Brayden's 3rd Birthday-  Construction Zone At the entrance of our construction site (driveway), we put yellow and black balloons on the mailbox, a huge bow made from caution tape, and cones. We parked Manch's (Brayden's grandfather) truck in the driveway in front of the gate leading to our backyard. Manch (wearing a hardhat, tool belt and work boots)passed out work aprons (donated by Home Depot) and hardhats to Brayden's friends. For signs we used discarded campaign signs from a recent election (painted yellow and written on with black marker). We put one on our fence that read Hardhat Area, a sign that read Licensed by the City of Mobile, and a building permit sign stating the lot #, subdivision, street address, and builder (Brayden Meeks).  We also had a sawhorse painted orange and white with a detour sign pointing to the backyard. We had a dumpster painted green and made from a dishwasher box, a portable toilet (Meme's idea- a refrigerator box with a borrowed potty seat from Brayden's great grandmother), and a big plastic Igloo waterjug.  There was a wheelbarrow for his presents and one filled with ice and juice boxes for children and canned drinks for adults. We had two picnic tables covered with black plastic cloths with yellow lines (made from a yellow cloth).  Our roads (tables) were lined with construction vehicles.  Adult snacks were Nuts and Bolts in an empty paint can and brownies in a black paint rolling pan (both served with plastic shovels).  Brayden's cake was "Dirt" (recipe found in most cookbooks) and served in a big dumptruck with 3 cone- shaped candles. We had black and yellow balloons around the party area as well as caution tape and cones.  There were many designated work areas for the 3 year old construction workers. Each had a sign posted by the area (signs made as listed above). Brayden's tool bench playset was located by the sign that read Meeks' Depot. By our Caution Wet Paint sign we had houses made from appliance boxes(and painted yellow with doors and windows cut out) sitting on a huge dropcloth. Brushes, rollers, and paint cans (filled with Kool-Aid) were available for painting. By our Meeks' Architectural Firm sign we had a table with Legos and copies of actual house plans as well as paper and markers for designing ones own plan.  We put our Ball Pit outside and hung a big plastic beachball from the top. The sign by this area read Danger Demolition. We put out several ladders by our Climb Safely High Scaffolding sign.  We had a pile of small lumber by the Framing Area-Carpenters Needed sign. By our sandbox we placed a bag of unmixed cement and a sign that read Caution Wet Cement. Our sandbox ( a birthday present made by Brayden's Uncle Mike)is 9x10 and made from landscaping timbers. It hold one ton of sand and was filled with many types of play construction vehicles. The Roofing Area was an "A" frame made from 2 sheets of plywood and small scraps of shingles.  The guests used hammers to pretend like they were roofing. We have a lot of construction going on in our neighborhood and were given things like old shingles and scraps of wood. Brayden and his buddies (Mom and Dad too) had a wonderful time. Party treats were Bubble Bath in brown lunch bags decorated with truck stickers.