As you might have seen via Instagram, I went back and forth on throwing Walker a true birthday party for weeks. The original plan was to skip a big party and celebrate with the family, but then of course he asked for a ‘big construction party’ about a month before his birthday. We ultimately decided to go for it, because honestly he doesn’t ask for much and it was the first birthday that he asked for something specific. We’ve done both big parties and more experience-based birthdays for Capri, like Disneyland, and both are great. I definitely won’t be throwing my kids these elaborate parties each year, but it was fun to have Walkie’s first true party.
We went with the Dirty 3rd-y theme with all things construction. He truly had the BEST day with his friends and family. As always, my family was a huge help and basically took over my house for the weekend to set up / clean up.
I know a lot of you are into this theme or have birthdays coming up, so I’m breaking down all the details. LMK if I forgot anything! I also made an IG highlight of everything.
SET-UP & VENDORS
+ We used Studio Restore for the cake backdrop and custom tool belts, which served as our ‘goody bag’.
+ The mini diggers from Book Mini Digger were a huge hit with the kids. They essentially bring everything you need and it was a cute interactive experience.
+ We used Lux Inflatables for the custom bounce house & ball pit. Honestly, the kids always spend the most amount of time on these things at parties, so definitely recommend them.
+ Gather & Pop did the amazing balloon arches.
+ I got some pretty insane quotes to build the custom hard hat boards, etc. but ended up asking my handyman who was much more affordable. My dad also helped with building.
+ As for the cake, food display, and other random decor, it was mainly my mom and I, with help from the family. My mom always has a vision and is the most creative person.
OTHER DETAILS
+ I got a lot of the smaller decor, like trucks, cones, construction tape, etc. from Amazon and linked things here.
+ We had mini construction vests and hard hats for each of the kids to wear if they wanted. We added everyone’s names to the hats, too.
+ My outfit is linked here. I originally had a cute outfit with construction boots, a hat, etc. picked out for Walker. Of course, he wanted to wear old sweats and a random shirt, which whatever. I choose my battles.
+ We served easy kid & adult food, like hot dogs, pizza, Dino nuggets, fruit, salad, chips, etc. Honestly, it’s all the kids want and it makes life so much easier than trying to do anything boujee. We also had canned cocktails and beer for the adults – again, kept that simple. We served water in these truck cups and wrote all the kids’ names on them to make them feel special.
+ My mom set up a mud pie activity, where the kids could make and then eat their creations which was cute for all ages.
+ We also brought out a bunch of the trucks Walker already owned so that kids could play with them in different areas. I noticed that a lot of the younger siblings who couldn’t walk or bounce played with the trucks for hours, so an easy little tip: bring out toys you already own & kids will be thrilled.