The Toy Story theme was actually a lot of fun to work with because there are so many characters in the movies and because a new wave of obsession has started with Toy Story, which I think is just crazy considering I remember going to the first movie in theaters when I was only eight years old, and now my son is almost three and the third movie is coming out and a new generation of kids are joining their parents' generation with the obsession. :) I really enjoy doing theme birthday parties for Johnny and I always have a lot of fun being crafty and making as much stuff myself as I can, especially the cupcakes or cake. And this year was also a lot of fun! Luckily, I had most of everything around our house that we needed to make everything for the party. Mainly all I had to buy was the food, the paper plates/tablecloth/cups, and a couple other little things for the crafts or the gift bags that I didn't already have. That was really nice. :)
The party was supposed to be at a park near our house that have water fountains. We were going to bring our outdoor canopy to set up and a fold-out table for the desserts and food, but there ended up being thunderstorm warnings for the afternoon so we were going to have people go to our apartment instead, but my good friend Jenny ended up saving the day! She offered to let us have the party at her house since it has a lot more space than our little apartment and she has a huge yard and sprinklers if the weather ended up being nice (which it did... stupid weathermen and unpredictable Colorado weather). That was really awesome of Jenny and we really appreciate it!
Since there are so many photos, I guess I'll just kind of go through the things I made and the party a few photos at a time and explain them.
I made the birthday invitations. I had a hard time trying to come up with something Toy Story related to make for an invitation...I didn't really want to print off pictures of the characters and paste. In the end I made space ships in outer space with a number three in the same colors as the Toy Story letters. The outside said: "Calling all Space Rangers! This is Star Command. Buzz Lightyear and Space Ranger Johnny need your help!!" The inside said was divided into: "Mission: Come join team Lightyear, Space Ranger Johnny, and the rest of the Toy Story gang to defeat Emperor Zurg's plan to end all birthdays! Space Launch Date: ***, Sector: ***(location), Time: ***, RSVP: ***, To Infinity and Beyond!" (I found the text that I put on the front and the inside online somewhere. Another mom came up with this text and used it at a birthday party, so I can't take credit. Unfortunately I can't find it again, so I can't link to it. If it was you and you want to take credit, please post in the comments on this post. And thank you!)
One of the hazards of crafting: your toddler brushing his long curly hair with a hole punch.
The Cupcakes:
I made/designed these myself. I come up with the ideas by thinking of the characters I want to portray and then sketching out the characters in a round shape like a cupcake. Then I decide which frosting colors I'll use, which size/style tips I'll need, what candies or other items I need to put on them. This is always my favorite part of putting on Johnny's birthday parties. My husband thinks I'd be a good baker or at least a party planner on the side. Maybe, but right now I enjoy making things like this for my son. :) And all the cupcakes are chocolate, by the way.
The Toy Story characters, clockwise: the peas in a pod from the new movie (this was my favorite cupcake that I made, probably because of the detail involved!), Buttercup (a boy unicorn from the third movie), Twitch (an insect warrior in the third movie...I used almonds as his eyes), Mr. Potato Head, Rex (these didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped - they turned out more like Shrek, but once people know it is Rex, they know what I was going for, it was just difficult to replicate on a cupcake with frosting), and Etch.
Another set of character cupcakes, from clockwise: Lotso from the third movie (the evil stuffed teddy bear from the third movie), Mr. Pricklepants from the third movie (a stuffed hedgehog who wears lederhosen), Stretch from the third movie (a purple octopus that can stretch), the green aliens, Hamm, and one of Bo Peep's sheep (definitely my least favorite cupcake - it didn't turn out as cute as I thought).
The name tags for the gift bags: I made paper etch-a-sketches and then stamped the kids' names on them: Johnny, Lucas, Lauren, Brayden, Parker, Trenton, Prestyn, Kole, Sophia, Rowan, Aden, and Mia. :)
These are some Toy Story teeter toys that I made. I got the tutorial here. One of those times that makes me happy that I saved our Easter eggs to reuse, because I was able to make characters with a little bit of craft foam and markers. I put Toy Story erasers inside as a little prize for the kids. I was going to make homemade playdoh to put in them, but I ended up running out of time to do that. The characters themselves and the erasers were a big hit though. :)
I wanted to make bean bags for the kids and was planning to make just plain fabric ones, but when I found this tutorial I knew it was perfect for the party. It is Wheezy the penguin from the second Toy Story movie! These were in the gift bags for each kid.
The coloring pages I printed off from the web and included in the gift bags.
The Stretch (octopus from the third movie) pinata we made! It was a lot of fun to make with John and really went well with the birthday party. This was our first time making a pinata, and it will probably be something we do for future birthday parties. The kids really loved it too! The only thing we should have done a little better was tried to find darker purple tissue paper rather than using what we had. It was a pull-string pinata too, so no little kids beating it with a blunt object. We just made enough ribbon tentacles for all the kids to grab and they all pulled together and then the octopus spilled all the candy. :) I think ours turned out a bit cuter than the tutorial too.
