A "Wheelie" Cool Party

I am so thrilled that I finally have a house big enough to hold more than 4 people for a real birthday party!  Perfect timing since Little D turned 3 this year and was excited to actually celebrate his big day.  My inner Martha Stewart was super-psyched to host a real party so I ran to Pinterest, gathered all of my ideas, and got to work.  Since I got most all of my ideas from Pinterest, and I don't want to take credit for any un-original ideas, I'll show you what I created and where the idea came from.  I should also tell you that I wanted to keep this party to a pretty slim budget so I kept it simple and tried to use things that I already had around the house.

Our invitations let people know the theme of the party right away!  ...idea borrowed from Bliss Bloom Blog.  Poor picture but you get the idea.

I am in love with my giant front porch, but I am not a huge fan of the gray outdoor carpet...or the light fixtures...both will be replaced one day.  It sure did make a great road, though!  I just ran some yellow duct tape down the middle and then added some blow up road signs that my mom found at Oriental Trading.  If the weather was nicer, my plan was to put Denver's PowerWheels ATV on the porch/road and let the kids drive to the party...but it was about 20 degrees outside so I had to nix that idea.

 

Loved this idea for a door sign from Catch My Party.  I was psyched when I discovered checkered duct tape from way-back-when, when Little D was just a baby and I made him a sensory nibble bag.  The tape that was once used for its bold, geometric, baby-friendly design, was perfect for his big-boy car party because it looked like race flags!

 

I started to plan activities for the kids, but then I realized that 2-3 year olds just want to eat snacks and play, so we set up a space for just that. I have to admit that we have a pretty awesome basement...it was definitely a selling point for the house.  We're lucky to have a lot of space and a lot of really neat toys, so the kids had a great time.  I'll show the basement in another post.

I was adamant about making a snack table for the kids.  The ideas were borrowed from many different Pinners, so it would impossible to credit them all.  Instead, here is my Kids' Parties Pinterest Board where you can see a compilation of all of the ideas that came together in this kid-friendly snack buffet.  The pictures are not great...actually, they're awful since we have terrible lighting in the basement, but you get the idea.  This little snack table was set up on a low TV stand, so it was a perfect height for toddlers. 

I have to admit, I'm pretty happy with how the dining room looked.  Simple, but fun!

The collage was a nice way to see how our little guy has grown.

I love all of the little details on the table.  I bought a black table cloth and ran some yellow duct tape (same from outside) down the middle to look like a road.  For the goodie bags, I just glued some yellow strips of paper to plain black gift bags, also made to look like a road.  A little overkill? Perhaps.  I used the same checkered duct tape from the door sign to add a little fun to the water bottles.  Balloons were held down by monster trucks and toy tires from one of Denver's games. Most of these ideas can also be found on my Pinterest board.

Finally, something I'm most proud of...the cake.  I am not a baker.  In fact, I hate to bake.  It requires too much precision and way too many dirty bowls, pans, and tools to clean.  But, cake decorating is something I can definitely get into.  I was determined to make my little guy's birthday cake...trouble was, I had zero experience.  Luckily, my sister is an amazing cake decorator already had all of the right tools...money saver!  I found a cupcake cake on Pinterest that I wanted to recreate, but it was just a Flickr image with no link for instructions, so I had to go it alone.  I found mini cars at the dollar store and awesome novelty candles at the party store.  The little road signs came from a free printable at Printablesigns.net.  I just printed two copies of each one and glued them back to back on a toothpick.  Then, after some practice with the cake piping bag and some cool decorating tips and dyes (and Wilton instructional videos), I created Denver's car cake!  I love the way it came out!

I think the party was a big success!  A great time was had by all.  I can't wait for our little lady's 1st birthday in October so I can get my craft on again and take a stab at another cake.  Not so sure the family is as excited for the crazy that comes with my party planning, but I only get to do this twice a year...might as well live it up.