The Color Red
My oldest is OBSESSED with red. Whenever there’s a color choice, I don’t ask, I just give him the red one. Plates, utensils, balls, toys, etc. When I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted, all he said was “red”. I was going to just do a color theme for the party, but then I came across the fire truck idea.
What little boy doesn’t love fire trucks? (Or really any kind of vehicle) And firemen are their/our heroes. I gotta say, the red food and drink in our new white kitchen gave me a little bit of a heart attack, but I’m happy to report that we came away stain-free!
The Fire Station
I don’t know if this is just a Maryland thing, but the fire stations around here will actually give group tours. Couldn’t hurt to throw a little knowledge on the side of the entertainment, right?? I called a few weeks before the party to schedule our tour. The woman I spoke with was very friendly and explained there’s always a chance that the tour could be cut short by an emergency call. Makes sense.
When we showed up at the station, I expected to see this nice woman at some sort of front desk. Little did we know, there’s no front desk at a fire station…. The firemen themselves greeted us at the door and took us through the station. Unbelievable!
There were only two firemen there at this specific time, and they were incredibly gracious to allow us into their space and show us around. As expected, there was an emergency call while we were there, so we even got to see one of the men slide down the pole to get to the truck. We are so grateful for those two men and all the others who choose that path… So cool that the kids got to see some of these heroes up close and in person!
Party Time!
This vintage fire truck seemed to be all over, but this one is from Houzz. Just a small part of the decor, but it’s sort of what the party was designed around.
These little napkin-holders are SO CUTE… I found them on Etsy (link here). One of the pieces of decor that I’m holding onto, even though the party’s over. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them, but they’re too pretty to toss.
The banner (link here) and cake topper (link here) are more Etsy finds. I thought the color of both were perfect, and the quality was great. The banner will be another piece I hang onto. Totally would’ve kept the cake topper too if I was able to fully clean the cake off the sticks.
If you look closely, you’ll notice that there’s glitter… As previously mentioned, you know I have to get some glitz in there where I can:)
The Menu
There were some really cute food ideas that went with the fire truck theme…. I just didn’t end up using any. Super cute idea of doing “Stop” (gobstoppers), “Drop” (gum drops), and “Roll” (tootsie rolls) for the party candy, but none of those are red. Also, they sound a little like choking hazards. The other common thread was spicy stuff to go with the “hot” idea, but I’m not really a fan of spicy.
We just went with crowd pleasers and as much red as possible. We had sandwiches, fruit skewers, chips, and a salad. The cake was an ice cream cake which never fails.
Cookies
I promise, I’m not kidding myself into thinking I’m artistic when it comes to desserts. I have major respect for the people I know who can turn cupcakes, cookies, and cakes into art. It’s an incredible talent that I envy.
I know that they aren’t the best looking thing at the party, but don’t judge a book by its cover. They taste incredible! One of my favorite recipes passed down from my mom. They take a really long time to make, so I don’t make them often… That, and because I don’t think it’s fair to the other cookies… “Friends” anyone?? 😉
Cookies were added into the plan a little late, so it was on me to make them. Since I knew they wouldn’t look like art, what was my goal with these cookies? Make sure they don’t look like penises.
The Bar
A bar may not seem “appropriate” at a child’s late morning/early afternoon birthday party, but hosting a kids’ event can sometimes be a bit stressful. I think it’s a good idea to offer a mix of kid-friendly and adult-friendly beverages. The chaos is always a little easier to handle while drinking a cocktail:)
This punch was red and awesome. Easiest thing ever. I came across the recipe here, and it’s literally just sprite and sorbet. I went with the reddest sorbet I could find, but you can change the flavor of the sorbet to fit your own color scheme.
Champagne and a few liquor options were served alongside the punch for people wanting to make it “adult”. I tried mixing it with both champagne and vodka… Someone had to be the guinea pig, so I made the sacrifice… The champagne version was seriously amazing. I could’ve drank that all day. I wasn’t as big a fan of the vodka option which surprised me. Sprite and vodka is my go-to drink, so wouldn’t adding sorbet just make it better?? Anyway, everyone drank and loved the punch, even without adding any booze.
All the little signs and water bottle labels are another find from Etsy (link here). They fit the vintage look we were going for and turned out great!
“Thank you” Gift Bags
Putting the gift bags together is always one of my favorite parts. As soon as I knew we were going feet first into the red theme, I knew I wanted a candy buffet. I know three jars isn’t a big display, but there wasn’t a large enough guest list to warrant more… I’m already getting sick of eating the leftover candy, and I NEVER get sick of candy.
Most of what I put in the gift bags were just little things I found on Amazon. Pull-back fire trucks, little notepads, and tattoos. My favorite thing in the gift bag was the bubble wand from the same Etsy shop as the napkin holder (link here). Bubbles are a kid crowd-pleaser, and I can’t get over my love for those little fire trucks.
The jars are filled with mini reese cups, m&m’s, and swedish fish. Scoops and little bags were provided to fill up and add into the gift bags. There were cookies leftover, so I wrapped those up to send in the gift bags as well.
Party Activities
Per usual, I never get enough pictures of the action. If you have kids, you know that a kid activity takes about an hour to set up, an hour to clean up, and provides about 60 seconds of entertainment. And during that 60 seconds, you’re running around trying to make sure that nobody gets hurts.
Our trip to the fire station was obviously the biggest party activity, but we also hung a fire truck piñata and filled up a bunch of water balloons. The piñata was impossible to break, so that took awhile. Water balloons were thrown about 3 feet and all broken within 5 minutes. The good news? We were so busy the rest of the time, that seemed to be enough activity for the kids (and adults!). I think everyone took a nap that day…
Picture perfect!