A TOP GUN BIRTHDAY PARTY

Exactly a month ago, we threw a Top Gun birthday party for Maverick Wesley James Boersma, and it was so much fun. I never knew decorating for boy birthday parties would be such a thrill, but it always is (at least for the past two years it has been!). Here are some of the ways I keep throwing birthday parties simple, easy, fun, and pictures of all my ideas thrown in.

This is something I saw on Pinterest last year before Mav's first birthday and felt like it was too easy/good to NOT do again...planning on keeping this picture number-thing going until he hits double digits.

While Mav was napping in the afternoon leading up to the party, I quick Googled some quotes from Top Gun and filled my chalkboards with them. Chalkboards are such easy decorating.

Not that anyone could hear it once everyone was inside and we were opening presents, but the soundtrack to the movie was playing in the background at the party...and it included my favorite high school pep band song, Danger Zone. #perfection

1. Minimal Pinteresting

I had in the back of my head that this birthday party would be a Top Gun party for...ohhh...about a year. Because I'm a psycho, but also because mulling it over for that long makes EVERYTHING so much easier for Future Mollie. For example, if I see camo foam airplanes for $2.99 at Hobby Lobby, I just buy them when I'm there in June and save them in the 'birthday pile' for a few months...I don't have to make a big deal out of going birthday party shopping in the weeks leading up to the party if I've slowly brainstormed and gathered stuff as I see it.

But more about Pinterest...I basically use Pinterest like Google these days when I'm working on something specific. No mindless scrolling. No obsessing over weddings that will never be mine. I searched Top Gun birthday parties, pinned a few things, made my own invitations with an image from Google Image Search and got to work.

2. Two Hours MAX

I don't know about you, but kid birthday parties are a WHIRLWIND. So much family. So many different things happening...all while trying to make sure my focus is making sure Maverick is having a good time. I find that two hours is all I can handle of this. I make sure there is an END TIME on the invites so the fam knows I won't be entertaining and feeding everyone all night long. There are times I love doing that, but immediately following Mav's birthday parties...I don't. I just want to spend time enjoying our birthday boy and his new toys and birthday treats.

Also during Maverick's afternoon nap the day of the party, I Google Image Searched 'Top Gun' and came up with gems like this...so I printed them off in black and white and propped them all over.

3. Easy Food

Maverick and I went to Sam's Club the week before his party and picked up all of his favorite things. Here was the 'menu' for the party:

Veggie Straws
Fruit pouches
Cheese-Its
Fruit snacks
Twizzlers
Fruit Roll-Ups
Airplane Cookies
Water
Capri Sun

It literally couldn't have been easier. This is all kid-food, obviously...but Mav has quite a few cousins and had a bunch of buddies coming over later in the week for a little Mom+Mav's friends birthday party so it was all stuff I could just pull back out two days later. And what adult doesn't love Fruit Roll-Ups? It was a good mix of sweet and salty and the three dozen cookies we ordered were a HIT like always...gone in less than two hours. Mav ate three, so he obviously approved of my lack of slaving over his birthday goodies. The party was from 4-6, so I wasn't responsible for feeding anyone their actual 'supper'...it was just birthday party snack food!

4. Outsourcing 

I realize this isn't every one's mantra, but there are certain things that are better left to other people, depending on your capacity and skill set. For me this looks like ordering cookies and a smash cake from a Fort Dodge bakery for less than it would cost me in materials/time/effort to make them. It also looks like putting certain family members in charge of making sure grandmas have coffee and are mingling (ie: Jamie's job was to make sure G'ma Phyllis in the wheel chair had enough coffee and attention while everyone was outside admiring the sandbox when she wasn't able to). It means asking your dad to take out the trash whenever it's needed because dad's are just so good at taking out the trash. It's not lame to ask for help. It's lame to stress yourself out over doing too much stuff when you could have just asked for help.

This is me being so easy going that Josh is putting together a mini-bike and then riding it around the neighborhood a half-hour before grandparents start arriving (they will always come early, be prepared). He still needed to shower but he has so much stupid fun with that thing I don't even care.

5. Decorating Shouldn't be Stressful

I know I KNOW, I am a little over the top in this department, but it's the part I love doing. I served Veggie Straws at the party for heaven's sake...it's not like I go crazy over everything. ;) I skip the balloons and streamers and decorate our buffet and one table. I didn't even do any crafting! For this party I purchased the following decor:

Camo airplanes to send home as party favors from Hobby Lobby
'MAV' balloons from Hobby Lobby
Mini airplanes from the Dollar Tree
Large vintage airplane from Hobby Lobby

Everything else was borrowed from around the house, Josh's Man Cave, or pulled up from the basement after not being used/worn in 20+ years (Uncle Dan's Marine Camo clothes). I printed some card stock, colored, Instagrams with our computer to make the '2' on the chalkboard, set out all of Mav's Shutterfly books from the past two years, and that was IT! Seriously, it came together in less than an hour and I was a little bummed.

If I'm buying something for a party, I like to make sure it will have more than one use/purpose. This year I bought two glass serving bowls and one trifle dish...which I had ZERO of in my cupboards. It's always a problem when it comes time to serve at meals/events and I was tired of it. So I picked those up at Wal-Mart the week before the party for less than $10/each. I didn't include that in my shopping list because they're things we will use forever.

As a last-minute thing I hung my Vintage American flag outside on the garage and parked Josh's mini-bike in front of it for sort of a 'photo booth'...I'm not sure if anyone took pictures there but me and Josh, but it was cool to see when people walked up our driveway to the house. We didn't get to the smash cake DURING the party, but we did try it on Monday after nap and it went terribly which was so hilarious. And more low-key without everyone there WATCHING. But I got a bunch of great pictures of Mav crying at his cake in front of the flag and the mini-bike. ;)

The 'finale' gift was the sandbox we got for Maverick filled with some sand toys from us and Jamie. After the snacks and the gift-opening we all hauled outside to play in the hot tub, hang out on the deck, and play in the sand box. Josh spent the party giving rides on his new mini-bike. We packed a lot of activity into a small house and a small amount of time, but I loved it that way! Two hours went by SO FAST and I know our sweet-two-year old had a blast with all his cousins and grandparents at his house to play all at once.

The look on his face while they're singing to him. I die.

My plan was to casually mention to the family members who had stayed that we would be doing supper at Hickory Park with whoever wanted to join. This was a way for me to not literally kick people out of my house, but to 'end' the party with something that didn't involve me cooking a meal for 25 people. I like to creatively think through logistics like this well in advance.

I've tentatively planned that we will always do Mav's party the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, followed by a fun day-trip activity on Monday when everyone has work off. The past two years we've done the zoo and that's been really fun, but I have my sights set on the Science Center and Adventureland in the next couple of years when afternoon nap isn't such a MUST.

In case you missed what we did for Mav's birthday party last year, here's the rundown:

Invites
Decorating
Food
Games + Activities

MmB