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Construction Birthday Party


My baby was turning a year old and it was time to celebrate!! This is his first birthday, so of course we (err...I really mean I, who are we kidding?) have to go all out!! So put on your hardhats and get ready for an all out Construction Themed Birthday party!!

The Invitations

I had a lot of fun creating these, I came up with a fun rhyme and used lots of construction wording, all our party guests were joining the construction "crew" and I was the "Foreman". You can go really far with this theme, and I did!!

Finally, to give the invite some dimension, I popped up the photo of Tristan hanging from the crane with a piece of square foam.

Custom Logo

I decided to create the "Tristan Construction Company" and designed a logo, incorporating it everywhere I could, from the back of the invitation to the address labels, to the hardhats, favors & welcome sign...'cause why not?!

The Decorations B

The front of the house had safety cones, caution tape and extra large round orange balloons. I posted signs in the yard and onto the front of the house welcoming guests as they approached.

My favorite sign was the Welcome sign "Construction Site Entrance" which had "Thank You" on the back which guests only saw as they left the party.

At the Crew Check-In table the guests clocked in on the "Time Card" then picked up their yellow or pink hard hats with the Tristan Construction Company Crew Logo, construction vests, safety goggles and personalized badges! I even got different sized hats for those smaller toddler heads.

Tristan was decked out in a construction vest I made him out of felt because the ones at the stores were HUGE on a 1 year old. I got the idea from subtle-tee blog and modified it using hot glue instead of sewing. And of course a hard hat. Daddy was also wearing a vest but I couldn't get him to wear the hardhat I had gotten him... spoil sport! :-P

After guests geared up at the Crew Check-In, they entered the "construction site" through a caution tape curtain, passed an orange "Lets Do This" bucket with light blue shovels sticking out of it (my photographer didn't get a photo of this fun little detail) and into the house where they could "dump" their gifts before heading through another caution tape curtain to the "construction site"

"Dig In" (Food & Drinks)

The food had to continue the construction theme, so it was a "Build Your Own Sandwich" Bar. Dump trucks & buckets in the party colors held utensils and 'building materials' (i.e. sides.)

We had:

  • Bread = Foundation & Roof

  • Deli Turkey & Chicken = Floors

  • Cheese Slices = Ceiling

  • Shreadded Lettuce = Insulation

  • Sliced Tomato = Radiant Barrier

  • Mayo & Mustard = Paint

  • Pretzel Sticks = Lumber

  • Cheese Puffls = Wrecking Balls

  • Nacho Cheese Doritos = Flattened Safety Cones

Drinks were at the "Fuel Station"

Water bottles with personalized "fuel" labels on them

  • Glass Milk bottles with stripped paper straws and the Fuel labels

  • Lemonade

  • Sodas in a cooler

We moved all the furniture in the living room to the walls and set up 3 tables with Orange placements turned to represent caution signs, square yellow & orange paper plates and orange cone cups with straws! These were also the kids favors! We added a few dump trucks and I made sure to have wet wipes and Purel on every table.

Desert Table & Cake

The Dessert Table was the star of the party! From the personalized banner to the barricade food labels, it was stunning, even the treats were in the party colors! I was really proud of it!

The cake (made by FriscoCustomCakes.com) was the centerpiece, an exact replica of the vest Tristan was wearing that day, topped with his hard hat with the number 1 on it. The bottom layer was caution tape and there were little fondant safety cones and direction signs surround Tristan's name in yellow stripped fondant. I made yellow candy hard hats from candy melts and put them in front of the cake and I got a Saw cake cutter!

I used a yellow toy crane to suspend a blue foam T over the table and cake. Then added an industrial looking T with lights in it. I crafted a banner to look like the diamond shaped construction signs and matched the invitation lettering and hung it behind the table.

I made Rice Krispie Treat Paint brushes in the colors of the party and stuck them in paint cans that said "RKT Paint" on them. I really loved this detail, but it was hard to see what they were supposed to be with all the basket filler I had to use to hide the foam they were sticking in. I also was constantly re-filling them, since only 4 fit in a can, so next time I would do a platter of paint brushes in front of the display paint cans.

More buckets in party colors & in silver were filled with different candies and treats, as well as stacking storage units similar to the ones you see in garages and home improvement stores. I made "barrier" food labels and placed them in front of each bucket or container.

