Once a theme was decided, Pinterest became my new best friend. I spend more hours than I would like to admit looking at all of the ideas for a Toy Story party. Truthfully, I was completely overwhelmed at some of the blogs claiming to throw a Toy Story party on a small budget. I was excited to find a toned down version, only to be wondering how in the world did they have that type of party on a small budget?? You can easily get sucked into all of these great party planners and bloggers having everything perfect, but realistically, I just wanted a fun, economical themed party for my son.
I made my son's invitations on my computer and then sent them to be printed. This was the most expensive cost, but I always order them during the holiday specials to get a discounted rate. I ordered the invitations in a 5x7 size and then framed one of the invitations for a party decoration.
In previous years, I always bought everything themed for the party. Plates, cups, napkins...you name it, it had a theme and we also paid a lot of money for them too. I finally realized how much of a waste it was to buy everything that we ended up using once and never had a use for again.
For the Toy Story party, we worked with a theme of colors. Mainly red and blue with some green and purple mixed in. We purchased red and blue bowls for the cake and ice cream and bought red solo cups for drinks.
I actually had bandana fabric left over from another project, so I used the red bandana fabric for the cake table and the present table and then used a blue and red fabric for the table to eat at.
Even if you don't have fabric in your home that works, you can easily find some cheap fabric on sale at your local fabric store that is sure to match your theme! I would recommend a fabric that can be used again or used for a project later. The fabric washes nicely and can be re-used for another project.
Since my son is a huge fan of Toy Story, he had several Buzz Lightyears, Woody's, and Mr. Potato Heads around so they made easy decorations around the house. My son loved being able to dig out all of his Toy Story toys and being able to see them displayed around the house. Since we didn't have any army men, we did purchase some for the sole purpose of the party. However, I highly recommend buying them at a dollar store. I was able to find a package of at least 50 army men for $1.00!
We also had red balloons left over in the house, so they matched our theme perfectly. You can also easily get solid colored balloons at a dollar store or grocery store. I always used to buy balloons from a party store, but no one ever paid attention to them and they ended up in the garbage soon anyway!
For a banner, I made my own using cardboard and twine. Fortunately, my son's birthday is 4 days after Christmas, so we tend to have many cardboard boxes around the house! I cut out small pieces of cardboard about 4x6 in size. I then painted each piece of cardboard in coordinating Toy Story colors. Once dried, I painted each one with a letter for "Happy Birthday Noah". Each letter was then attached to a piece of twine using a fabric loop on the back of the cardboard.
I also printed out the Toy Story drawings from Andy's room from here and hung them on the wall near the main table.
Now before I continue, I do have a small disclaimer. Everything for the party was a minimal cost for us, however, I own a bakery and made his cake myself. If you chose to have a cake like this one, it would cost you quite a bit more!!!
However, if you want to make your own cake, my easiest suggestion would be to make a 9x13 cake and color your frosting any color that matches the theme. I found 2 of the Toy Story characters at the dollar store (Jesse and Rex) and the other characters I found together at Target for $16.99. The characters were a perfect size and weight to sit on top of the cake!!
I did have a few games planned, although most of the kids were 4 and under and had no desire in playing anything beside the toys in the play room. I did realize later that the games I had planned were a little more difficult, so these would be great for older children.
One game was dropping army men into a cup. We placed a SOLO cup on the floor and the kids stood on the 2nd floor over the railing from the loft. They each got a turn trying to drop an army man into the cup. It was a lot harder than we thought!!
The other game had even less interest, so I don't have any pictures, but it was tossing a snake into a boot. We had a rubber snake from the toy box and a boot from our closet. The kids were supposed to try to get the snake into the boot. I guess the new toys from Christmas were just too exciting!
After opening presents and having cake, the kids were definitely tuckered out and had a great time at the Toy Story party! Upon leaving, each kid received a Toy Story themed Pez dispenser as a thank you for coming. I was able to find 1 dozen of these Pez dispensers here for a the same price or even less for what we usually pay to fill a goody bag for each kid!!
It was definitely a great feeling to see the kids enjoying the party and knowing that we spent much less on a party with just a little creativity!
Blessings!
Toy Story is definitely a great choice for a theme because a lot of kids, especially those at his age, are fond of this movie. Your birthday banner is definitely my favorite. You even matched it with Woody’s uniform; that’s very creative. :) Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteNita Digirolamo
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not easy to throw a party on a tight budget, but I think you did a great job with your Toy Story theme! The invitation was wonderful and the cake looked like it was made thoughtfully for the celebrant.
ReplyDeleteCarlene Boley