Yeehaw! Jessie, Bullseye, Woody and Buzz helped Avery round up the whole gang for her "Toy Story" themed birthday party recently! The party was held at our house, and we couldn't have had a nicer day. The weather was perfect.
My daughter, the little cowgirl she is, for months kept saying how she wanted a Jessie and a Toy Story party ... so we delivered! Mikaelah had the vision for the entire birthday party. She rounded up the themed decorations, while I handled the baked goods and food. We came together as a team on the dessert table, Mikaelah putting it all together, of course.
We drew inspiration for this party from various posts found on Pinterest. {I think I've mentioned in the past how Mikaelah and I are both mildly addicted to Pinterest ... } You can take a look at our board
here.
We made all of the food and decorations. The cloud background comes from the wallpaper in Andy's room in the movie. We recreated it with light blue felt and white card stock cut into the shape of the clouds. It turned out so fun!
Banner by Banana Lala. We used paisley, gingham and jean patterns in red and blue to bring out the Western theme. Paying tribute to Sheriff Woody, of course!
Our guests were welcomed at the door by this Balloon Celebration Wreath that the oh-so-crafty Mikaelah made! The idea was inspired by
Catch My Party.
For at least the entire month before her party, Avery insisted on having a cherry cake. Not one that looked like a cherry, mind you, because she wanted Jessie on her cake. What she wanted was for it to taste like cherry. {I don't think she had ever had a cherry cake up until this point, so I'm still not sure where she came up with this idea.} So off to Pinterest to find a semi-homemade cherry cake. And, boy, did I find a yummy one! Check out the recipe for this amazingly easy and sooooo tasty cake
here at Eat At Home.
We really wanted to carry the "Toy Story" theme throughout the party, especially on the dessert table and even into the party food itself. It was so much fun coming up with fun names to go with everything. And by the end of it all, I think we had more desserts and treats than actual food!
What was on our menu:
Buzz Lightyear's Delicious Hot S'mores (or "schmoes," as Buzz calls them in the movie)
Sheriff Woody's Badge Cupcakes
Pizza Planet Pizza Bites
Idea by Banana Lala
Jessie's Cowgirl Lassos (Twizzlers)
Idea by Banana Lala
Sarge's Dirt Mound Cupcakes
Mr. Potato Head's Chocolate Mustaches
Slinky Dog Hot Dogs
Idea by Banana Lala
Jessie's Cowgirl Hat Cookies
Just another look at the dessert and food table setups.
Ribbon Topiaries by Banana Lala
Avery's grandma and our mother (Gammy, as we call her) also has a love for all of the "Toy Story" movies. As part of her birthday gift, Avery received this authentic "Chatter" as seen in "Toy Story 3." She loves it! {Thank you, Gammy!}
Jessie, Woody and some of the monkeys in a barrel we just hanging around.
And what's a party without prizes?! So what prize did they receive? What they got was each others' friendship and love. ...
Ha! Who am I kidding ... they wanted REAL prizes! (But isn't this such a sweet picture of Avery and her cousin, Brylee. "Brylee's my best friend," says Avery.)
Here's a look at the favors we sent home with each of the kiddos. The tags were custom made by us.
We celebrated THREE
and said goodbye to TWO!
I know I've got
a friend in you!
We had games, too!
FUN games. And since it was such a gorgeous day, we actually got to play some of them outside.
One of the games we played was
Guess How Many Army Men. We repurposed a glass jar (it's actually the maraschino cherry jar from Avery's cake), filled it with a certain, secret number of those little green Army men, and then had everyone guess the number. We found the idea on
Oopsey Daisy just a few days before the big party. I'm glad we did, because it was such a fun and cute game to play.
Another game we played was a
Toy Story Coloring Contest. This started as just a silly idea to have everyone color a picture and to have Avery choose her favorite. Everyone really got into it! We found these large coloring pictures of Toy Story characters, bought a new box of crayons, and everyone went to town.
There was a little playful "cheating" going on, with certain people using only Avery's favorite color, PINK of course. And then there were those of us who intentionally chose Avery's favorite characters as a way to coax her into picking their picture. {I'll admit that I colored the "Alien Babies," because I know she loves them!)
Everyone {not just the kids} had fun with this game!
We hung up all the colored pictures so Avery could choose the winner.
Steph's was the winner! {And the picture is still hanging up on Avery's door to her room. So cute.}
Another outdoor game we played was
There's a Snake in My Boot. The object of the game was to throw a plastic snake into the "boot." The kids had a blast wit this one ... even if they kept sneaking RIGHT up to it to they could get it in.
We somehow managed to fit all five kiddos into the top of Avery's little playhouse. Here is Avery along with CJ, Bryson, Brylee and Landon ... Landon is the only one taking notice of the photo op going on.
Avery had a great time at her party, and so did all of us! It's so much fun to browse some really great and creative ideas online, but then also to be able to think of some really fun ones all on your own. Take some time to check out the original sources on some of the ideas we used here. There are so many blogs out there with great party ideas, so be sure to check them out.
And if you like the decorations created by us and would like to have something similar for an upcoming party of your own, let us know! All banners, topiaries and wreaths are created on a custom order basis.
Thanks for looking! To infinity, and beyond!
Anna
