We celebrated our favorite two year old this past weekend with a Cars, Trucks, and Tractors Birthday Party! Levi loved it! It was originally pegged to be a Construction Party, but he adores his trucks and cars so much, I couldn't exclude them, so we improvised a bit. Plus, I liked the bright color scheme much better than just yellow and black. I found some inspiration on Pinterest, which got my own wheels spinning with ideas...see what I did there? ha ha Lots were pinned under "transportation party" if you ever need to look. :)
For me, the perfect kid party is all about three things: colorful decorations, festive food, and fun! Plus, nothing was terribly costly, and the decorations and food items were mostly DIY. A win win in my book.
Here is a closer look at the decorations...
Everything came together so nicely, and the sunny day was the icing on the cake. ha ha! Sorry, couldn't resist. ;)
The plate rack looked a little out of place, and I was going to add balloons to it, but then I thought the party plates might look better. I think they do! What do you think? Talk about easy peasy.
I found myself alone for a little while on Saturday morning and I'm not gonna lie, it was fabulous. Uninterrupted time to finish up all those last details.
I adore this little "street sign" wall. It made the perfect backdrop for photos- colorful but not too busy or distracting- and it had some personal significance. I love that. I printed on colored card stock rather than using all that ink, and I love how it turned out. I can't bring myself to take it down, either...
This side table housed a little activity for Isabelle and my two nieces who were attending. So simple, just a plain party hat, some foam sticker letters and stars, and some glitter pom poms, all from the craft section at WalMart- it worked out great! If you've been reading about my parties for long, then you know I am a balloon addict. Truly, they just can't be beat for adding color and whimsy. They turned this simple shelf rack into a fun party detail. Cheap and so easy!
We purchased a two toys for Levi for his birthday, and both became part of the decorations. Does that make me a thief or a creative genius? Hmmm...
This play mat/rug kept the little kids busy for a long time while the adults chatted and ate snacks. It's easy to move around, too, which I like, and on sunny afternoons it ends up out in the sun room where Levi likes to play the most.
The little dump trucks from the Dollar Store (also where I found the cones- 2 for a $1!!) held the foam letters, and the trees, signs, and road sticker tape were "borrowed" from Levi. There are bright colored wooden vehicles and building fronts with this toy set, too, link is below- he has already played with it a ton! Big sister Isabelle drew the firetruck. :)
I made three bean bags to toss for the traffic light game, seen below. They were red, yellow and green, to match the game board, which was black foam board and circles cut out of card stock- I traced a dinner plate. The part that took the longest BY FAR was filling the little bags with the beans, but otherwise, this was such a quick and easy thing to make. I will add that the adults had a pretty good time tossing the bean bags, too. :)
We put the game board flat on the floor to toss the bean bags, but I liked how fun it looked when propped up against the wall. I was originally going to hang it as the backdrop for the birthday boy photos, but then realized that we could make a fun game with it if we could easily move it around. And you've got to have a "Speed Limit 2" sign for your newly minted two year old!
More artwork drawn by sister. I'm planning on hanging the three pictures in Levi's room, but I didn't tell Isabelle that, so she will be thrilled to see them in there.
Here are more signs made in Microsoft Word - they look kind of plain in these pictures but they added so much to the overall decor!
These were right inside the door where guests arrived
This was earlier in the day, before I made a last minute run to JoAnn's for black and yellow felt for the table. I had wanted to make a road on the table but never made it to the store until the day of. Oops! You can see in the photos above just how much it adds. I've cut it down to a smaller size and Levi now plays with the road, adding the yellow dashes where he sees fit, and racing his cars and trucks all over it.
This photo looks so sad, ha, but I think these signs turned out so cute! I may have to keep them for his baby book.
Now onto the food...
I saw this idea floating around but with brownies and rice krispie squares. Thinking back to my
baby shower, I knew I did NOT want to go the rice krispies route again, but I wasn't sold on having to deal with all those brownies either. Suddenly I thought of these wafer treats and knew they would be perfect. So easy and adorable! I dabbed some old red frosting in a tube onto the wafers, and Isabelle added the colored M&M's. They were a big hit with everyone, and I knew I wanted to display them upright somehow, so this bread tin was perfect. I added the small red plate for interest- it wasn't holding up the treats at all.
I purchased a candy alphabet sheet and had the Happy Birthday leftover, so I just added them to the cupcakes. Crushed up Oreo Thins made great dirt crumbles. :)
We had "spare tires" - chocolate covered donuts and the remaining Oreo Thins- plus some caramel pop corn, a few other packages snacks, and a veggie tray with dip. Drinks were iced tea, bottles of water or juice boxes, and we made coffee later on. Super simple. (Sadly, there was a cute sign with arrows pointing to the left for "Spare Tires" and to the right for "Diesel Fuel" that never got printed. Oops.)
And the birthday cake. Let me tell you, I simply could not pull the trigger when deciding on the cake. I was literally still coming up with ideas the morning of the party. I think my problem was this: I don't like the look of the completely brown and crumbly "dirt" cakes, which are so popular for construction themed parties; and I fell in love with the whimsical fondant cakes that had cute little cars and trucks and tractors all over them BUT I do not know my way around fondant (at all!) and the price tag for said cake was nearly a mortgage payment, soooo, that's a nope.
I purchased the candles quite a while back, when I was still thinking strictly construction theme, but I just love them and knew they would look so cute. You know what was NOT so cute? Something weird was going on with the butter that morning, and though I've made this frosting a thousand times, it would not cooperate that day. Ugh. There were butter lumps and then it would not keep its consistency, so things got a little droopy. I wasn't happy, but truthfully, I didn't let it stress me out too much. And I knew Levi wouldn't care about lumpy, falling down frosting in the least. ;)
I cut KitKats in half for the retaining wall. This was a last minute add on, but I thought it was cute.
The birthday boy didn't know what to do with all that attention. But he warmed up quickly once we sang and he saw the candles that were just for him!
I ordered his birthday shirt
here - I requested a couple changes, and it's perfect!
Make a wish, little Levi!
Such a sweet time celebrating our little boy!
The next morning, as soon as he walked into the dining room, he was so happy seeing all his decorations. He was in such a good mood he made it through another entire service in the nursery this week. Go Levi, such a big boy! We love you so, so much!
I still can't believe that another year has come and gone. I wish I could keep him little just a while longer. It feels like I was JUST getting everything ready for his Wild One Jungle party - you can read about that
here if you'd like. Any other party-happy Mamas like me out there? Simple- and inexpensive- can go a long way, right? :)
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