My son, Bryce, turned 1 this past December (2000) and we had a very hard time finding a theme for his party.
We wanted something boyish, but most of the traditional 1st birthday party theme's (i.e. Winnie the Pooh, Looney Toones, Barney, Teletubbies) were television related and he's not really into T.V. yet. My husband and several members of our family are in the construction business, so we decided to throw a Construction 1st Birthday and it was a HUGE success! I think the adults had as much fun as the children. First, I ordered a BirthdayExpress.com pak with everything as far as decorations, invites and cake toppers. Then we headed to Home Depot for nail aprons ($1 each), masking tape ($.78 each) and small paint brushes ($.43 each)for each child. We also bought a big roll of Caution tape and a large blue construction tarp. Next stop was the dollar store where we purchased each guest a construction tool -- there were jigsaws, grinders, drills and other assorted kinds -- that actually worked! I also bought a few tapemeasures, safety glasses, torpedo levels, air filter masks, toy trucks, poster board, crayons and markers from the Dollar Store. We rounded-up several orange cones, large cardboard boxes, and paper towel rolls from friends and family. I bet you're wondering what we did with all of this! Everyone thought I was nuts! We spent a night spraypainting the boxes in colors that matched the partyware. When the kids arrived, they were handed their own hard hat (found at BirthdayExpress.com or the Dollar Store) with name on it and a nail apron stuffed with the tape measures, paintbrushes, masking tape and construction "tool" in it. We set up the tarp with the spraypainted boxes and roped it off with caution tape and cones to form a "Construction Zone". We premade simple posterboard windows, doors and trees just to get the kids started. The kids AND parents had a blast turning the boxes into a small village complete with a post office, park, and several trucks made from the smaller boxes and cut-up pieces of the papertowel rolls for wheels! One little girl even added a church and another boy made a drive-in theater! We were amazed at the creativity the kids had with just plain boxes! I would not recommend this activity for a group of one-year olds, but my son has a four-year-old sister whose friends attended the party. Bryce had a blast and I am so happy that we picked this theme for him because he has been fascinated with anything on wheels since he was able to see past his nose. For the party meal, we made brown paper sack lunches (we decorated the bags in advance with caution tape and Tonka Truck stickers). For the kids, I ordered cookie cutters from cookiecutterfactory.com in the shape of a saw, hammer and tow-truck and made them peanutbutter and jelly Construction cut-out sandwiches, bag of chips, juice box and apple. They loved it! They felt just like "workers" on their lunch break. For the adults, we just ordered a 6 foot party sub and gave them brown bags with sodas, chips and apples. The guys that work in construction we especially thrilled that we carried the theme that far! Next we had a Bulldozer piņata (also purchase from BirthdayExpress.com). This was so fun! Bryce even took a few swings, threw down the stick and clapped for him self he was so happy! The cake was ordered from a local bakery and had various construction vehicles on it, Oreo cookie crumb "dirt" and piles of chocolate and jellybean rocks loaded into the bulldozers! The kids took home favor boxes filled with construction vehicles, safely lights, and construction stickers that we purchased from the same birthday site. But the best favor they took home was their construction creations that they made out of the boxes and their aprons filled with tools they can use to construct with at home! A week later parents are still calling to say how much fun THEY had! Now everyone is expecting a big event for my daughter's 5th birthday in September....any suggestions???????
