Trenton's Truck Birthday

As I am starting to get ready for my son's big astronaut party, I thought it would be fun to share some of what we did last year for his 3rd b-day...A construction/truck party.

Going completely against my nature, I bought invitations this time. This was only because the invitation was the exact concept I was planning to create with clip-art, etc.--the dump part of the truck lifts up to reveal the party info. Of course, I had to add a little bit of insanity. I took pictures of my son in a hard hat and glued them to the window to look like he is driving the truck. I also drew black stripes on the yellow envelopes to resemble caution tape.
We had the party at the park. I made these signs from brightly colored poster board and permanent black marker. We also ordered some caution tape streamers from the party store.One of my favorite ideas was the tablecloth. It was just a black plastic one with yellow tape stripes. (I actually couldn't find yellow tape, so I colored wide masking tape with a yellow marker). I made caution cones for each child by frosting ice cream cones, and attaching them to chocolate graham cracker squares after they were filled with m&ms. (note: I couldn't find sugar cones, so bought waffle cones and sawed them flat--big pain! If you try this, buy the sugar cones!)

This "takes the cake" for the easiest cake ever! We used a clean, new Tonka truck (lined with wax paper for easy clean-up) and filled it with chunks of brownies. I added some crushed up oreos and gummy bugs for effect and found these fun sign candles.
For activities, we had the boys decorate their hard hats with stickers, had a truck pinata, and later played in the splash park (it is Phoenix...they have to cool down), but for most of the party the boys were happy eating or digging in the dirt with some old Tonka trucks we brought to the park.

Speaking of food, this was my favorite detail from the party. I served lunch in their very own construction workers' lunch boxes. These used to be Nascar lunch pails that I found on clearance at Target. (I'd like to find some more this year. Anyone have any leads for me?) I originally was going to do a more ambitious/fussy design, but I am glad I had to streamline these a bit, because I think the bright yellow paint with the black lettering was perfect for the occasion. It made serving food really easy, and gave them a favor they would use for more than a day. I still see his friends with their lunch pails at various outings.

I don't remember all of my sources. I probably used Party City, Oriental Trading Co., or Celebrate Express (see ad at the bottom of the page).