Mav's TOY STORY 4 Birthday Party

It's been a couple months since we threw this party, but it was too good to skip over documenting. It was honestly the best-decorated birthday party Mav has ever had (and I kind of have to say...he's always had pretty great birthday party decor ;). But this time I went ALL IN on the kid theme of his choosing and bought all the cheap theme-y party crap...and it was super fun.

Mav's FOURTH birthday + Toy Story FOUR...it was just too perfect.

I grabbed some yellow, green, and red table cloths and streamers from the Dollar Tree which give a really fun colorful PARTY vibe almost immediately. Plus, clean-up is a breeze because you just bundle them up and toss them...when stuff is only $1, you can afford to party like this.

This is the first balloon arch I've ever made (above), but it certainly won't be the last. I bought four packages of different colored balloons for $1/per package, and THIS was the result. It looked so awesome and made such a fun statement...for FOUR DOLLARS. I'll breeze over the fact that the fake Dollar Tree Command Hooks ripped the paint off my walls in three small spots (lesson learned). but this looked so awesome I'm only like 45% mad I need to get more touch-up paint out before Christmas decorating.

I bought our Toy Story napkins, plates, and plastic cups from The Dollar Store in Manson when I saw they had them...they weren't the cheapest paper product option, but it was a Toy Story birthday party...we needed the plates and napkins, and I figured The Dollar Store would likely be the least expensive place to purchase.

The rest of the Toy Story party decor came from the party aisle at Wal-Mart...I bought one banner that hung near the front door and then the big plastic picture that hung above the buffet was actually in a 'photobooth' package...each package was like $5 and it was all the Toy Story specific decor we needed to create the theme.

Our biggest 'party splurge' every year are these sugar cookies from Larita's Cakes 'n' More in Fort Dodge and I'm telling you...they were worth the hour and a half drive there and back to get them.

I raided Mav's toys to find things that are in all the movies...a Barrel of Monkey's hung from our chandelier...wooden ABC blocks spelled out his name...baby monitors + army men (which I thought was the most genius/hilarious thing I did and unless you've recently seen Toy Story 1, you forget how genius this really is!). I bought 100 tiny plastic army men from Amazon for insanely cheap. And nabbed a vintage-looking Etch-a-Sketch at Target when I saw it (I figured it would make a great car-toy, bonus it doubled as party decor!). Hot Wheel cars, Mav's Tonka Truck, cowboy hat + bandana, Toy Story 1, 2, and 3 DVD cases, and then the Buzz and Woody toys he received from his grandparents as gifts rounded out fun decorating! 

When I had the invitations printed, I also saved and emailed the print-shop some Toy Story 4 pictures I found on Pinterest...I had them printed at the same time, which was so easy and it was a great way to cheaply add more 'Toy Story 4' stuff around the house. The biggest picture I used as a little 'guest book' that I'll keep with some of Mav's other party cards and notes, stored away in his 'special stuff' tote in the basement.

The party-drama happened the week prior to the party as I was scrambling to find all the 'ingredients' to make our own homemade Forky's for the kid's craft. This was the ONE aspect of the party Mav had been talking about for MONTHS. He'd been telling everyone, "and we're going to make Forky's for my birthday craft!"...........guess who had no idea it would be IMPOSSIBLE to find plastic SPORKS?! This mommy. The week before the party I checked literally every store and restaurant and craft store in the greater Ames area to no avail. My time had run out to order on Amazon Prime (which I actually thought I had done the same day I ordered the white dough/clay for the base...dough arrived, sporks did not), so I ended up calling the KFC in Fort Dodge and asking if my parents could pick up 20 black plastic sporks on their way through town. I spent the night before the party spray painting black sporks white in our basement and if that isn't love for your child, I don't know what is.

But come ONNNNN. Look at how legit those Forky's turned out! I can't even believe it myself. If the sporks hadn't been such a headache, it would have been the easiest craft in the history of birthday party kid crafts.

Perhaps only children of a Toy Story generation will understand this, but I was probably the most thrilled with this stack of labeled boxes. IT'S LIKE THEY'RE ANDY'S MOVING BOXES YOU GUYS. My parents were like, 'ummm we just don't get it we haven't seen the movies in a while.' My Grandma Rose got to our house and said, 'Did you know you got a lot of big packages delivered today??' Three boxes my mom grabbed from work for free...my favorite party decoration.

I wanted to throw a classic kid birthday party, so we went all out and got a pinata. Mav didn't even know what it was or what to do with it. I filled it with this summers' parade candy, which I then forced our party guests to take home. It was genius and the kids (and daddies!) had fun with it.

We just love this little peanut and had the best time spoiling him on his birthday. He's so smart and special and awesome. Throwing a big 'ole party for him is the highlight of our year because he's just the best. And now he's FOUR!

MmB