According to my last post (which was a LONG time ago) we just announced to the world that we are expecting our 3rd munchkin and I was in the throws of morning sickness. Well I have now surfaced from that 1st trimester "fun" and can now watch food commercials without feeling sick. YAY!!
My Anna turned 3 this month and she has been in love with everything Toy Story. Christmas was an explosion of Toy Story toys and that proved to be a very good thing for my decorating needs for Anna's party.
Wouldn't you know that all of the cute western themed scrapbook paper and decorations I've seen up till now magically disappeared! This happens with every birthday party and forces me to be more creative but this time I wanted to not have to be very creative!
I did turn to Etsy for party invitations, which I had never done, and I think I am now hooked. It was SO easy and the results were adorable. I would definitely recommend it.
The birthday banner is made of bandanna's with a piece of paper glued to the back of them to make them more stiff. I cut out the letter from brown construction paper and used a Toy Story stencil to make the characters for both ends. Hemp string and clothes pins held the banner together.
I got the inspiration for the cake from various images of Toy Story cakes I gathered online. It was a Devil's Food cake with store bought icing that I tinted for the top layer. I cut the cow spots and clouds from fondant and used some of Anna's toys for the topper. It was very easy to do and Anna absolutely LOVED it.
Jessie hat cookies
Cowboy hat jigglers
Mr. Potato Head Creation Station
The kids made their own Mr. Potato Head's from foam cutouts. We had ears, nose, arms, mustache, lips and googly eyes. The kids loved being able to take their own Mr. Potato Head home with them.
Party favor station
*Balloons came from Oriental Trading Co.*
Cowgirl cookie mix
Each family took home a jar of Cowgirl cookie mix. I got this idea from Bakerella and the parents loved having something to take home with them as well.
Kid's party favor
Each kid took home a bandanna filled with Toy Story memorabilia. This was extremely simple to put together. Walmart and Michaels were my places to get bandanna's.
The party came together very nicely and it was the perfect theme for my spunky Anna. The one piece of advice I would give to those of you throwing a party based on a licensed character or movie would be to think outside of the party box. I pulled the western theme from Toy Story and I've read of some people pulling the outer space theme from the same movie. Just be creative and you'll be surprised at the results.
