The Boy’s Fire Truck Themed 3rd Birthday Party

The Boy turned three this month, and we celebrated by throwing a fire-truck themed party in our backyard.

“Leave me alone, Mama, I’ve got a Raspberry Lemon Cupcake to devour.”

It was the most low-key party I’d thrown in years.

For those who know me personally, they know full well that I DIY’d the crap out of parties long before Pinterest was even a concept.

Yup, I’m a Pinterest hipster.

And now party planning has become a monster of its own on Pinterest.

Gorgeous paper straws, confetti sprinkled strategically throughout the venue, snacks and beverages arranged oh-so perfect on a thematic table…

ENOUGH.

Come on, people, this party’s for a friggin’ three-year-old.

Those paper straws would soon be destroyed in the Thomas kiddie pool, someone would attempt to eat the confetti, and those snacks and beverages will be decimated in seconds.

So.

We did DIY.

But only a little bit.

I know, I’m shocked, too!

I’ve got a good slew of excuses this time, and most have to do with the crazy that was the month of May. Something BIG was going on every weekend, which left very little time to DIY, let alone plan anything for The Boy’s birthday.

I did design The Boy’s party invitations, and that’s the most DIY I did for this party. Yes, I still send out paper invites through the old-fashioned US Postal Service.

So while I was not really DIY’ing anything, my husband stepped up to the plate and made super awesome little fire trucks for all the kiddos to wear.

Don’t be surprised; the man is creative and can out-DIY most people on a good day (myself included; he’s way more precise and I tend to measure on the “good enough” scale).

He made each fire truck out of a cardboard file box. He cut out the bottom (with perfectly rounded corners, mind you):

The wheels were made from the bottoms that were cut out, and then we covered the truck and wheels with construction paper.

To make the straps, Rob took a strip of cardboard and wrapped two straps of black grosgrain ribbon, then hot glued it to the interior of the box. He considered using staples, but they didn’t seem as durable, not to mention the potential safety issue if they came loose!

I’m so fortunate to have married a creative dude who can make something ordinary, like a cardboard file box, into something super fun, like a fire truck.

Nothing sexier than a man with a hot glue gun!

There were six fire trucks in all, and we anticipated having six left at our house once the party was over. Thankfully, the fire trucks were a hit, and each kid was happy to take one home!

The Boy, however, only kept his fire truck on for a few minutes.

Oh! I guess I did DIY something else other than the invitation. I did make the cupcakes: Lemon Raspberry with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. We bought a fire-hydrant-shaped cupcake stand, and it was perfect! I wanted to buy a more permanent cupcake stand, but the problem I have with most of them (and the turquoise blue one I own!) is that they don’t fold flat, and they take up space. When you live in a 900-square-foot house, every square foot counts!

I thought I would lament the fact that I didn’t “Pinterest-out” this party, but it was so much easier and less stress that I didn’t make everything. We decorated with balloons and streamers. I bought fruit and veggie party platters from Freddy’s, made some kick-ass Bacon Ranch Dip, served beverages and lemonade, and called it good.

And it was good.