Saturday, March 2, 2013

Liam's First Birthday - Construction Party

I will update this post soon with more info about the day and where I purchased supplies. Just doing a picture drop for now! Thanks for understanding...and hope you have fun getting ideas for a boy's birthday party!
My husband designed the invite for Liam's party on publisher. We went with a blue print look and thought it was a great way to kick off this theme. He even created a blue print seal with our personal info on it. The license number is our wedding date!
 Again the sign was created in publisher and saved as a jpeg. I then had them enlarged and printed at Costco. For a 16x20 sign I paid $5! I glued it to a poster board to make it more firm and attached it to a plastic horse.
Hardhats required at all times
Each "crew member" had a personalized hardhat ready and waiting for them when they arrived.
Dump gifts into a wheelbarrow. Monthly photos of the birthday boy on a level measuring stick
Crew punch (orange Hawaiian punch) for the kiddos. 

There was also a H2O jug for the crew to fill up their cone cups with. 
On each table was a road table runner made from grey felt and bright yellow duct tape
Brown bag lunches for supervisors(adult lunches) and crew (kiddo lunches). Everything is easier with the right "tools."
Smash cake! Used a real tire for a cake stand and tin foil covered piece of wood to fill the hole like a hub cap. My mother-in-law went to a local tire dealer and asked for a tire that was going to be thrown out and got the tire for free. Free is always fun!
We had sweet selections for all the crew to choose from. "Wet Paint" Rice Krispies treats, chocolate "Wreaking balls," "Steal beam" candy sticks, "Spare tire" chocolate donuts and chocolate dirt cupcakes. 
Pin the nail on the Hammer. Googled, Hammer coloring page to get the image. We created the nail stickers in WORD by using a thin oval shape with a thin triangle shape attached to it. 
Blue print background were left over from a room addition that was done to my in-law's home.
Nailed it!
Crew members of all skill levels had fun
Birthday Boy starting to enjoy his cake
Photo op station. Have each of your guests take a photo and use it as the thank you card
Take home construction kits for all the crew (included play-doh, chalk, a toy truck, bouncy ball, candy steal beam, truck erasers) Instead of "Thanks for coming" consider "Thank for all your hard work!" Thought of it after the tags were printed. 
We had a blast at our local park on a wonderfully windy day!

More details and links to come to help assist in making your party planning easier.

48 comments:

  1. you are amazeballs. and so was this party. you never cease to wow me!

    ummmm..... totally didn't realize we were supposed to take pictures there. ooops. but that was so cute!

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  2. Hi! LOOOVE this! Can you share where you got the templates from for all the signs and tags please? I'm doing my son's 1st Birthday in May and would love for it to be exactly like this! Thanks!!!!!

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    1. I wish I could give you a good referral, but my husband made the signs and tags for me. I wasn't able to find any blueprint signage anywhere, but here are a couple cute etsy template options that are extensive and reasonable: AmandasPartiesToGo, FancyThatStudio, and LeeLaaLoo are great shops on Etsy to check out! Hope that helps!

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  3. Out of curiosity, what did you pack for the brown bag lunches?

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    1. In the brown bags for the kids I put an Uncrustable PB&J, cheese stick, bag of baby carrots, a yoplait gogurt, a bag of potato chips, and an apple. In the bags for the adults we made on of our favorite quinoa chicken salads, a dinner roll, an apple, and a bag of chips. I have to say that the Uncrustable sandwiches (which you can buy in bulk at Costco) were a huge hit with kids and adults alike! The brown bag is a great way to go with kid food. I have been to two parties since that have also had the kids food contained in a brown bag and as a parent with three kiddos, it is so nice to be able to grab their food without trying to balance three plates while loading them with tasty treats.

      Hope that helps!

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  4. Where did you get the hardhats??? My sons party is Saturday and the only ones ive found was 5.00 each!

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    1. I got the hats from Oriental Trading company for $6 per dozen! Have fun at your party!
      http://www.orientaltrading.com/childs-construction-hats-a2-25_1615-12-1.fltr?Ntt=construction%20hat

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  5. What did you put in your goody bag 'construction kit'? Did you have kids of varied ages with the same items?

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    1. The goody bags included play-doh, chalk, a toy truck, bouncy ball, candy steal beam, & truck erasers. We had kids from 2 to about 10 and each seemed to really enjoy most things in the bag. Boys and girls loved it all. I got supplies at Wal-Mart and Oriental Trading Company.

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  6. So coo l have friend that is telephone installer.having his 50th..think will adapt it for phone company crew...thanks for sharing

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  7. Great party! Doing this theme for my sons 2nd birthday! How did you make the rice crispy treats? I love the colors of paint... What is the "paint" made of? Thanks

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    1. I actually bought the rice crispy treats from costco and they were the perfect size for the "wet paint" treats. The rice crispy treats were dipped in Wilton's Candy Melts which you can find at most stores that carry cake decorating supplies. I purchased mine at a Joanne's Fabric store, but I know they are available at Michael's and Wal-Mart. I used a deep cereal bowl to melt the candy(I used about half a bag of candy melts for each color) and then dipped one side of the rice crispy treat into the melted candy, then placed it on wax paper to harden. The melts come in a variety of colors!

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  8. Thanks so much! Any ideas for activities? Looks like a great party and fun ideas!!!

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  9. Thank you so much for the ideas! I am working on the blueprint invite for my son's 2nd birthday and was wondering if you knew what font(s) your husband used??

    Thank you again!

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  10. I am wondering what font you used for your signs?

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  11. LOVE this party theme! Small world... we are in CDM. Can you share templates/jpeg?

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    1. Sorry for the non response! I so rarely come to my blog any more! I hope you had a great party! I wish I still had the templates and jpegs to share, but we changed computers and lost it in the transition.

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  12. Any way I can get a construction zone sign made for my sons bday next weekend? or know where to get one made?

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    1. Hi Jamie best thing for u to do is make it on word play with it a little and then print it and lamiate it if that makes sense? x

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    2. I wish I still had the jpeg or publisher template to send you, but we switched computers and lost all his birthday stuff. My husband did make it in publisher and you can get a free 30 day trial if you don't already have it on your computer. I googled "free construction fonts" and downloaded the one I liked. I then saved it as a .jpeg and sent it to costco to print as a picture poster. Sorry I am not more help right now. I knew I should have written it out when the party happened because now the stuff is gone and I have forgotten the font names. I hope you find something that works!

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  13. Where'd you get your orange water jug?

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    1. I borrowed them from a friend, but I believe you can order them on amazon or find them at a Home Depot or Lowes store.

      Kelli

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  14. Are you kidding me? I mean, who used so much of imagination? It is lovely! I just can’t take my eyes off these pictures. Everything looks perfect here, the food arrangement, the decoration, the cake and even the event venue. Fantastic post, hats off to the arrangements!

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