Hi Friends! I get a lot of questions about the Supper Clubs that I host at our home for my teenage daughter and her friends. It is one of my favorite things that we do, and I am happy to share the ideas with you! My daughter and I usually come up with a theme together- and this one came about soon after we adopted our 2 Golden Doodles…

It was an easy theme to choose and the details were fun to plan! We knew we wanted to use balloon animal dogs in the decorations because it was just too cute and perfect. Camille made all of the balloon dogs for us!

I often have to be careful about using flowers in our home because my son is very allergic to certain ones. I decided to try to make the balloon dogs look like they were running through grass instead of adding the balloon animals to flower arrangements. When I went to Lowe’s to find grass that I could use, it was very expensive…and so I decided to go with potted lettuce instead. I had gold glitter balls that I tucked in the grass to give the effect of the dogs chasing the (golden) balls.

I left the lettuce in the pots that I bought them in and placed them in a lined, wooden tray- which meant I needed to find a way to hide the pots. I found a colorful puppy dog printed fabric at Hobby Lobby and used it to cover all of the unattractive pots. I love how the fabric added an extra layer of interest and color to the main centerpiece on the table. I also really like the texture of the lettuce! On the second table that we set, the table was much narrower than the other table. Instead of a large centerpiece, I used individual pots of lettuce leaves down the center and added a balloon animal dog to each one by gently using a wooden skewer- be sure to place the pointed tip in the pot and the dull end on the balloon.

I transferred the potted lettuce from the original plastic container into a terra cotta pot and wrapped the colorful dog fabric around each one. I secured the fabric by tying a ribbon around the fabric. You can also see that the table was set with a white tablecloth and a fabric topper with golden polka dots. I used colorful plates on top of white chargers and matched each cup color to the plate color. The dessert cups were actually white with gold metallic dots, but the plate under the dessert cup reflected onto the metallic dots and made each cup look like it matched the plate. That was a cool but unintended detail. I will show you a photo later in the post that shows the gold color of the dessert cups so that you can see what I mean!

For dessert, we had 2 options. Camille made “Puppy Chow” that we put in the cups with a DIG IN sign. We topped the Puppy Chow with Scooby Snack graham crackers shaped like bones. It was such an easy recipe to use to tie in the theme. We used the recipe that I always made for my roommates in college- I think it came straight from the Crispix cereal box, but I am not sure where I got the first recipe. (As a side note, this recipe is also one that my kids make every year when we decorate our Christmas tree- we just rename it “Snowflakes”. It has also been a favorite of our elves and Santa Claus through the years! You should bookmark it for Christmas, minus the dog bones, of course!)

Crispix “Puppy Chow”

Lydia Menzies

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Ingredients

  

• 6 cups Crispix cereal
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar (add a little more if needed)

Instructions

 

• In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate on high for 1 minute. Stir and heat another 30 seconds on high or until melted.
• Stir peanut butter into melted chocolate.
• Add Crispix cereal into mixture and stir gently until cereal is well-coated.
• Pour powdered sugar into a 2-gallon ziplock bag and then add cereal mixture into powdered sugar. Gently toss the cereal and sugar mixture until well-coated.
• Store in airtight bag or container and place in the refrigerator or freezer (we prefer keeping it in the freezer).
• Serve after candy has chilled and set.

If you prefer, you can use a double boiler to melt the chocolate instead of the microwave.

The other adorable option we had for dessert…cookies from Tara of Bambella Cookies. Tara wows me every single time I order from her! I sent her a photo of our pups, Tuck and Blue, and asked her to put their faces on cookies. She did, and they turned out to be so cute! I also wanted to incorporate “Stay Golden” onto the cookies, and so Tara whipped up some fancy writing in gold, of course!

Of course, we didn’t only have dessert to eat! We couldn’t pass up the chance to have a “DOODLE DINER” and serve hot dogs with fun names for each hot dog… we served this as a hot dog bar.

DOODLE DINER MENU

TODAY’S SPECIAL- GOLDEN DOODLE HOT DOG (Just Mustard)

THE BULLDOG (because we live in Athens, home of University of Georgia Bulldogs) Ketchup with Black Olives

THE DACHSHUND- Just the Weiner!

THE HUSKY- Chili Dog

THE CHIHUAHUA- Salsa Dog

THE GREAT DANE- A Hot Dog with Everything

SIDES~ CURLY FRIES (because Doodles are curly)

GOLDEN NOODLES- Pasta Salad

DRINKS- WATER AND SODA PUP

DESSERT- PUPPY CHOW AND DOG TREATS (COOKIES WITH DOGS ON THEM)

We also decorated with gold balloons that light up- they cast a pretty golden glow on the serving table. One other simple detail that I quickly made was a welcome sign for the front door using typical dog commands…

COME (In)

SIT (Anywhere)

STAY (Golden)

As always, we enjoyed hosting everyone and look forward to the next time! We took a group photo after it was dark, but I am just happy we remembered to take one!

If you have questions that you would like to ask about how we plan our Supper Clubs, please let me know! I am happy to share! Thank you for reading- and stay golden! 🙂

xo,

Lydia