Car Birthday Party {DIY Details}

 

 

 

 

For those of you that follow me on Facebook or Instagram,

you've been seeing all my car posts over the past few weeks.

 

 

My little buddy turned two!

And to celebrate, we threw him a car birthday party.

He LOVES cars.

And this is an understatement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned when I shared the invitations with you,

we decided to go for a playful vintage car theme in lieu of the Disney Pixar Cars theme,

and I'm glad that we did, because I loved the way that everything turned out.

 

 

So here are some of the DIY details!

 

 

Since Ben's birthday is in February and we live in Pittsburgh,

all of our set up had to be inside.

We live in less than a mansion,

so we kept it simple, like our Winnie the Pooh Party last year,

and just had some family and close friends over for food and libations.

 

As for decorations, I mostly stuck with the old tissue paper standbys.

As luck would have it, Target had a bunch of their tissue on clearance when I went shopping,

so I got a lot and maybe went a little overboard.

 

 

I made a ton of these pom poms in all different sizes and colors and hung them from the ceiling with fishing line.

They added a fun burst of color when you came in.

 

 

I also made two long fringe tissue banners,

one for over the food table and one for our living room where most of the seating is.

Tissue paper decor is great because you can buy it super cheap is basically any color.

If you're not picky about colors, the dollar store is a great resource.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My centerpiece for the food table was this "road sign" in the shape of a B (ya know.... for Benjamin).

 

 

 

 

 

The letter I bought for a couple bucks awhile ago for his bedroom.

It's just the paper mache kind from Joanns.

I painted it black and then added the dashes.

Simple. Simple.

 

 

 

 

The food table turned out really nicely with some fabrics that I had from other projects.

The route 66 fabric is one of my favorites. I just put it over a box to elevate the cake stand a bit.

 

The "fuzzy dice" are white square boxes that I had which my mom and I added black dots to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For my food labels, I made a simple placard in Photoshop to look like a license plate.

 

I tried to make them look as much like a PA plate as I could, and added Ben's name at the top.

 

 

 

Not all of the food was themed,

but we did make "nuts and bolts" (chex mix), pot holes (peanut butter cup cookies), and dip sticks (pretzels) for the snack food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also made pigs in a blanket (because who doesn't like those?),

and my mom made this awesome stop light for the dips (ketchup, mustard, and relish).

 

 

 

 

 

 

She did a great job just using poster board!

So cute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our drink table, I also kept it simple. I used more steel accessories that I had around the house and some bandannas from a camping trip.

 

 

The only thing really themed was the gas pump placard I made in photoshop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The car cake was so much fun for me to make.

The bottom is two round cake layers,

and I carved the car out of a loaf pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I knew I would be carving the car, I wanted a pretty dense cake

so I opted for Elvis' Pound Cake.

 

 

 

I have to say, it was yummy, but definitely dense.

I could only eat a very small piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tires are chocolate donuts.

The headlights are yellow m&ms.

 

 

 

 

The grass is coconut which I threw in a ziploc and tossed with a few drops of green food coloring.

Shake shake shake, and you have grass!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I made a road sign to go beside the car which I just posted on a chopstick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also made Ben a special shirt to wear.

He was so busy at his party, that this, unfortunately, is the best picture I got of it. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought a plain shirt at Target, and free handed the car with a bleach pen.

I don't know if it was because the shirt was a little thin, or that it was lighter in color,

but I literally left the bleach solution on the shirt for about 1 minute and then rinsed it off.

Any more, and I was afraid it would all just bleach to one big blob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my last detail is our favors. I got these little steel buckets for a buck and filled them with some candy, toy cars, and playdoh for good measure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben had such a great time playing with his friends and family,

and he especially liked the cake. :)

 

 

Happy Birthday, buddy!

We love you!!!