The gift bags were a big hit with the kids, which made me happy. I made the actual gift bag out of your regular brown paper lunch bags and then hole punched them and tied them with blue and green ribbon. The name tags on them are construction paper etch-a-sketches (I had planned to make the little knobs on them with white buttons glued on, but I didn't have enough white buttons and couldn't find white buttons for cheap at a craft store). Inside the gift bags I had: the Wheezy bean bags, little plaster magnet pain sets (they were on clearance for 20 cents at Michael's - sweet deal!), a Toy Story coloring page that was printed off the internet with two Toy Story crayons strapped with a rubber band (I bought a set of 30 Toy Story crayons for $1 at Michael's and then just divided them up so each kid got 2 crayons), two Toy Story stickers (divided up from $1 sticker set from Target), a sugar cookie in the shape of a cowboy hat or a cowboy boot wrapped in saran wrap, one of the teeter toy Toy Story character eggs with a Toy Story eraser inside, two little army men (from a $1 set of 30 army men at Target, distributed among the kids and as part of the centerpiece), a Toy Story pencil (part of a 12 pencil set I bought for $1 at Target and divided among all 12 kids), and a baggie with two fruit loop necklaces that I made (I've made these at every one of Johnny's birthday parties and they are always a huge hit with the kids; they are like the candy necklaces you can buy only with fruit loop cereal and the kids can wear them and snack throughout the party or take them home and have them later. Really easy to make too. :)).
These are all decorations/centerpiece items that I either made or we had kicking around Johnny's room. :) Easy and cheap! In the upper left corner you see a view finder (bought it for 50 cents at a yard sale earlier this summer), Buzz Lightyear, Hamm, Bullseye, Woody, a green alien, army men, some other little Toy Story characters like RC, a Mr. Potato Head (this is actually an Indiana Jones Mr. Potato Head but I made it look like the one from Toy Story by covering his hat with black felt and securing with a rubber band and then taping a felt black mustache over his mouth), and Snake - the rattler from the first Toy Story movie (I made him from pipe cleaners and felt - check out the tutorial here).
My version of pin the tail on the donkey game: Pin the Tail on Hamm. :) I just cut out pink construction paper and glued onto poster board that I already had and then painted some black on it for detail and the name. Then we found some pink ribbon in my ribbon stash and cut out little tails for the kids to pin on there. I added two Toy Story band aids on the butt to be silly. :)
A Toy Story poster that I bought for cheap and used for decoration at the party and is going to be part of Johnny's room now.
A construction paper '3' that I taped to the door at the party. (I can't believe my baby is going to be 3!!!!)
Rowan, Brayden, and Lucas playing with balloons and toys.
Parker wearing his Sheriff Badge - John actually made these for the kids to wear at the party! :)
The tables with the cheap Toy Story tablecloths from Target. I was actually going to just buy blue tablecloths and then make paper white clouds to tape onto them, but these ended up being cheaper than the plain blue tablecloths - crazy, I know. But it worked out for us in the end! :) The food platters on the table are watermelon and then a platter with cheese and crackers and Sun chips (Johnny's favorite - he kept munching on them throughout the entire party). The lunch food that we had were hoagie buns, turkey and ham deli meat, sliced cheese, lettuce, and condiments for everyone to make sandwiches. We also brought peanut butter and jelly with bread for the kids that didn't want meat sandwiches. Very easy and delicious!
On the kitchen island we had our punch bowl (I bought this on clearance at Wal Mart when I was pregnant with Johnny and I'm so glad I spent the $10 on it because we've used it for Johnny's baptism and parties and I love it. It comes with glass cups too, but we didn't bring those) with some delicious punch, cups, and then some of our centerpiece toys. :)
The cupcakes on my cupcake tree/stand and on the counter. Waiting to be devoured by the kids!
The banner I made for the party. It took forever to measure out the letters, make traceable letters, and then trace and cut all the letters out of poster board. It was worth it though, because once it was done it looked great with the yellow and blue strung up on red yarn.
My little chip monster in his Buzz Lightyear shirt (a wonderful yard sale find earlier this summer).
My son cracks me up! He decided he wanted to wear Lauren's dress-up high heals around. He could barely walk in them... just like his mama. :) It's his party and he can be stylin' if he wants to!
John tying the blindfold onto Lucas for Pin the Tail on Hamm.
Um, yeah. My arm is in the way of Johnny's face... lovely.
Lucas won the game, so he got to choose his prize (I had a set of Toy Story markers that were $1, a $1 Toy Story PEZ dispenser, or a $1 Toy Story pen where you click the top to get different colors; he chose the multi-colored pen and then I drew names for the other two prizes).
