated our little man’s birthday with a super fun Paw Patrol themed party with family and friends.

For his first birthday we had a John Deere and farm friends birthday party, and for his second birthday party it was all about construction trucks. While he still loves those things just as much, this year he really got into Paw Patrol after seeing it for the first time over the summer. He quickly became obsessed with it — from backpacks to shirts to water bottles, everything became about Paw Patrol. He talked for months about how he wanted a Paw Patrol birthday party.

We’ve been so busy, and James was so sick leading up to John’s birthday, so unfortunately I had to scale back on a lot of things (compared to his previous parties), but I still think the ideas are so cute and it turned out really well! So if you also find yourself throwing a Paw Patrol themed birthday party for your little one soon, I hope this look at John’s party inspires you!

READ ALSO: “Oh Deere, John is ONE!” | John Robert’s John Deere and Farm Friends 1st Birthday Party

READ ALSO: John’s Construction Truck Themed 2nd Birthday Party

Paw Patrol Birthday Party Details

Despite the sickness of the season and how busy this time of year is, I had so much fun planning and putting together John’s birthday party this year. Above everything, I just wanted him to feel special and loved. He talked for months about wanting “a Paw Patrol birthday”, so we made it happen! It was such a special day surrounded by family and friends.

If you’re looking to plan something similar, here are the details from John’s Paw Patrol themed birthday party!

INVITATIONS & STATIONERY

Usually when it comes to invitations, I order stationery and send them out in the mail. But last year, I sent a little invitation graphic via text and it worked out so well that I decided to do it again. With us inviting mainly family and close friends we see at church all the time, it was easier since they knew about his upcoming party anyways.

I ended up ordering a DIY customizable invitation template from this shop on Etsy. It’s an instant downloadable file that I edited myself via Canva. It turned out super cute! I ended up having a few printed as keepsakes for myself and the grand parents.

DECOR & SET-UP

One thing that I really love about Amazon party decor is that you can often get decoration ‘kits’ for different party themes. For John’s Paw Patrol themed party, I ordered this Paw Patrol Balloon Garland Kit. I ended up ordering two because I planned to do a lot more balloons than I was actually able to do with James being sick. So, I ended up having a lot left over that I’ll save for another occassion.

My favorite thing about balloon garland kits like this one is that everything is packaged and ready to put together — and I don’t have to go out and try to create my own formula of balloon colors and sizes. The kit I bought came with balloons, the balloon tape, and even the glue dots. All I needed was my electric balloon pump, and I was able to get it done relatively quick. I hung some balloons from the column on the front porch to welcome people in, and then I hung a large balloon garland in my kitchen on a backdrop behind the food displayed on the kitchen island.

READ ALSO: DIY Balloon Garland Tutorial (Updated)

Another cute touch that I thought was a super cute idea was that I did chalk paw prints up the driveway and sidewalk leading to our front door. I found that idea HERE.

In addition to the balloon garland kit, I also purchased this Paw Patrol Party Supplies Kit that had a banner, table cloth, cups, plates, and napkins. It also came with candles, a birthday button, and some Paw Patrol temporary tattoos that we gave out to John’s friends at the party. It was absolutely perfect! Everything matching in one little kit — saving me time (and money) shopping around!

I ended up using the plastic table cloth from the kit to create a kids table with activities for John and his friends. I had coloring sheets that I found HERE on Pinterest as well as a Make Your Own Pup Tag craft that I found HERE on Pinterest. For the kids to take home, I had these Mini Pup Play Packs and Paw Patrol Stickers and Temporary Tattoos.

In regards to the rest of the set-up, we had food inside in the kitchen and then some tables with linens and chairs outside in our back yard. We had a bounce house set up for the kiddos. It was the perfect weather to hang out outside with everyone for the afternoon! Our tables were just plastic fold out tables dressed with linens from Table Cloth Factory. As a former wedding planner, I always prefer renting linens — but I LOVE using Table Cloth Factory for smaller events where I just need a few linens. Their linens are great quality and super inexpensive. I always keep them on hand for times such as these!

FOOD & CAKE

When it came to the food, we really wanted to keep it simple by ordering Chick-fil-A catering trays (because Chick-fil-A is one of John’s favorite things to eat!) To go with the Chick-fil-A nugget and wrap trays, we had Mac n Cheese, bags of chips, veggie trays, and cupcakes with chocolate dipped pretzels for dessert. For the food spread, I named everything with these food labels that I made to keep with the construction theme, and I think it turned out so cute!

On the theme of keeping things simple, I opted for doing cupcakes this year instead of a cake so that we didn’t have to fuss with cutting the cake at the party. I picked up the cupcakes from our local grocery store, and I ordered these Paw Patrol Cupcake Rings to act as toppers.

A Fun Surprise For John

John’s favorite pups on Paw Patrol are Chase and Marshall. He even has a Chase stuffed animal from Build a Bear that he sleeps with every night. With Chase being a police dog and Marshall being a firefighter pup, we decided to surprise John with visits from our local fire department and police station. We live in a pretty small, tight knit community, so it was super easy to set up. We just gave them a call the week of to see if we could arrange anything. (And having friends with connections was a major plus too!)

They were so sweet to stop by the house, talk with John, let him see their trucks / cars, and they even let him meet a real life ‘Chase’ from the K-9 unit! It was easily John’s favorite part of his party, and he talked about it for weeks after! So if you’re throwing a Paw Patrol themed party, it may be worth calling your local police / fire stations and seeing if it’d be possible to arrange for a quick visit.

Matching Shirts for Mom

Lastly — I typically have done a birthday shirt for John each year at his birthday party, but I finally convinced Rob to do matching shirts for the family this year! (It only took three years of convincing!) This detail was definitely for mom, but they turned out SO cute! I ordered them from this shop on Etsy, and they shipped super fast. With this ounce of permission, I’m running with it and going to do matching shirts for everything now. 😉

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