The Halloween season has officially started and everyone is trying to figure out how to celebrate this incredible holiday. Between parties, costume planning and midterms, most of the month of October is already accounted for. Yet, if given the opportunity you should definitely throw your pup a “Bark-o-ween” celebration just for an extra bit of love. Here are a few simple things you can do to celebrate Halloween with your pup:
Invite Your Dog to the Party
Obviously, you can’t throw your dog a party without a proper invitation. For me, I created a simple graphic on my phone and sent it to my husband. Then, to invite my dog Lady, I sat her down and gave her treats out of a super cute Halloween themed mug that also has a dog on it that looks very similar to her.
Prepare the Decorations
I sent my husband to Dollar Tree to pick up a few decorations. We spent maybe six dollars, and just got a few things to ensure we could take cute photos of Lady. We also bought Halloween plates with cats on them so that we could put her treats on them. Over the past month, we have also bought her several Halloween-themed toys, which we also decided to use as decoration.
Prepare the Treats
If you go on Pinterest and search pumpkin dog treats, the number of results that show up is absolutely insane. Thankfully, I began to notice that the recipes were very similar, just the shape or baking time was different. Most recipes include the same following ingredients**:
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 large egg
- 2/3 cup of pumpkin puree
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
**Obviously, if your dog is allergic or has sensitivities to eggs or flour, I highly suggest not making these for your pup. There are some allergen friendly recipes on Pinterest if you need them!
I chose to take these ingredients and make Doggy Donut Holes. It was super simple, and after just 15 minutes, they were beautiful homemade dog treats coming out of the oven. I let them cool off and then it was time to see if Lady liked them.
Time to Celebrate
I plated her treats and brought them upstairs to where we were holding the bark-tacular party. We put on her costume, played some cheesy Halloween music and gave her the treats. Obviously, she only cared about the treats, but as humans, we had to get pictures of her celebrating—this is where the decorations came in handy, as they created a terrific backdrop for her photos. So, she ate some treats, we gave her some crazy pets and cuddles and then she was off taking a nap. In my opinion, it was a 10/10 experience, plus I have extra homemade treats that stay good for two weeks!
If you have the chance before Halloween, make sure to celebrate with your pup. More than likely your dog will greatly appreciate the extra attention as well as the new treats.
Images: All photos taken by author