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An Eventful Party: Monster Truck 5th Birthday

Posted by Shea

As promised, I am finally getting around to posting about my sons Monster Truck 5th birthday party. There were so many elements and pictures of this party that I had a hard time choosing which ones to showcase, so bear with me if this post gets long.

When Jace originally chose monster trucks as the theme for his party, I knew immediately that I didn’t want to go with the standard Grave Digger, black, green, and purple color scheme. I wanted something different, and so I chose black and white checkered with pops of red, orange, and yellow.

One of the issues I immediately ran into was finding party decorations that fit my chosen color palette. I quickly realized that I was going to need to make most of the decor myself. So, I set to work making a custom birthday banner, station banners, pennant banners, drink labels, dessert and candy labels, welcome signs, pathway markers, invitations and pit passes, and anything else I could think to make.

Everyone was given their VIP pit passes once they arrived, and were instructed to proceed to the “Body Shop” where they could get tattooed and have their face painted.

I had four different stations set up around the party area. There was a Refueling Station (for drinks), the Monster Feast Station (for food), the Dessert Bar, and the Candy Buffet.

Of course the kids loved the candy buffet, and the parents loved the toothbrush and toothpaste favors. I got the idea from a party thrown by Crazy for Design posted on Amy Atlas. My favorite feature was the monster truck tire lollipop displays. They were super easy and inexpensive to make.

The dessert bar featured a little bit of everything. I made the cake to look like a monster truck tire on the bottom, and then wanted it to look as if the monster truck was bursting out of the top of the cake.

I made monster truck drink labels for the IBC Rootbeer and Gatorade bottles, but I thought the orange Crush bottles fit the “Keep on Crushin” theme perfectly, so I left them as is.

For the party activity I chose a monster truck obstacle course. Kids were invited into the “Friesen Arena” and had to complete an obstacle course full of different activities that were similar to what a real monster truck might do during a show.

To help space out the kids, we started off with a tire toss, in which they had to get a frisbee or wiffle ball into three different tires. Once they completed that, they moved on to a tire obstacle, where they had to weave or jump through several tires. From there, they had to walk a balance beam over a fire pit. My husband lit several smoke bombs to make it seem like they were really crossing through fire. Then they went on to the can crushing area, where we had soda cans set up for them to stomp and crush. To finish it off, they had to do donuts around another tire, and then climb onto a wooden platform, and jump off. After they had completed the entire course they were given checkered flags, and rubber bracelet bands with a tire tread design. The kids had fun, and continued to go through the course several times. They even put the blowup tires around them, and did the course that way at one point.

I created a Winner’s Circle area for the birthday boy to open his presents.

Everyone seemed to have a great time, and the birthday boy was happy, so that means the party was a success.

I had fun planning this party, and creating all the decorations. I got so much inspiration from all the wonderful party blogs, and I’m amazed at all the great talent those women have. Enjoy!

**Many thanks to my sister-in-law Chrystal, and my dad’s wife Sherri, for taking all the great party pictures. To my wonderful friend Denise for helping me make all the fabulous desserts. To my mother-in-law Ely, and everyone else who helped on the big day. To my sweet niece Katie for her wonderful face painting skills. To my mother, who encouraged me every step of the way, and to my husband for putting up with all my crazy requests. I love you all!

A Little Inspiration (funandthensome.wordpress.com)
Party Preview (funandthensome.wordpress.com)

Posted in Birthday, Kids Party, Monster Trucks, Party

73 Comments

Tags: Amy Atlas, banners, birthday, Body Shop, Cake, candy buffet, decorations, Dessert, Invitation, Kids Party, monster truck, obstacle course, Parties, pit passes, Tire

A Little Inspiration

Mar 23

Posted by Shea

As promised, here is the inspiration board that I’m using to help me plan Jace’s Monster Truck party(photo credits listed below).

Monster Truck Inspiration Board

I get most of my ideas straight from the internet through searches on Google and Yahoo. I’ve found some great websites and blogs like Catch My Party, Pirates & Princesses, A Blissful Nest, and The TomKat Studio. There really is so much inspiration on those, and many other sites, and I spend hours scouring their pages for unique ideas.

I do plan my parties far enough in advance so I have ample time to make all the wonderfully creative decorations on my own. However, if you’re not a planner like me, then you could easily purchase any of the items custom made for you. In fact, you could purchase them from me, since I am going to be selling custom, handmade party decorations very soon. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Anyway… back to the party plan for Jace’s 5th birthday. I’ve already finished making a custom birthday banner, individual dessert, candy, food, and drink station banners, party favor tags, cupcake wrappers, popcorn cones, pennant banner, and numerous other decorations. I’m hoping to get some pictures of some of the stuff that I’ve finished, and post them for you to see real soon. There’s still lots of things to make, and somehow the list keeps getting longer no matter how much I get done. I guess I should probably stop looking at anymore websites/blogs until after the party huh!? Like I said before, there’s just too many great ideas.

Some of the other stuff I’ve been planning is a fantastic cake and dessert table, and fun games to keep the kids busy. Of course, just like with the decorations, I’m finding so many ideas, it’s hard to make a decision. I think I’ve finally picked the design for the cake though, and it shouldn’t be too hard to pull off as long as I don’t get impatient. I’m incorporating a few different features from several cakes I found, and I’m even going to try sculpting a monster truck out of rice krispy treats that will be ”bursting” out of the top of the cake. Hopefully, it will look pretty cool when it’s all done.

For the games, I think I’ve narrowed it down to about three: a freestyle obstacle course (the kids will have to spin in circles, crush cans, and jump over some obstacles), monster truck race (kids will take turns seeing whose monster truck will make it down the ramp fastest), and a tire toss (who can get the most bean bags in the tire from three different distances). All the kids should have a good time playing these games. I still have to figure out what I want to give out for prizes though. Any suggestions?

Photo Credits: