...Get Set...GO!!!

This weekend we celebrated Smarty Pant's 3rd birthday with a trip to the Aquarium and a Race Car Party. He had an absolute blast--All of his favorite people PLUS the addition of cars EQUALS one happy little boy!

Grandpa and Grandma Tee were gracious enough to host the party and they went over and beyond the call of duty-- They helped assemble party favors, decorate, cook... My boys are so lucky to have such devoted grandparents!

Here's a recap of our special Race Car Party.

Invite:

Decor:All partyware from paperandcake's shop on Etsy

Games:

Smarty pants and the boys (and a few aunties too!) had a great time running around in these CARS-inspired box cars.

top to bottom: Chick Hick in Dinoco blue, Lightning McQueen, Mr. "The King"

The kids also had fun playing outside with "key" cars and had a ball trying to play the ridiculously difficult CARS tire fishing game.

Smarty Pants posing with his new ride

On le Vroom, Vroom Menu:

Appetizers-

Uncle C's calamari

Homemade salsa & tortilla chips
Fresh fruit platter - sweet pineapple, strawberries & grapes
Edamame - Smarty Pant's favorite snack
Main Dishes-
Recipes are tried & true and were found on http://allrecipes.com/

Baked Ziti

Chicken Marsala

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad

Garlic Bread from Costco

Juice & Sparkling Lemonade from Trader Joe's

Alas, the Cake... It was a bit of a disappointment-- not quite cake wrecks worthy, but definitely not as pictured. Apparently even our camera was disappointed because None of the pictures of the cake came out! I'll have to ask around and see if anyone got a decent shot. It did taste yummy though... I ♥ chocolate dobash!

So it was a successful birthday party-- Smarty Pants is still talking about his party and mommy is officially pooped out! Can't rest yet though... still need to make cake pops and cupcakes for his preschool class... maybe after I take a nap!

Whirly-Twirly

I wanted to drop off a pic of the pinwheels that I'm making for Happy Vee's Circus Party. At over 1 foot in diameter, they definitely won't be overlooked and will add some color to the picnic area. They're almost done-- Just need to wire them up and put them on some stakes!

I also need to sew these pretty triangles onto some ribbon to create yards-n-yards of whimsical garland. I think my 300 triangles will add up to around 150 feet of garland... Now if I can just figure out HOW and WHERE I'm going to hang it. I need to visit the picnic pavilion again, there are a lot of trees there, plus the pavilion itself, hmmmm-- I'm starting to have garland anxiety!

On Your Mark...

I'm taking a short break from cutting out my printable partyware from Paper and Cake. Isn't this RACE CAR set the cutest??

It's a cinch to print and cut... PLUS, so much cuter than the Disney CARS stuff that seems to be the only option out there right now... AND did I mention that it only cost me $8 for the deluxe set (plus the cost of paper, which I already had onhand).

......

I'm also in the midst of making these dipped pretzels using the Wilton pretzel rod mold. Yeah, I like to multi-task... They're a bit of a pain in the arse, so I think I'm going to make a couple of batches, then do some plain ones with sprinkles.

Well, I better run since time is of the essence AND both kids are napping at the same time-- NEVER happens around these parts!

Station Break ... Car Party!

I've been making pretty good progress planning and beginning to make some of the crafty, pretty things for Happy Vee's Circus birthday party in July. But now I'm in complete hyperspeed mode trying to pull together Smarty Pant's vroom, vroom Race Car birthday party in a couple of weeks-- How can it already be May???!!!

Smarty Pant's had a huge 1st birthday bash and a medium-sized 2nd birthday party. So for his 3rd birthday we're doing a small and intimate family party hosted at Grandpa & Grandma Tee's house-- Well, in our family small and intimate is 24 people... I saw this invite idea at Creative Parties and Showers, cranked out the invitations and mailed them out the other day. My version isn't as cute, but they fit the theme, right?

At his request, I'm also making a couple of cars for him out of cardboard boxes. I figured the little kids would enjoy running around in them. He's obsessed with the movie CARS so I was happy to find the Rust-Eze and Dinoco logos online. I'll post pics later when I'm done-- it's a bit more time consuming than I thought it would be!

I also picked up some black tableclothes (for the road tablescape), red, yellow & green plates and some black & white streamers to decorate. I just need to come up with some favors and a couple of activities for the kids. For the menu I'm thinking lasagna (or baked ziti), a chicken dish, salad and garlic bread. I'm outsourcing the cake to Kings Hawaiian Bakery-- I'm not a cake person, but their Paradise and Dobash cakes are to die for! Smarty Pants saw their race car cake when we were there a few months ago and it made a big impression-- When we ask him what he wants for his birthday he says "the race car cake!".

Vroom, vroom, vroom... gotta get going!