Construction Party 3rd Birthday

 

My son's allergies peak near his birthday. I feared he would get ill like he did last year and we'd have to postpone his party.

Thankfully, he stayed this side of healthy and we had a great time!

The weather cooperated as well. It kindly dropped just below 100 degrees so being outside didn't remind us of Old Testament fire and brimstone.

Although I had several other ideas for parties, Max's lullaby request most of the summer was the Bob the Builder theme song.  So... since it was his birthday, I rolled up my sleeves and "dug" in. The theme focused on the construction theme rather than the cartoon. However, Max spotted a balloon at the grocery store the day before. Eyes wide and smile big, he told me all about it. Garrett went the next day and bought it. We tied it to a saw horse and placed them in the garden to greet guests.

On Friday, I'll share links to inspiration parties for our construction theme. For now, here are a few shots of my little guy's party:

He spent the night at my parents' and was surprised when we greeted him and told him we were about to have his party. Since our daughter was born one week after his birthday, it was a huge help to prepare and decorate as just adults.  Plus, Max was  surprised and impressed with the transformation.

I can't say enough nice things about Home Depot's generosity.  The boys loved the aprons!

Come on in and grab a work apron and a hard hat.

Dig in! I loved using his toys as props and was amazed at how many uses caution tape has.

Is there anything yummier than "dirt" brownies and worms in a truck? Yum. Yeah, it would have been prettier if I'd removed the foil, but I felt I couldn't get that truck clean enough after suspecting some of the things it had hauled!

Gummy worms are big hits with little boys.

Hard hats are, too.

They worked and worked!

Max told us he couldn't eat anything because he had a house to build.

We enticed him with cupcakes.

So he enjoyed a meal of...blue icing.

 I had a couple of activities. Only one was successful. When the boys arrived, I had a table filled with foam door hangers with foam stickers of construction equipment to put on them.  None of the boys seemed especially interested. However, they loved the outside activity.

The sign says, "Dig in" and each work site was staked out.

 

Armed with sandbox tools, the boys dug and dug to find three (Dollar Store) finds each.

It was so fun to watch them!  This idea would also be great for a pirate party and treasure hunt.

I didn't work them the entire time!

They took a few union required breaks...

 ...lounged around...

 ...swung in the swings...

...saw the sites...

...continued the team work...

 ...played with some toys...

 ...ran with balloons...
 
...had a mini fight club meeting...

The party was a hit with my little worker. Five months later, he still talks about it.

 

  A happy birthday boy? That's success.