Construction Party Blast!

My son is obsessed with construction equipment. Backhoes, excavators, and skid steers in particular. So a construction party was an obvious choice for his third birthday party. Before I had children anything with a scoop was a “backhoe” and the rest were bulldozers. Right? WRONG! Who knew there were SOOOO many different types of heavy equipment? Apparently anyone who's ever had a 3 year old child!

My daughter was also in love with the idea of a pink backhoe at 3. It must be an age thing. That delicate window before society ingrains gender stereotypes; hammers the princess ideal into our impressionable daughters, and the macho man attitude into our gentle sons. I tried my hardest to avoid it but once they go to school it's impossible to shelter them! Realizing it's unrealistic and potentially damaging to shelter them, I'd rather give them what they want but gently guide the journey.

Construction Party Invitation:

I'm a big fan of professionally designed invitations and use them any time I can. But when your son falls in love with a cut out dump truck invitation during a scouting trip to Zurchers, how can you say no? Especially when they are so cute! I added a hand lettered shadow to spice it up a bit. It's the easiest way to add interest by adding just 1 extra line on each letter!

*Pro-tip: If you are hand lettering, make a couple copies of your invitation so you can practice your spacing and get the wording JUST right. You do not want to be experimenting on the finite number of originals!

Big Surprise!

The biggest surprise for the birthday boy was to wake up and find not only a skid steer, but a real backhoe in his backyard! We couldn't even get him to eat breakfast before heading out in his pj's to check them out. His sister and cousin were also enthralled!

I know this won't be an option for most people, which is too bad cause it was SO cool for a construction party. I contemplated renting a little skid steer from Home Depot for the day. Then my husband reminded me our neighbor has a few pieces of heavy equipment. After convincing my sweet hubby to run over and ask, we had to take down a strip of fence. Then our awesome neighbor drove both pieces over after the kids were in bed the night before the party. I still can't believe we got them! I think I was just as excited about it as the birthday boy. This was the big surprise in the backyard. But first, let's take you through the party from the beginning…

Entrance:

I always love it when I have time to design something for the front porch. {It's the last place I end up designing!}  It's fun to welcome your guests to the party with a themed entrance. Then they know, for sure, they're in the right place!

I had a great time incorporating all of the signage into the decor. The balloons are fun to add height and attract attention from a distance. The saw horse was the perfect anchor to add a personalized construction crew sign.

This extension cord wreath was so easy and cute. I used an extension cord we had from the garage and bought some cord management clips to keep it together. The signs added some personality, warning the neighbors and mailman a party was in progress!

*Pro tip: I hang my wreaths using thick fishing line tied to a heavy duty staple from the top of my door. The staple is low profile enough that it doesn't interfere with the door closing and I love that the fishing line is invisible. I'd hate to damage my beautiful wood door by using an adhesive, hook, or other prominent hanger.

Indoor decor:

As you've seen, my mantel is an important part of the indoor decorations, mostly because it's such a massive feature! I can't really ignore it. I kept it pretty simple with a large “under construction” print, some of my son's favorite trucks, and balloons tied to mini-cones. The truck garland is from the same collection as the invitations and worked perfectly for the space. We borrowed a large dump truck and used it as a visual cue for guests to leave their gifts. I loaded it up with the first couple presents and it worked very well.

This hutch is a favorite for all our party favor displays. We had to have a construction party “hard hat” area and I love these plastic hard hats, the caution tape, and Home Depot aprons. I personalized the hats and aprons and filled the pocket up with goodies! Check out the sources for everything I used. The birthday sister REALLY wanted a hot pink hard hat {like her momma} so I gave the guests a choice of color. It will come as no surprise that the girls all chose pink and the boys all chose yellow!

Here's part of the crew gearing up for a hard days work in the backyard construction site.

Outdoor Activities:

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Our first stop was the “Hammering Station”. I wrapped foam blocks in wood grained contact paper and the guests used wood mallets {displayed in a dump truck} to hammer in golf tees. I can't tell you what a hit this was! The kids LOVED it! My kids STILL play with these months after the party. Each guest was able to wear a safety vest and a personalized wooden mallet home with them in their apron pocket at the end of the party.

The next stop was the “Wrecking Ball” station. I saved my Amazon boxes for a few weeks and had more than enough boxes. {I might need an online shopping intervention!} I wrapped them in brown paper and fortified the corners with duct tape. The kids had a blast building up the tower and wrecking it down with the tether ball. We have a basketball standard and simply tied the tether ball rope to the end of the hoop. It was perfect. If you want to go the extra mile you could wrap the boxes is brick patterned paper and spray paint the tether ball black. Those were two things I crossed off the list and no one even missed them! When you get to crunch time there are usually things you must cross off the list. I mostly run out of time, but sometimes energy and money. {Or all three!} Make sure you don't have to cross off anything important to you by planning ahead and prioritizing!

The third activity was an “Excavation Station”. A construction party isn't complete without some good ol' fashioned digging in the dirt! We washed out our “doggy swimming pool” {which is really a horse water trough} and filled it up with sand. We then set up our handy pop-up shade canopy tent {aff} to cover the dig site.

I got a bunch of little things from the dollar store and buried them all around in the pit. We provided shovels and buckets and let the kids go for it! A parent helped monitor and guests were able to keep one of each item. When they found extras, they were in charge of digging a new hole to bury it up again. I think hiding the toys was almost as much fun for guests as finding them!

The final activity after lunch wasn't even planned! They each had a foam paint brush in the pocket of their apron and after my daughter filled up the dog's water bowl an impromptu painting party began! I love it when kids use their imagination. The rice crispy paint brushes may also have had something to do with it! The day was hot so the kids enjoyed playing in the water. We made sure each of the activities took place near some sort of shade. We purchased two oversized sun sails {aff} to cover portions of our sport court and they have been a life saver. Our backyard would be unbearable without them in the summer heat.

This construction party seriously was a blast and went off without a hitch! It might be because I planned it months in advance. Or that the activities were all developmentally age appropriate for the guests. Or that I was 8 3/4 months pregnant and wanted my sweet boy to have a moment in the sun before his life changed forever! Whatever it was, I really enjoyed this one and it will go down as my all-time favorite party to date. You can get this “construction party” look using everything listed in our construction party sources post.

The food was awesome too! I'll be breaking down our menu and showing off the great signage and gorgeous cake in the Construction Party Menu post. Check it out for all the details of the buffet table!

Do you feel like a construction party would be a blast for your little one? Or have you already tried it out? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. And if you'd like to share it with the world please contact us on our submissions page to be considered for an upcoming Feature Friday.

Until next time,

 

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