Partying with Kids: Owen and Jack’s Race Car Party
I’m so excited to introduce you to a new feature here on the PartySavvy blog. Once a month, I’ll be sharing the photos and behind-the-scenes details of a real life birthday party thrown by a featured SavvyMom reader. We’ll discuss who the party was for, how the theme was chosen and what the most challenging aspect of the party was.
First, let me introduce you to Gina. She’s the popular blogger known as East Coast Mommy, and I was completely smitten with the DIY Race Car Party she threw for her 3 and 5 year old sons last year. Her at-home bash was creative, detail-oriented and made excellent use of common items found at her local dollar store. The menu was also fuss-free, perfectly age appropriate and punctuated with a creative cake that stole the show. Let’s get started!
Q: Please tell us a little bit about the birthday boy and how old he was turning.
A: It was a joint party for my two youngest boys’their birthdays are seven days apart, and they have a lot of the same friends; Owen was turning 5 and Jack was turning 3.
Q: How did you decide on this particular theme for a party?
A: I always let my boys pick the themes for their parties, and this one was easy for them. They both love cars…especially race cars.
Q: Walk us through the fete and tell us about the guests, timing (how long/time of day), menu served, games/activities and decorations.
A: We had 20 guests (including my three boys). I like to keep parties at 1½ hours for this age group because any longer can get overwhelming for them. Also, we asked each guest to bring a toonie instead of a gift, so it wasn’t necessary to set aside a lot of time for opening presents.
The food was basic but a lot of fun because each food was named after one of our favourite characters from the movie Cars.
We also had a lot of activities to keep everyone entertained: a race car mat with cars, a ‘box’ car to decorate, a tattoo station, a homemade bean bag toss and car-shaped cookies to decorate.
I used a lot of black and white checks in my decorating. I accented a dollar store frame with duct tape, and I used foam core (from the dollar store) accented with duct tape to make signage. My boys also really liked the dollar store trophies I had on the table. I added duct tape and stickers with their ages.
Q: What was your biggest challenge with creating this party?
A: My biggest challenge was finding the time to do all the projects I wanted to. I am a busy mom, but I love a party filled with fun details and special touches.
Q: Please finish this sentence: the thing I’ll always remember about this party is __________________.
A: The thing I will always remember about this party is how happy my boys were with their racetrack cake.
Thank you, Gina! For more party ideas, please visit East Coast Mommy.
Do you have a party you would like to see featured in our monthly series? Please leave a comment or upload a photo and we’ll be in touch.
