Dump Truck Construction Birthday Party

Time for another blast from the past!  According to the stats on my old blog, my most popular post of all time is the Dump Truck Construction Party I did for my son’s 2nd birthday.  That was over 6 years ago and it’s still ranking top 5 in hits every week.  Crazy.  I certainly wouldn’t have predicted that, though I do have a “thing” for parties.  And Tyler’s Dump Truck Party was certainly a fun one. And easy.  And inexpensive.  That’s got to be the key requirements for a busy mom with young children – lots of wow factor for very little investment.  And if those aren’t the reasons for the post’s popularity, maybe it’s those adorable chubby cheeks of his!

From December 2008:
My little guy turned 2 years old yesterday (!) and for his little party with his neighborhood friends I whipped up a fun, very EASY dump truck party. If I had to list Tyler’s favorite things, a dump truck would top the list. In fact, it was one of the first words he learned to say. I think he’s drawn to them because his grandpa has one, and he is a BIG fan of grandpa! 🙂 So anyway – I picked dump trucks as the theme for Tyler’s birthday party.

Invitations:

The whole things is paper pieced (yep I did the pattern myself!) and the back “dumps” to reveal the party info below it The wheels are on Pop Dots for a bit of added dimension. The front reads: “Tyler is 2! Dump everything and truck on over for a party!” And along with the party info inside I made sure to say it was being held “at the Caldwell Construction site.”

Decorations: I chose yellow as my primary color, with black and red accents.

I placed some construction “candles” (borrowed from my Dad) along the driveway and used a few balloons and streamers to make it feel festive.

Inside, I whipped up some signs using scrapbook paper, markers, my computer, and stamps. The truck and loader are clipart I found using google and used it as a pattern for the silhouettes.

The table was covered with a black plastic tablecloth, with pieces of masking tape running down the center to make it look like a road. The centerpiece was a few of Ty’s toys and a grouping of helium balloons. I also pinned up some streamers and balloons around the room.

Food: Dirt cake, housed in the back of a toy dump truck (clean – and I also lined it with wax paper for easier clean up) and served with a toy shovel. The cake is simply chunks of chocolate cake layered with chocolate pudding and topped with crumbled Oreos. I also added some gummi worms, which were a big hit with the kids. I think the original “recipe” came from Familyfun.com I usually try to avoid holding parties during meal times but in this case I had to make an exception. So I made peanut butter sandwiches in the shape of hammers (cookie cutter from Sur la Table) and served them with grapes and oranges (Ty’s favorite fruits) from the back of another dump truck. Then topped it all off with some cracker/pretzel snack mix, which was in an upside-down hard hat. They also had lemonade in bright colored sippy cups (I always do over-kill with the sippies – even if the kid knows how to drink from a cup I’d rather not worry about the inevitable spills.  Plus you can find great “disposable” ones in packs of four for only a few dollars).

Activities:

The kids started off “painting” sugar cookies. I made a “palette” using a paper plate and piped little circles of frosting and let them dry overnight. Then I put a bit of “paint” (corn syrup with food coloring) in each little circle, placed a cookie (shaped like a fire truck because I couldn’t find any dump trucks) on the plate and let them have at it. This is a perfect activity for the little ones and the older kids too. And when done this way there is very little mess involved.

We put the cookies aside and had lunch and cake. Opened presents. Then I let them have free time with a couple play zones I had set up – one with blocks for building and the other with a road rug and toy cars. It was a small party with well-behaved kids (and all the mothers there to help out) so we opened up the toys he had been given and added them into the mix.

Favors: I decorated some plain white lunch bags with the child’s name and some dump truck clipart. I had found some really tiny sets of crayons on an after Halloween sale so I used the same clipart to cover up the spiderwebs on the boxes. I also included some dump truck fuit snacks and a toy truck.

 The kids had a blast and I am very happy with the party. And for once I wasn’t stressing at all about set up or getting things ready because I had managed to keep it really low key. (pats self on the back) 🙂

Linking to:  Link Party Palooza, That DIY Party,