How To Celebrate With Your Pet Plus Give Back To Other Pets This Holiday

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Holidays are a wonderful time to put together fun gifts for your pets. But it also is the perfect time to do something special for a local shelter.  Sure, it is easy enough to make a monetary donation, but why not get in the holiday spirit and head to Target to make a special gift for your local pets without homes? While you are at it, you can put together something for your own pets, as well.

I have always loved celebrating the holidays with my pets. But I also like to give back to local rescues and shelters that need items. This year, myself and the corgis are doing both. Here are some ways you can celebrate with your pet and also give something special to a local shelter.

Take Family Photos

I have often taken family holiday photos that include my pet. Take out the tripod, arrange your family in front of some holiday decorations, set the camera to a timer, and take photos.  With pets it is helpful to place a treat in sight that they will focus on. I have actually taped treats to the top of my camera before.  Here is one of our favorite holiday photos with Ty.

Take Pet Photos for Yourself or for a Shelter

I also love to take holiday photos of just my dogs. I will dress them up a bit, do a bit of staging, and start grabbing photos. Did you know that shelters often appreciate photography too?  If you have good camera skills, many shelters will welcome a volunteer to come in and take photos of their animals for social media and adoption materials. At the holidays, adding some holiday themed items can make a pet particularity stand out and potentially lead to a quicker adoption.

Make Stockings

For years, I have made stockings for my pets. These are super easy to make. Head to a store like Target and grab a couple of stockings, some glue, and some glitter. Write your pet’s name in glue on the stocking, and cover the glue with glitter.  Let dry, and brush off the excess glitter. It is that easy!   You could also fill stockings up for shelter pets and drop them off at a local rescue or shelter.

Make and Donate a Gift Basket

I love making gift baskets because they look great and pets can easily interact with them. They also are a great way to give to your local shelter in a more personalized way. This year, I went shopping at Target and picked up some items to make a gift basket for Ty and Eve to donate to our local shelter. Target made this easy because they had some holiday specific items that I could include. In particular, I picked up the limited edition Milk-Bone® Holiday Tin, which is perfect for my basket, but could also be given alone as a gift.  I found it and some other great items in the Pet Section at Target, which was also decorated for the holidays.

The Milk-Bone® Holiday Tin is available only at Target for a limited time. Milk-Bone® wholesome treats come from the heart and are for dogs of all sizes.  That makes them perfect for giving to a shelter since you need not worry about your gift being limited by the size of dogs that they currently have in their care.  

I also picked up a few packages of toys and some Milo’s Kitchen® treats, which I particularity like for my own dogs because they have 100% Real Chicken as the #1 ingredient and no artificial flavors or colors. Their motto is “The Best Treats Come from the Kitchen®”

I picked out a basket that would make a good toy container for a lucky dog at the shelter and then put it all together with bow.

This was a quick and easy, and super simple way to make a nice gift. And it has items that any dog would love. You can also include Pup-Peroni® Treats and Canine Carry Outs® Dog Treats into your gift basket, which are available at Target!

Of course my own dogs really wanted it for themselves, so I will be heading back to Target to make another one for them too!

Get a Great Deal on Gift Items For Your Dog at Target

You can make a gift basket for your dog or to give to another by heading to Target and, until 12/24/18, save 15% on Milk-Bone, Milo’s Kitchen, Pup-Peroni, and Canine Carry Outs Dog Treats with Cartwheel: Click here!

Happy Holidays!