Hello fellow party lovers,
I love throwing parties! I can’t believe it’s been over 3yrs since this little man turned 1! As everyone says the days go by slow but the years go by fast! Since I’m taking him to see cars 3 today it inspired me to finally share this post.
It was 10x easier putting his birthday party together because all I had was him. My daughter had a star themed one and it was a little trickier finding time each day. Anywho I did a ton for his birthday and everyone said I was crazy but I enjoyed it.
The two most time consuming things was the cardboard lightening mcqueen and his first year board so let’s start with those!
Items needed for lightening Mcqueen:
- Large box, free from walmart
- Red, yellow, orange, black and white paint.
- Box cutter
- Sponge and thin paint brush
- Glue
Basically I drew a lightening Mcqueen car outline and cut it out with a box cutter. Than printed off tires, lightening bolt, and 95 to trace on cardboard box and cut it out. I finally traced the windows and eye by hand. I did all the accents in cardboard to give it more of a 2d effect.
Painted everything as pictured, let dry and glued on parts. He loved it! Everyone did 🙂 If you’re more creative than me it won’t take as long or as many steps.
I’m no artist and my handwriting is terrible but decided to do this anyways. I didn’t for my daughter. Much easier to purchase digital off etsy and print on poster board. If you have a creative flare DIY would be perfect for you!
Only need 2 items:
- Poster board
- Chalk markers
- List of milestones
Now onto the food! We did a bbq so it was mainly hot dogs and hamburgers but I went a little overboard on desserts.
I purchased a clip art file off etsy for $2 that had all the cars so I could use them to make the signs (use ppt, word, or Photoshop). Because I purchased the clip art I can’t include the pdf of the posters, sorry guys!
These were the beverages along with bottled water. Don’t be like me and forget sugar for the koolaide (whoops!)
This was a huge hit with the kids! I’ve never liked licorice but wanted to include mater in the desserts 🙂
First I made cupcakes. The cupcake toppers were part of the clip art that I glued on toothpicks.
These stoplights were super easy!
What you need; xl bag of M&Ms, brownie mix and chocolate frosting.
Made brownies on a large cookie sheet. Let cool and frosted them. Placed M&Ms and then cut them! Whole lot less time consuming this way. Used the extra M&Ms for the next dessert.
I felt like these were a mistake because they took forever to make but were super popular! No regrets just remember loosing it lol I also did it the night before so that may have played a role…
What you need: teddy grahams, snickers, M&Ms and homemade frosting (dries better)
Teddy grahams come with their legs spread out or close together only the ones that are close together work for this so I bought two boxes.
All you do is cut a small incession 1/2 inch from the back of the snickers to stick the teddy graham in. Takes a few attempts to master the right size.
The rest was super easy! Cut some M&Ms in half for the steering wheel and glue those and the wheels on with frosting.
Let dry and they’ll be ready to eat. There were none left! Many people took some home:)
Only other decoration I did was a banner and signs I got for $5 off amazon. You can still order it here.
Lastly we did an obstacle course using some blow up tires from the dollar store. We also got a couple noodles and cars from the dollar store to do a “race track”
It was tons of fun! So if you’re looking to do a cars themed birthday party for your little one hope these ideas help!
Happy party planning,
Marks of Motherhood 