If you too are planning a Monster Truck party you may have discovered there is not a lot out there. And, given I have never been the type to buy commercialized decorations, etc. for a party as I prefer them more unique to my children, my goal was to create a very boyish Monster Truck party. INVITATIONS: I searched and searched and searched and finally found some that I loved. On ebay there is a seller that makes the invites look like tickets. I was going to actually use the backstage ID badges as the invites and have them wear them day of but opted to just do the ticket version (Bella's personalized invitations...seller name canomoet). Very inexpensive as they are customized for 10 for $10. Copy is always a challenge for me so here is what I did. Roll on over to (name) 4th Birthday Monster Truck Bash. It's going to be a real smash! Date time and The X Arena (we had it at home so we used our last name). Did not need an RSVP line since it was just family but don't forget one if needed. ACTIVITIES/GAMES: We did the "Tire eating contest" where you tie sugar or chocolate mini donuts on strings and have the kids (and adults in our case) try to eat the donut with no hands. We strung all the donuts and also strung the string from our trellis ahead of time so all we had to do was have each child line up by a string measure donut to mouth they tie the donut string to the trellis string. "Mud Mash" we filled buckets of mud and had the kids reach in for a prize. We put Splat animals inside Easter eggs as the prize. Note: eggs do not sink:-) therefore figure out a way to package a prize so it sinks. "Build your own Monster Truck" you can buy these kits made by Creative Kids at JoAnns (use your coupon for 40% off) Target or Amazon. They are right around $20 for 4 trucks that the boys can paint and decorate (all supplies comes with kit). "Lip Balm Making" for the girls. Bought the kit at JoAnn's as well. We also bought a bounce house off Craig's list (paid less then what it is to rent for a day plus now we have it for holidays playdates parties) and have a backyard jungle gym so the kids were more than entertained. PARTY FOOD: Buy far the most fun. We grilled "Flat Tires" burgers had "Monster Medley fruit salad Tail Pipe pasta salad Potato Mash potato salad watermelon slices and chips. Each were labeled as the above buy using the tires (as the base of the sign) and sticks (as the flag pole of the sign if you will) from our Tinker Toy kit. I then cut out Black pieces of paper and stuck them in the wood slits. I bought oil pans to place the burgers in used a big metal drip pan for the lettuce tomatoes onions etc. oil changing bowls for all the salads. I left all the stickers on each that would read "oil pan" etc. for added effect. DECORATIONS/CENTERPIECES: The whole party was outside and this is how I set it up. One of the biggest hits of the party was an idea that came to me while trying to fall asleep a few days before the party. I first lined each of the banquet tables with black plastic tablecloths. I then took strips of sod (measure your plates first so you know how wide/long to cut the sod so there is room to eat) and laid it down the length of the table. I mixed up mud and let the kids go to town with putting mud on top of the grass sod (just make sure they do their best not to get it on the tablecloth so it is clean to eat on). Once they made some great mud mounds we added rocks/boulders and placed rows of cars with monster trucks on top (bought boxes of 6 cars and indiv. monster trucks that were the perfect size at Dollar Tree). The kids and adults loved this as the kids went right to town playing with the centerpiece. Each probably cost me $3 each as I called up a landscaper in the area and asked if he could bring me his scraps from his sod project. Plates and napkins were black but I actually did buy the orange yellow and black Monster Jam napkins for the kids. Opted to skip the balloons just because the party was on a Sunday and no place opened early enough and would have bought some racing flags if I could have ordered them in time. CAKE: Mimicked the centerpieces. I made a 13 x 9 x 2 (bigger than usual) double layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting (as the mud of course). It was huge given it was 4" tall. I placed some more cars monster trucks and plastic boulders on top as well and made it look like a Monster Jam. HIGHLIGHT: After two of my other contacts fell through I placed an ad on Craig's List asking if there was anyone out there with a monster truck who would be willing to stop and let the kids check it out and get pictures. Thankfully there are still some wonderful people out there who just want to help. I lucked out because the person who called me did work for search and rescue so his monster truck had sirens on it. Since it was a surprise when he came rolling down our street he started the sirens. All the kids ran outside and went crazy. He let my son start the siren and let all 16 kids pile in for a ride around the block as they sang Happy Birthday and screamed Faster! It  was the icing on the cake so to speak. And all he asked for was $20 gas money which of course was not nearly enough in our opinion. Afterwards he too joined the party. PARTY FAVORS: Monster truck tattoos from Oriental Trading and the rest of the goodies they made and reached in the mud for. The party was so inexpensive and such a complete blast to plan. Everyone had a fabulous time!    "