Monster Truck Birthday

Well, it seems that when you turn 5, it is a HUGE deal. JT has been talking about his birthday since January. His birthday was March 24. I have had to hear about this birthday daily. "I am NOT inviting so-and-so to my birthday party because he tore my name tag." Not getting invited to someone's birthday party is obviously the worst of worst put downs when you are 4. He wanted monster trucks as the theme. Now, the kid doesn't even watch Monster Jam. I tried and tried to convince him to go with a cute theme. Pirates? No. Super Heroes? NO. Legos? NO! Ok, fine. Ugly monster trucks it is.
I was determined not to have a Gravedigger anything. The days of cute birthday parties is almost over. I plan to stretch it out as long as possible. Pinterest to the rescue. I LOVE Pinterest. Did I tell you I LOVE Pinterest? It took some searching, but I managed to pull together some cuteness. Etsy is a lifesaver for busy moms. I ordered everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. I am learning that my time and sanity is worth just letting someone else do something. It really did turn out cute, and he had a blast, which is what really matters. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have. I was busy hostessing! I never got pictures of the front porch that we decorated with checkered flag bunting. We also strung it up all over the inside of the house. Oh well!

 Waiting for his guests to arrive!

 Favor boxes. Oriental trader boxes filled with another checker flag, monster truck bubbles, a monster truck bouncy ball, monster truck tattoos, and a plastic wrist band with racing themed words stamped in. All from Oriental trading. A monster truck iced cookie, made by me. Awesome hang tags made by my friend in Idaho. When she finally opens her etsy shop, I'll share the link!

 Wall banner made by above mentioned friend. Table runner from the Dollar Tree. Safety cones from Oriental trader and some monster trucks. He loved the banner. I am thinking about hanging up the bottom part in his playroom.

 Spare tires, aka. chocolate mini donuts from Target! Stolen from Pinterest.

 I had planned on dipping these pretzel rods in chocolate, but ran out of time. Alas...

 The birthday boy in front of the gift table. We put his presents in the center of the table as they arrived. I love these checkered flag plastic tablecloths I found at the Dollar Tree. Love that place for party stuff!

 Custom Birthday Shirt from Etsy. How cute is this? I ordered it from shababe and the quality is excellent! I will definitely order more customs from her! He LOVED his shirt so much he has worn it to school 2x already!

 Invites made by another friend. If she decides to start selling her creations, I will link her too!

 Blowing out his candles. I probably should have just gotten a 5 candle because they didn't really want to fit!

 How awesome are these cupcakes? Toppers came from cookiecovers on Etsy. They came in a box that was pretty enough to be its own gift! My friend from Idaho made the checkered flag wraps.

Monster truck tire painting. We had planned to do an obstacle course outside, but it was raining! I had found several cute games but they were fine acting like wild children racing the monster trucks around the house. It was a hectic day, but so worth the stress. I would say he will always remember this birthday.