The Rootin-est, Tootin'-est Party!

Welcome to Boston's 2nd Birthday!  We love a good party theme, and Toy Story is one of the BEST! 

*Invite and all printables by Scribbles!  Go check them out!

Deciding on a theme was hard, since my son loves a lot of things- we literally cruised the party section at Wal Mart SEVERAL times asking him what kind of party he wanted.  Finally, I chose we decided on good ol' Woody's Round up.  A great way to come to the final choice is to check your resources- what do you have and what theme does it lend itself to?  And, of course, browse pinterest for some helpful ideas.  After doing both of those, I decided that with access to a horse (bullseye for these purposes) and a bounce house (buzz's bounce party) and lots of cute ideas, everything was pointing in one direction: FULL BLOWN TOY STORY CHAOS!

Let's tour the party:

Cute banner and welcome sign?  Check.  The Grandma's teamed up to make the banner and my husband and I spent a tortuous lovely afternoon taking some Toy Story themed shots of our little man.

So, in planning the party decor, I decided I wanted to steer away from the traditional "go-to-wal-mart-and-buy-every-toy-story-thing-in-the-party-section" and give the essence of Toy Story without going overboard.  I wanted you to walk in and get the theme without me regurgitating the Pixar characters in your face.  

In Toy Story 2, we learn that Woody is an antique toy full of life and love.  This is where the real theme came from.  I decided I wanted an antique toy look with lots of life and color.

I made the candlestick center pieces (tutorial to come), chose a simple brown-paper table cloth (perfect for some classic crayons), and made Boston his own Woody Throne.  For the plates, I opted for a cute, vintage plate... which, was 75 cents compared to 1.99 that the Toy Story plates cost and gave a much more antique vibe.  To tie the napkins, what better than a barrel of monkeys?? For the party favor, I wanted to do something different and clever.  I came up with an Etch-a-sketch, putting each child's name in the view window- classic, colorful, and FUN!

Being a photographer, I feel that no party is complete without a photo booth set-up.  My sister came up with the clever idea to make it a "Mr Potato Head Booth," since he has all kinds of fun parts for props.  Although you may not have a nice stand/backdrop set- throw an old sheet up, pull out some old costumes and toys out, and VIOLA!  Your very own Photo Booth! :)

I wanted a little gaming center- the old fashioned kind, so I set up some puzzles and old toys on a table in the corner of the room for the kids to play with.  

No movie-themed party is complete without a private-viewing.  I wanted this set-up to feel fun and fancy-free.  My inspiration was Bonnie's room in Toy Story 3.  I love when she throws all of the toys up in her quilt, and knew I wanted to incorporate that into my party.  Combine these two ideas and I had a quilt-tent with a popcorn station in front of our big-screen showing of Toy Story.

Okay, now on to the goods! :)  I love to bake, so I decided to fill the cake-table with all sorts of Toy Story inspired goodies!  

I love jars filled with treats- I just find it so cute!  Add in some clever movie references, and BAM!  I saw several people who gave out sheriff badges for party favors, but I wanted something more creative... SWEET FIND: star candy dishes left-over from another party.  Fill with yellow candy and the result is yummy sheriff badge-inspired candy!  FUN FUN FUN!  AND, I must give credit for the mason jar cuteness to pinterest.  I combined 3 different mason jar ideas to come up with these gems and LOVED how they came out!  PERFECT for my young guests!

"...and some extra teeth, be careful, they chatter!"  Chatter teeth apples- I know, way to go and ruin a perfectly healthy snack!  Cookie tattoos from Michael's made cookie decorating a BREEZE!  Now, on to the cupcakes!  For Toy Story inspiration, I went to a site and started looking at all of the quotes.  I then came up with "snake in my boot" cupcakes (chocolate, oreos, chocolate frosting with oreo crumbs and worms),  "haystack" cupcakes (think german chocolate), "alien" cupcakes (pina colada were far out enough for these with some green frosting and candy eyes), and then Red Velvet and Boston Cream Pie as crowd pleasers.  All-in-all, one tasty table! :)

Now for the piece-de-resistance!  I knew RIGHT when I decided on the Toy Story theme that I wanted a Lemonade stand.  But, I was on a budget, so I wanted it to be free.  Stop laughing, a girl can dream.  And dream I did.  I dreamt up a way to turn 3 free pallets (thanks, dad) into one adorable stand.  But, alas, I am but a girl and could not make my dream a reality- insert 2 strong men: husband and his brother.  They slaved for hours and brought me this beauty!  SWEET, huh?  We even re-used the nails from the pallets, so the only cost was a pack of wood screws.  Can't beat that!  As I mentioned before, LOOK AROUND, see what you can come up with with the resources around you!  Just because it's amazing, doesn't mean it has to cost a fortune!  Think outside the box and your next party will be a total hit!  (ps- pallet lemonade stand tutorial will also be on the blog next week!)

*Photography by Looky Loo Photography
*Party Styling by Looky Loo Events
*Party Printables by Scribbles

Well, thank you for touring our Toy Story Extravaganza!  I hope it inspired you for your next party, or at least made you chuckle!  Until next time my party-goers, Ta Ta!

xoxo,