It was really no surprise when I asked him what kind of birthday he wanted, and he responded with "a construction birthday!". Well, technically his first answer was cake, but the second answer was construction. This was a blat of a party to plan, and super simple. All you really need for an amazing construction birthday is construction equipment and large quantities of substances that can be moved; sand, water, dirt, as long as it can be scooped, loaded and dumped, you're golden!
Since Roman's birthday is in July it's pretty much a given that we are going to have all the water activities out for the kids to play with. It might not actually mesh with the theme, but the kids love it and sometimes I don't think the kids even realize that parties have a theme at this point. This year John came up with the idea to build a second sandbox of sort and he filled it with a ton of topsoil. We lucked out and actually found some free topsoil, and the boards were leftover from other projects, so this didn't cost us a dime. The kids had a BLAST playing in it all. Even the night we put it together, it took some work to get Roman to take a break from "building a construction site" and come inside for supper.
I kept the decorations pretty minimal, just a few yellow and black balloons tied to the fence with fishing line. I did however pick up a 3ft tall cardboard excavator because how do you have a construction party without one? Now that the party is over, I'm going to stick it up on Roman's wall with some Command tape so he can enjoy it for as long as this obsession lasts.
This year I decided to keep the food simple and just have snackie type foods. The party was from 10am-12pm so it's a bit of an awkward time when it comes to food. Do you serve breakfast? Snacks? Lunch? These are the things that keep me up at night. As I've done in the past, I like to serve the birthday boy's favorite foods, so this year we had:
- Ham & Cheese pinwheels
- Pizza twists
- Strawberries & blueberries
- Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peppers
- Chips & salsa
- Water and juice boxes
Now for my favorite part of a birthday; cake! I was a little surprised that Roman requested a vanilla cake, but that's what he wanted so that's what he got. He always wanted vanilla frosting but that wasn't going to work with the cake I had planned in my mind, so he had to make do with chocolate. This chocolate frosting is the most amazing chocolate frosting I've ever had! Think pre-made frosting from the grocery store without the oily, fake taste. So amazing! If you want to see how I made this 3-shaped cake and where I got all the decorations from, check out this post. (I'll link it once I've published it). For the frosting recipe, click here. Roman was super pumped to blow out his candles, but it was really windy so he had to pretend. He still blew them out and cheered for himself so I don't think he minded at all. I also made some emergency chocolate cupcakes as well because I was scared there wasn't going to be enough cake. We didn't end up using them for the party, so John, Roman and I ate them over the next few days. They were amaze balls!
One of the most irritating parts of Roman's birthdays for me are the presents. Everyone always asks what he wants or needs, and while he wants a lot of things (as does every kids) he truly doesn't need anything. He has more than enough toys to keep him occupied for months, tons of clothes in his closet, and his snack cupboard is well stocked. But some people aren't so lucky. So this year I stole an idea from a friend of mine (thanks Lisa!), and instead of gifts, we asked that everyone bring a donation for the food bank. I know there are some people that might think that I'm depriving Roman by not letting people buy him gifts, but the truth is that he still received gifts from family and that was waaaaay more than he even needed. John and I explained to Roman that some people don't have food, or enough money to buy food, so his friends were bringing some food for us to give to those people. Roman really seemed to think about this and you'll be happy to know that he didn't miss opening gifts at all and was really excited by all the great donations his friends had brought him. Today we took the donations down to the local food bank, where he promptly reminded me that some people don't have food so we were giving them this food. He also told the lady working at the food bank where the food had come from and why we were donating it. I'm not going to lie, listening to my little man tell this woman what he was doing brought tears to my eyes. I'm so blessed to be raising such an amazing little man that has empathy for other people. Unless that person is trying to take one of his toys, then he's out for blood.
I went simple with the take way gifts for the kids this year. Each construction worker got their own personalized hard hat as well as a pylon cup. These cups were just too cute to pass up. However, major mom fail on forgetting to give the cups to the kids before they left, so I had to deliver them after wards but that's OK.
After everyone had left and Roman was down for his nap, John took to setting up our gift to Roman. We don't normally buy such large gifts, but I found this gem on sale and it wasn't outrageously expensive. Plus, when you factor in the wear and tear this will save the couch and Roman's bed, I think it's well worth it.
Roman had an amazing birthday playing with all his friends and we are so thankful to everyone that was able to spend it with us!
Want to have a construction party of your own? I found all of the awesome construction items at Oriental Trading!
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