party love ♥: car party

luke is absolutely in love with anything with wheels! he has a hot wheels car(s) in hand at almost any given time. choosing his birthday party theme was very easy to say the least! ;) it was so fun to see his excitement as we prepared for his big day. he was in car, truck, airplane, etc. heaven! haha!

the entrance..

i love using chalkboards to welcome guests

i can still hardly believe my little boy is 2!!

i thought this was an appropriate shirt for him ;) little pockets for all of his cars and i loved that i could personalize it! perfect! i found it on chasing fireflies (love that website!!)

visors for all the kiddos!

i set up "pit stops" throughout the party for the kids to stop at...this one was race time..basically just have fun playing with cars ;) i know it's a little hard to see but i even tied an airplane to the ceiling fan above so it was circling the area ;)

the unloading zone...

which ended up looking like this. luke was one lucky boy! ;)

i love to set up birthday pictures around the house in honor of them

for several of the tables i made roads out of black butcher paper..and then i just cut yellow strips and taped them to it. this was just an activity area of books and puzzles.

i made his banner to reflect street sign shapes

i took these pics before i actually set everything out..but you get the idea. i did a grandstand snack area...nachos, popcorn, cotton candy..you know all the fun stuff you would buy if you were actually at the races? ;)

i labeled everything and then stuck it in a cone.

the nachos were an absolute hit. i found these containers online and they worked perfectly. guests filled the little part with nacho cheese or salsa and then the bigger part with chips. another way to give it that snack stand effect.

i made chocolate pretzel molds...it was my first time, and i was surprised at how easy it really was! i bought the molds and red candy melts at michaels and used chocolate chips for the chocolate ones.

i used sno-cone cups to serve the cotton candy

ella was so excited to pop the popcorn..i put out popcorn butter and salt

i made regular candy melts too..these included several different types of cars and a fire engine. i found the mold online..but can't remember the site off hand!

i set this up so the kids could take their pic as a racecar driver ;) i found it on oriental trading.

of course i had to use gas cans (new and thoroughly cleaned..haha) for some of the drinks. it was funny to watch guests try and work them! haha!

i made rice krispy treats out of different shaped cookie cutters...truck, race car, helicopter, train, boat, plane...

oreos were used for tires

i made signs and put them up all around

craft table pit stop...

i put out a bucket of tools and a bunch of luke's trucks, etc so they could "work" on them.

of course we had to have a speedway jumpy ;)

i tried the bounce house/slide combo this time around and it was a hit!! the kids loved it!

centerpieces to race the cars on

i found the inflatable tires on oriental trading as well and created a toss game by labeling the tires with different point amounts...whoever had the highest points won..i had 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.

this was the final pit stop..souvenirs! :)

the kids created their own goody bag by picking out a sun catcher to paint..a hot wheel car...stickers..gummy race cars and a chocolate car

sarah (itsybitsyphotgraphy.com) did luke's birthday photo shoot and created the collage for me. it turned out so cute!! :)

ella painted some of the wooden cars for decoration ;)

the craft was a make your own license plate. foam squares, foam letter stickers, different car/sign stickers and of course glitter ;) simple and fun!

i had a couple other treat tables set up (which i forgot to take pics of)

in lieu of a cake..the kids got chocolate sprinkle donuts (aka tires) we ordered from a local donut shop ;)

my mom and sister, melissa, made these delicious chocolate bundt cakes (aka monster tires) ;) we served up with some ice cream!

we bbq'd for food (lunch)...i figured that fit the theme the best

the kiddos got their own little basket for their meals

the birthday boy!

the kids made their license plates whenever they pleased

of course we had to have a pinata ;)

i've never done this before..but i thought it would be fun to show you the aftermath of the party. i love looking at the details of everyone's parties..but seldomly do you see pictures of the end of the party..haha!! you know the part where you look at the clean up and think to yourself, "why do i do this again?" hahaha! j/k i think it is worth every bit! i love planning, decorating, and most of all watching the kids have so much fun! so, to go along with the before pics..here are the after ones too.