Noah's Trans-four-mers Rescue Bots Party

Several months ago I had started planning a Wild Kratts 4th birthday party for Noah because that was his obsession at the time. Then a month or two ago he found a new show that he loved; Transformer's Rescue Bots. It's basically a Transformer's show geared for younger kids so they do more rescuing and less fighting. The main characters are Heatwave a Transforming fire truck, Chase a transforming police car, Boulder a transforming construction vehicle and Blades a transforming helicopter.  Ever since Noah saw this show it was love at first sight, and as soon as his friends started showing up with Rescue Bot toys he became even more enamored with the characters and show.

I tried and tried without success to talk Noah into a different type of birthday party but he was set on Rescue Bots.  So Rescue Bots we did.  Since the show is fairly new there aren't any Rescue Bot party decorations on the market, but two transformers characters (Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime) also make appearances on the show so I found plates and napkins with those transformers on them.  The rest of the decorations were simple and I designed and printed them with clip art from the internet. 

For the favors I made felt masks of the characters.  An artist I am not, so I had Jeremy draw and design the templates for me and then I took it from there executing and sewing the masks.  Noah loved them all!!!!

For the food  I came up with a bunch of Noah's favorite foods that I don't ever buy that I could use to represent the Rescue Bot characters so they would be special for the party.  So we had oreos for Bumblebee's wheels, and twizzlers for Heatwave's hoses, carrots for Blade's blades, red and blue m&m's for Chase's sirens, and cheese balls for Boulder's boulders.

For activities I had the show playing, some coloring sheets out and basically let the kids play and have a free for all in the backyard and house.  I think that everyone had a good time (kids and adults alike) and I know the birthday boy had a blast and was super excited!

Elisha's 1 Year "Play Ball" Birthday Party

Yesterday was Eli's first birthday party.  I went a little low key (by my standards) for this party because he's too young to remember it, or ask for anything specific.  We did the party at Jeremy's parents house because they have a better outdoor space for the kids to play then we do.  And with multiple kids I feel that they tend to do better outside, unless you have a big house, which we do not.

I love a good party theme and chose "Play Ball" for this party.  I could say it's because Eli loves balls, which he does, but my real motivation was a whole bunch of ball noisemakers that my MIL had bought for Noah's first birthday party and then we had forgotten to hand them out as favors, so I think the more accurate answer is that I planned a whole party around some favors that we wanted to get rid of.

Here's a recap of the party;

I made a few basic decorations... these tissue paper tassels and a bunting banner in the colors that I chose for the party

the favors

the cakes... I kept the food themed around ball park food with some sausage balls and spinach balls thrown in

the backyard had all kinds of fun activities set up for kids... a tent, pool, kitchen, soccer goal, basket ball hoop and sandbox

It was a fun party and I think all the kids had a great time.

Construction Party

For Noah's 3rd birthday we had a Construction themed party.  I thought it was the perfect theme for him because he loves trucks and diggers and is obsessed with playing in dirt.  In fact, anytime we go to a playground he chooses to play in the dirt rather than playing on any playground equipment.  So for the party we basically turned our whole backyard into a construction zone.  We had sections of pine straw, rocks, and dirt, and plenty of trucks and shovels for the kids to dig with.  It was a really fun party, I think the kids had a blast playing and since the kids were happy and occupied the adults got to relax and chat.

Huge thanks to my hubby and his parents for getting our backyard converted to a construction zone, y'all are amazing!!!!!

 since the focus was the dirt and digging, the decorations were fairly simple and easy.  some caution tape and a few constuction-y looking signs

 for the cake, I made a plain chocolate sheet cake, with chocolate frosting, and then used graham cracker crumbs to top it and make it look like dirt