Unexpected 3rd Birthday Party

I LOVE throwing my kids birthday parties. I love the planning, the prep work, and the party itself. They are, however, a lot of work. I went big for my kids' 1st birthdays. Not huge, but big enough that they required a lot of time and energy (and $) from me. Check out party related posts HERE for Baby Boo's 1st birthday party. I was hoping to tone things down and do a small family only celebration this year for each kid, but Little Dude has decided that will not be the case.

I am considering getting Little Dude a balance bike for his birthday. So, last week I asked him if that sounded like something he would want. He replied, "Oh yes, I want a bike for my really big birthday party!" Until then, my mind was working under the small party model. This year, Little Dude is turning 3. With 3 come expectations that he never had previously. I don't know who told him he was having a birthday party, but he knew pretty well what he wanted; He even listed off several of his friends that he wants to be at the party.

*sigh*



Now I'm stuck with a larger production than I was thinking. I have less than a month to plan the thing, and I am determined to go with a much easier budget than I have in the past.

Luckily for me, we don't have a huge list of friends that will be coming. Many of our adult friends don't have kids yet so that keeps the guest list reasonable.

So. . . long story short: I am in a dash to figure out a birthday party in less than a month.


First we need a theme!

I was considering dinosaurs at first, so I ran the idea past Little Dude. He sounded very gung ho about it. I got excited, and started looking up dinosaur party ideas (like these). The next day, Little Dude told me that he didn't want a dinosaur party, but that he wanted a car party. He even told me that he wanted a car cake, and red plates. I don't know where he gets his party ideas from because I have never mentioned these kinds of elements to him. The only thing I can figure is that he saw it on TV or in a book. I wasn't super excited about the car theme, but it is his birthday, so I was going to go with whatever he wanted.

Adorable dinosaur cookies I could have made!

Photo courtesy of Kara's Party Ideas.

Then, we were watching Bob the Builder later that day, and I thought that maybe he would like a construction party. It was a little more interesting than just cars, and still has a lot of the elements that Little Dude loves. I told Little Dude about my construction party plan (tools, dump trucks, Bob!) and he really liked it. I asked him several times if he wanted a car party instead and he adamantly said no. So a construction party it is!

Now I am busy scouring the internet for cute ideas for decor, activities, cake, favors, etc.

Here is some of my inspiration so far:

Courtesy of the Fredellicious

One particular website that I fell in absolute and utter love with is Kara's Party Ideas! Seriously, if you want inspiring eye candy on just about any theme, check this site out!! The photo credit below has the link for the construction birthday party from this site. It has so many ideas for me. Here is one idea for a fun party activity for the littles:

Courtesy of Kara's Party Ideas

Here is another AMAZING construction party blog that will surely put mine to shame: Kinderplays (not in English). While I love everything about that party, I especially love the parfaits that they used for party food:

Courtesy of Kinderplays

There are so many ideas to collect and I am majorly having to remind myself of my goals:
   1. Keep things relatively simple.
   2. Keep to a small(ish) budget.

We'll see how well I do at these!


Update! Other posts on this party:

• Construction Birthday Party
• Make Your Own Pizza Party
• Construction Party Cake & Decor