Bean is three! I can hardly believe it! To be honest, I’ve never felt like birthdays need to be such a big deal (perhaps because mine is so close to Christmas), but I had a blast planning his birthday this year. I just love doing themed parties!
Toy Story 2 is Bean’s absolute favorite movie right now, and although he’s had stuffed Woody and Buzz characters since he was an infant, it was time for him to get the “real ones”! We actually bought the big characters for him a long time ago but it became quickly apparent he wasn’t ready for them and needed something more squishy—something he could nap with and drool all over and throw around. (Actually, he still naps with the soft ones and the big ones are played with during the day.) Since I knew he’d be getting the big ones this year, the rest of his gifts just fell into place in theme. Any time I found something Toy Story throughout the year I picked it up! Thus we ended up with quite the assortment: Buzz and Woody themselves, some stickers, a floor puzzle, a Christmas book, a towel set, and a shower curtain (which was included in a Build-a-Fort set with clothespins, more shower curtains, and hanging lines).
Almost everything I could use for the party too!
For decorations I set out the floor puzzle and all the Woody and Buzz characters we’ve collected. I even hung his towel set in the bathroom! Then I also hung cowboy hats and bandanas on all the doors. I made curly streamers for the windows and taped on Buzz’s chest piece (found at Merriment Design—she also has a full set of printable photo booth props which I ended up not using, but would be awesome with older kids!) and some quotes (found at Over The Big Moon). Along with green streamers and purple and green balloons, it looked great!
For the table I put out a black tablecloth with glow-in-the-dark stars (which we later hung in his room and he LOVES). I found penguin chocolates at the Dollar Store, and an assortment of Buzz and Woody plates and napkins from different places.
For the “cake” we actually did a skillet cookie (since Woody’s a cowboy!). My husband just used our recipe for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies and cooked them in our large skillet (about 20 min. at 350). We served it with scoops of chocolate-vanilla-swirl ice cream!
For the game we played Pin the Tail on Bullseye! All the kids enjoyed it, even little Bird!
For the take away/thank you gift I found design-your-own travel mugs at the Dollar Store and sent them home with the kids along with some space stickers (and an extra penguin chocolate). My kids loved decorating them after the party!
All in all, another quite successful themed party! I’ve already started thinking about what to do this summer for Bird’s second birthday! Any guesses as to the theme?
(Don’t forget to check out my Pinterest boards where I’ve got LOTS of ideas pinned for so many themed parties, including lots of ideas that didn’t make it into this Toy Story party but would still be awesome for another one!)