okAY so it got PRETTY NUTTY between my 12 (15) Days of Christmas AND trying to set up for a 3 year olds birthday party. It’s safe to say things were a little crazy in the days leading up to Pierce’s big shindig. Throw in a getaway to Whistler 3 days prior, and it was… a gongshow. Lol. BUT hey Pierce got snow on his ACTUAL birthday and we got to sing songs from FROZEN so all in all the universe was def saying “you’re doing great”!!
Okay so re: birthday party (the reason we’re all here) yes, Pierce had the time of his life yes, and it was a raging success. To be honest, I’ve never thrown a kid’s birthday party so I was actually super impressed with myself. Everything totally came together and we had some really fun activities for the kids planned– no one ever actually sat down haha. I consulted my mom (aka the elementary school teacher) for the activities and they were a HIT (props, Mom!!). Keep reading for all the deets about what we did!!
Isa and Mattinee came THROUGH with the balloon decorations, but she does WAY more than just that. She consulted on the entire birthday party with me and helped set things up until the wee hours of the night before. She installed the balloon garland before we went to Whistler and again the night before she was back tweaking a few things. What a SUPERSTAR!! She did SUCH an amazing job and blew me away yet again! My favourite were the black balloons spilling out of the truck I had printed that you can find here from Funkissd an Etsy vendor we worked with, on the mirrored nook in our dining room. That was it for me haha.
I’ve brought Isa and Mattinee on to help me with two other events- New Years Eve 2020 and a beautiful Valentine’s display. This time I wanted to do something different and not just incorporate balloons, but also the paper fans!! This created a different look and provided a bit of texture while being eco-friendly. (The balloons we use are actually biodegradable as well. SO cool, I love that eco-friendly everything is becoming an option now!)
Isa and I messaged for about a month prior on all the details coordinating EVERY. LAST. DETAIL. to make sure all the truck details coordinated and the colours all matched well. I love that the balloon garland wasn’t too orange, and we went with a nice mixture of yellows and blacks as well to really bring the construction theme to life.
Once we were done with them, I found a Mama to pass them along to via the Mamas for Mamas Facebook group. It turns out her son has his birthday coming up that they will be used for. NEW LIFE!! The balloons last for a WHOLE MONTH and while we enjoyed them thoroughly, now someone else can as well. I love that 🥰
Papers and Parties is AMAZING if you are looking for any themed decor and they are LOCAL which is wonderful. I was blown away by the extensive inventory of what they had for construction themed things… everything was so cute and brought the theme to life in such an incredible way. They are literally a ONE STOP SHOP. I went a bit overboard (classic me lol) but ended up with just about EVERYTHING you could ever need for a construction inspired party. Hopefully Bence likes trucks haha.
I also worked with a few local vendors on Etsy to bring my vision to life. ILove DIY printables had the cutest milestone poster you can find here. All the food table labels and signs were from HeliaDesignCo that you can find here.
Gary ordered a few things on Amazon like the caution tape that we had so much fun decorating with. I picked up some activities for the 3 year olds to run around and be busy with. Michaels has these construction themed sensory kits which were PERFECT so I got 3 and they shared playing in the sand with these little trucks we picked up on Amazon. Everyone got one of these construction hats as they came in, and we put this adorable sign in the entrance area. I even picked up a ‘3’ piñata from Party City that I was sooo happy I found. We filled it with assorted candies and the kids had a BLAST.
I also picked up rock painting kits that glowed in the dark… but side note from experience SCRATCH this. I repeat NEVER AGAIN will I have painting at a 3 year olds birthday party. It got everywhere including Pierce’s brand new white tee….So take it from me and imagine caution tape all over the idea next time you consider mixing a bunch of toddlers, paint, and your nice clean home LOL.
ON THE OTHER HAND classics like puzzles, colouring, etc never go out of style and the kids had a ton of fun there. And I didn’t cry when I saw the aftermath 😉 lol so those were a big win.
Okay and then THE FOOD. We had SO MUCH FUN getting creative with construction themed food!!!
Pretzel sticks = logs
Pipes (licorice)
Plus we ordered pizza which is always a hit! (you can never go wrong with pizza)
Brownies with smarties = traffic lights
Rice krispies = paint brushes
Tim bits = wrecking balls
Chocolate rock candy = pebbles
Mini chocolate donuts for spare ties
Then for the standout, CAKE, obviously: Cassandra from Cassandra Cake Co. brought all Pierce’s construction dreams to life! It was birthday cake flavoured (which Pierce requested) and had a mixture of birthday cake and chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing and truck toppers to boot. It was so DELICIOUS and sooo cute!!
For favour bags, we filled them with a mixture of trucks, truck stickers (helloooo @Paper and Parties), and a bit of candy. I like to include a few other things on theme that the kids can go home with so they aren’t ALL candy. It was all in a construction themed favour bag (from Paper and Parties as well)! We also sent everyone home with a cone and balloons (we also attached these ones to the balloons.)
I’m SO glad that we were able to have some of Pierce’s special friends along with our friends and family there to celebrate the day! It’s so amazing to have actually been able to share this with them as opposed to last year. This was EVERYTHING to me.
Prepping for this party (or any event I put together) is SO much work and I’m so grateful for all the help that I have to pull it all together. Thank you to everyone that helped make this day such a success!!
I hope this helped inspire you with some new ideas for the next event or birthday that you’re throwing!! Let me know what the next event you’re putting together is and if you’re having any trouble with organizing a theme make sure to say it so we can all help you in the comments!! Or if you’ve learned any big lessons from something you’ve thrown recently or in the past we’re ALL EARS haha.
Sponsored by Paper and Parties, Isa and Mattinee and Cassandra Cake Co. and all opinions are our own.