My other friend Jen and her husband Matt. She's pregnant with a little girl!!! :)
Lucas is wearing sunglasses because he had eye surgery last week.
Posing with the octopus pinata.
See that blue frosting on Brayden's mouth? That is because he and Aden snuck into the kitchen and stole cupcakes when we were preparing for the pinata. They were caught with cupcakes in their mouths and tried to pretend they didn't take any. :)
Johnny ripped his two ribbons out before we were ready, but luckily neither of them was the one that makes the trap door open. Phew!
Candy! The kids pounced on that like white on rice. The suckers and smarties were a big hit. :)
The master copy of the craft project I had for the kids. I had all the pieces and glue sticks for the kids so that they can make three eyed aliens. The kids really liked this and it was super easy to prepare for them!
Johnny and me gluing eyes onto our alien. I let Johnny put the eyes where he wanted to and he put them all in a row exactly where they needed to be!! I suspect it might be because he helped me make the character eggs, and loved the alien ones the best. :)
After Pin the Tail on Hamm, pinata, and alien craft time, all the kids went outside and played with water balloons that we brought and with the hose. It was a lot of fun and the kids had fun playing for a couple of hours out there!
Lauren playing with the sidewalk chalk we brought!
The birthday boy enjoyed throwing the water balloons on the rocks. He'd get one from whoever was filling them up with water, throw it on the rocks, and then immediately run back for another one. Silly boy.
Cecy was running from Lucas and his water balloon! :)
Dessert time!
The party lasted an hour or two more after this, and each kid ate at least three cupcakes... some ate four, like *ahem*, my son. I guess birthday parties are special events, so it doesn't count, but geez! The kids really enjoyed eating the different characters.
Johnny's first cupcake was a green alien. :)
Brayden's first one...wait, second one, since he stole one during the pinata...was Buttercup the unicorn. :)
 |
Mia had Etch, the etch-a-sketch. :)
Parker (and Rowan) had my favorite cupcakes - the peas in a pod. :)
You can't really tell from this picture, but Lucas had Mr. Pricklepants and devoured it quickly!
Johnny's second cupcake - Etch.
Look at all those cupcake wrappers! At the end of the party there were even more empty cupcake wrappers, and I made three dozen cupcakes!
Kristen's husband Steven has been gone for work the past two weeks and he got home when the party was going on so he stopped by. Their boys were so thrilled to see their daddy after two weeks! So sweet. :) I'm thinking that is what the reunion between John and Johnny will be like too after our two week vacation away from him here in a week.
Rowan gave us all hugs before he went home. So sweet. :)
Cecy and tired little Mia. :)
Johnny and Lauren climbed in the water balloon bucket together after they put water in there. Super cute!
Brayden and Lauren crack us up - they are like an old married couple. It is definitely a love-hate relationship. Here Lauren is spraying him with a hose while he cried; minutes later they were playing and giggling together. They'll probably end up married someday. :)
All in all it was a wonderful birthday party and Johnny had a blast! I spent a couple of days crafting and while I didn't any sleep the night before the party and I'm sporting a 2nd degree burn on my thigh from a hot glue mishap that made the skin slough off after bubbling and burning while I screamed in pain, it was all still worth it. I had a lot of fun making everything and I'm looking forward to his dinosaur party in two weeks, although that one will be a lot more simple. I'm only going to be making a couple of decorations and some cute cupcakes and a cake that I have ideas for (and are a lot easier to make than these ones since it uses fondant rather than frosting). :) Now I just have to count down the days until Johnny turns three. That is going to be a wonderful yet sad day. We have fun birthday celebrations planned for Johnny though. :)
5 comments:
you are so amazing and creative and crafty and wonderful! Johnny is so lucky to have you as a mother! (= I wish I could think of fun ideas like that! I LOVE the cupcakes as usual, LOVE LOVE LOVE the little gift bags and the games you made (pinata with the pull strings in particular)What a fun little party! looks like everyone had a blast! Yet another reason I wish we lived closer! Happy early Birthday to Johnny!
Oh and the invites are super cute too! How did u get the hole punch out of his hair? looked pretty tangled in there! Hope everything turned out okay!
Thanks Sasha! You're so sweet. :) I think you are a wonderful mother too!! It was a fun party and I wish you lived closer too so your little ones could be there too. :)
The hole punch took about ten minutes to untangle from his hair...he got it really tangled in there! I was worried for a little while that I would have to cut it out, but after some patience I was able to untangle all of it from the hole punch. I had to hide the hole punch after that because he kept stealing it and running off with it. Silly boy. :)
What could I even possibly say about this post?
You are awesome.
Those cupcakes are awesome.
The entire party looked awesome.
With awesome.
Hahaha, thanks Tia. :) YOU'RE awesome!
Post a Comment