2nd Birthday Party :: Cars & Trucks & Things That Go (Part 4)

It’s fun and games time peeps! The big event was the ‘piñata’ which was extra awesome because it was a no-bats-involved kind. Every kid had to pull a string and it was supposed to fall apart and drop candy that way.Good in theory but totally didn’t work at all. So we just broke it open with our bare hands. But, no bats means no broken faces, so it was a win in my book!I got these small bags from Oriental Trading Company, tied a Goldbug “grab bag” tag to them and the kids could grab candy to their hearts content.I hid a big Goldbug in the piñata and as an extra surprise, whoever found it got to take home the “Cars & Trucks & Things That Go” book itself. The sweet little girl who found it was so excited! I put that bookplate above inside.Aside from the piñata, there were no reals plans for games. I thought the road would kind of take care of the entertainment for the evening and turns out it did. The kids went bananas for it.The Pickle Truck was a hit with the littlest ones……and the big boys too!My mom, true to her fabulously wacky form, decided she’d dress like a crossing guard for the party which turned out to be a game itself!She led the kids on a parade around the house and it was hilarious!The box city was also good when it came to entertaining the kiddos……and the vintage “Town” on the tables was well played with.But the absolute best part of the night was the spontaneous dance party!Seriously! It was off the hook.For all the fun I have putting parties like this together, there is nothing better than when day is finally here and your friends are all having as big of a blast as the kids are. We had the best night ever! Thanks so much for coming along for the ride this week! I’m truly going to try to post more this year. I forgot how much fun this little blog can be.

2nd Birthday Party :: Cars & Trucks & Things That Go (Part 3)

The question I got most at the party was “Where did you get all these license plates?” I was glad to admit that I wasn’t crazy enough to go hunting for them just for the party (though I probably would have if I didn’t already own them, but no one needs to know that!) I actually started collecting them in high school and by the beginning of college I had all 50 states plus a few more to spare. They decorated every dorm/apartment I lived in throughout my college/early post-college years and have since been retiring in a nice little cardboard diaper box. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with them for the party but once I saw them again, I knew they’d become a photobooth backdrop.Using rope, I just wove them together, top to bottom and tied them to a horizontal rope up top. The metal in the plates gripped on to the rope on it’s own, so I only had to use tape on the back of a couple of them.The pickle truck started out as a part of the area but soon got taken for some spins around the party. I actually was pretty bad at remembering to take photos of everyone before they left but you’ll get the idea with these pics, I’m sure!The reflective nature of the plates didn’t make for the best pictures but it was still a pretty nice backdrop for a party about wheeled vehicles.What cute little party guests!

The most important thing was that this kid was in Heaven……even if it was hard to get him to take a photo without a cake pop in his grill!Funny little man.
So that’s the booth! Coming up tomorrow – games & how the party got hopping! Stay with me!

2nd Birthday Party :: Cars & Trucks & Things That Go (Part 2)

Part Two — The Food. Ha! What a lie that is! If you’ve followed this blog for awhile, then you’re well aware that the whole food part of parties is totally not my forte! Thank goodness I know how to use a phone and call for pizza! So while, this is technically the “food” post for this party, we’re starting with the showstopper… The Pickle Truck Cake!Ever since I spotted their work at the Olivia party last summer, I have used and abused the insanely talented Alicia and Sarah of The Crimson Cake. I highly suggest that you do the same if you’re a Southern Californian. It seems there is nothing they can’t do! Their reaction to “Can you please whip me up a pickle truck cake?” was “Oh my gosh! We LOVE Richard Scarry! We wish the cake was bigger so we could do more characters!” These are girls who are so passionate about their work and it truly comes through in the quality.Of course since Wiley is so obsessed with pickle trucks, our choice was obvious when it came to the cake. It was adorable. Now, please note, the (highly deformed) cake pops were NOT made professionally. (Hello, Captain Obvious!) I thought I’d give them a spin myself and once again it just goes to prove that we should leave the hard stuff to the pros. For me, these were the PITAs* of the party. But usually the PITA is always food related for me. I just don’t enjoy it. I call them UFO pops. What’s up with that ring? Who knows! But at least it was a “Things That Go” party. UFOs fit right in! The photo above were the good looking ones. But most of them legitimately looked like this. I’m sooooooo good at this stuff. Such a beautiful piece of art.Thankfully when grouped all together, it was hard to see how bad they really looked individually. Plus, shouldn’t every cake pop have a little character?I certainly did not get my mom’s skill when it comes to making pretty things to eat. Crafty Jan whipped up these adorable “things that go” cookies! Now, she should actually go into business!Oreo wheeled cars!Wiley Mack trucks!Big honking buses! And airplanes and helicopters too! She blows my mind! Oh – so that was the dessert… did we actually eat? Yep – but I totally phoned it in. Literally! I ordered 12 large pizzas (they all went!), made pasta salad a raspberry-blue cheese green salad and called it a day. Costco veggie trays rounded out the selection and I’m pretty sure everyone’s tummies were just as happy as they would have been had I slaved away in the kitchen for days. I guess my advice is pick what you’re good at and fake the rest. Hee hee!We had tons of beer, wine, juice boxes, and water bottles. I used the same “Golden Book” pattern on the water bottles as I did on the favors.And life was good for the birthday boy who had about 10 cake pops and was seriously OBSESSED with his pickle truck cake. Part 3 tomorrow! Photobooth time! See you then!

*PITA = Pain  In  The (you know what!)