My son has loved Lightning McQueen since he set eyes on him. Anyone else close to quoting the entirety of all three movies?
Here’s how I threw him a Cars themed birthday party:
Themed Food – I love tying the food to the theme. This adds an extra layer to the theme, makes it fun for the kids and lets you get creative with cute themed signs.
First, I start by browsing Pinterest for ideas. Once I have plenty of ideas – I plan out which ones will be the easiest AND the most budget friendly to make.
Side note – set your party time if you haven’t already because it’s helpful to base what types of food you are going to offer on what time the party is.
For example, I chose appetizers and snacks for my food, so I stayed away from having the party at a typical “meal” time. This way guests aren’t expecting to be fed breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Here are the foods I chose:
Lightning McQueen’s Steering Wheels – for this I found a pinwheel recipe I thought sounded good and one that I thought most people would enjoy. You can find it here.
Mack’s Macaroni Salad – I saw this done with Mac and Cheese. Honestly, that is the kid-friendly option. But I wanted the easier route – store bought macaroni salad. I should mention that the party wasn’t at our home, so logistics were a factor. I recommend going the mac and cheese route if you can plug in a crock pot during the party.
Sally’s Stop Lights – these were hard, not going to lie.
- Red Light = strawberries
- Yellow Light = Pineapple
- Green Light = Kiwi
I recommend doing green grapes instead of kiwi. The kiwi were slippery when trying to peel them. Most ended up in the trash from falling out of our hands. The pineapple was tricky too. Overall, it was difficult getting the fruit on the skewer, but I pulled off what I was trying to accomplish with it. That’s probably not my strong suite if I’m being honest. Others might find that task to be easy.
I also found checkered deli paper to place underneath a few of the trays. This added to the theme and was a cheap addition. You can find those here.
Mater’s Dip Sticks – These you can pick what you want the “dip sticks” to be. Here I purchased whole carrots and cut the long way. Then I also purchased pretzel rods. The reason for the rods instead of pretzel sticks was for the length to fit in a cup as pictured. Either would work though. For the dip – I just picked out a neutral, pre-made, flavored dip from our local grocery store (free printable ‘dip’ sign below).
Mater’s Nuts & Bolts – this one is interchangeable as well. You could make this work with any kind of snack mix or trail mix. Here I used regular Chex Mix. I also purchased fun, racing themed snack bowls for the Chex Mix to go in. I figured it would be a mess to try to scoop the mix onto a plate of other food. You can find the food boats here.
Mater’s Jumper Cables – simple and fun. Twizzlers as “jumper cables” was a hit with both kids and adults.
Luigi’s Casa Della Tires – this was fun to put together and the kids loved it! Adding this visually tied things back to the movie. However, I wasn’t thrilled about serving donuts while also having cake, but it was worth it.
To make this – I purchased three bags of chocolate mini donuts (Little Debbie, Hostess or store brand work). I only used two bags. Then I purchased one box of Entenmann’s donuts which are the bigger “tires” pictured. Next time, I would purchase the Entenmann’s donuts in the mini donuts so that the chocolate colors matched. However, that brand is pricier.
Flo’s Fueling Station –
- Allinol – this is in reference to Cars 2 with Sir Miles Axlerod and his alternative fuel. For this, I did pop. Keeping in mind the majority of our family attending and the flavors I knew they would drink.
- Red’s Water – bottled water
- Fillmore’s Organic Fuel – I let my son pick out two flavors of the Honest Organic Juice
Cake – My local grocery store had several Cars options I could choose from when ordering the cake. Naturally, I had to pick the option that came with toy cars on top. I found a pack of Lightning McQueen candles, here and the number 4 racing candle, here to top it all off.
Choosing Decorations – I start with the basics first. Tablecloths, plates, napkins and silverware. That doesn’t seem like decorations, but they are items that will be tied to the theme (if you choose) and you will see below there are ways to make them part of the theme/decorations.
Utensils–
- I chose black forks to go with the black & white racing pattern (with the food I served, spoons & knives were not needed)
- Fork holder – I used a canned vegetable can and wrapped it with the racing pattern that you can download below. I printed this on cardstock, cut out the extra white space and taped it around the can. Then I printed, cut and laminated the “hand tools” sign that I have also included below along with the “dip” sign
- I found the plates, napkins and speed limit sign on Amazon (links attached when you click on each item)
Tables –
- Pick out a tablecloth that best fits your theme AND color scheme. I didn’t get a good picture of my tablecloths, but you can find the link here
- I like to have a “centerpiece” that adds to the decorations, but also adults will be spending most their time at the table. I did caution cones with two racing flags coming out of them as pictured below. You can find those here. I purchased the customizable Cars logo from Etsy – printed & laminated to place on the cones. For fun, I found pictures of my son at various ages wearing Cars shirts to print off and place next to the cones. Here are the stands I used for the pictures. I also used them for the food labels. I threw a baby shower several months after this party – it was super helpful to pull these stands back out for that.
Extra Decorations – my go-tos for all other decorations include:
- Some type of hanging decorations (as pictured below)
- Photo booth back drop for pictures (as seen in my header picture)
- Hanging banner – I did mine above the gift table
- Fun sign for the gift table (pictured below and free download)
I thought it would be fun to make it like a “Parking” sign – but for gifts. I printed this, laminated it and hung it for guests to see right away and clearly that is where they should put their gifts.
Party Favors – rather than doing the typical gift bag for the kids to take home – I purchased wooden cars and paints. This doubled as a gift for them AND an activity to do while at the party. This is useful if you’re not having the party somewhere that has built in activities. You can find the wooden cars here. I made a sign that said “Ramone’s Paint Shop” to tie in the theme.
For more simple, but fun ways to throw different parties check out my other posts under “Party Planning.”