And finally I made "buckets of dirt", this was probably my favorite treat to make! I thought it was so cute! I used clear cups, florist wire and cocktail straws and topped the chocolate pudding off with fun little signs that read "Dig In"

The table itself was covered with orange table cloth and a skirt and I used caution tape to give it a border trim all the way around.

Activities

We had kids from age 1 all the way up to 11 years old, so instead of organized games I set up activity stations for the guests, so the kids could just do what they liked. It gave my guests a lot of freedom and kept all the age groups entertained, plus, late arrivals hadn't missed out on anything. All the activities were also in keeping with the construction theme.

Above the back door read a sign, "DANGER: Hard Hat Area, Crew must wear hard hats at all times per OSHA Standards." Outside we had a giant dump truck inflatable slide, it was 40' long and 20' tall!!

Everyone loved it, Adults and Children! Thank goodness we have a large backyard, it only took up half so we had room for the other activities I had planned.

In front of a cardboard house was a sign that read "Wet Paint."

Washable poster paint in baby food jars and foam brushes were provided with aprons so kids could just paint, it was a HUGE hit with kids of ALL ages!

The "Demolition Area" had cardboard block bricks inside a big tote wrapped in a construction table cloth with a bucket of balls.

The kids could "build walls" and then "demo" (i.e. knock) them down. This was more fun for the older kids.

A "workbench" was setup in the shade where kids could hammer and use a bunch of toy tools.

The workbench made power tool sounds when you used the power drill or saw. The younger ones liked this activity.

Smash Cake

After the activities and everyone was inside we sang happy birthday. I decorated his high chair with a little banner and asked his daddy to hang streamers on the wall so we'd have a pretty 'background' for his smash cake pics. His smash cake was a very large construction cone which he did not smash at all, but only poked, LOL! Figures, right?

I invited everyone to help themselves to the food and drinks while I cut and distributed the massive cake...note the saw cake cutter, it actually worked beautifully!!

Favors

Along with the construction hats, vests, goggles, badges and construction cone cups, I hand made toolbox favor boxes with my Cricut, adding a Tristan construction company logo on the front and each child's name on the top. I really loved how these turned out!! These were set up on a hall table as guests left.

Each favor toolbox contained:

  • Measuring Tape Gum - with personalized sticker "6ft Bubble Gum Measuring Tape. Property of: insert name here" complete with the Tristan Construction Logo

  • Tool Gummy Candies

  • Construction Bubbles

  • Tool erasers in the shape of tools - hammers, wrenches, pliers, etc.

  • "Nuts & Bolts"- small clear bag filled with Almonds and chocolate bolts I made from a candy mold (get it? Nuts and Bolts?! ... made me giggle)

  • Favor Tag-"Hope you had LOADS of Fun! Thanks a TON"

I also got little favors for the adults, little keychains with a set of tiny screwdrivers. I attached a small favor tag to the key ring and passed them to the adults as they left.

Thank You Notes

I designed the Thank You notes to match the invitations and I made them "fillable". I created a large white box and 'hung' it from the crane, this is where we wrote in the recipient's name. Then I left space to fill in the item as the gifts were opened! What a time saver!!

It was a crazy & wonderful day! If my family hadn't been there to help me pull it all together it would have been a disaster. But my Mom, Dad, Sister, Cousin and Husband all pitched in and made it happen, so a big appreciative "Thank You" goes out to them for their generous help!

Let me know in the comments if you have done a construction party and what fun things you did to make it a special day... there are so many possibilities with this theme and I would love to hear your ideas! Or if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them!

Have fun Doin' It All!!

 

Photos By: JenX Photography

Dump Truck Slide: Texas Sumo Game Rentals

Premium 100lb. Cardstock: Paperandmore.com

Table and Chair Rentals: Big D Party Rentals

Invitations & Thank You's Printing: Vistaprint.com

Sandwhich Tray: Costco

Party Supplies, Favors & Decor: Amazon, Party City, OrientalTrading.com, Target, & Hobby Lobby

 

Disclaimer: This is a personal and fun blog, all opinions and links are provided as an aide in your party planning, I am NOT compensated in any way, I am not endorsing any company, product or service and I do not guarantee anything. I'll say it again, this blog is for informational purposes only...I'm just having fun and sharing!

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