This past February, my oldest son Madden, turned SIX! Well, since the third Transformer Movie came out last summer, my boys have been obsessed! So I knew a LONG time before his party that we'd be doing a Transformer Theme.
Now if you know me, you know I DO NOT do a store bought birthday normally. However, this time around, I came across ALL the Transformer Birthday Supplies at Target on Clearance. Well, I bought it all. . . Dinner plates, dessert plates, napkins, masks, hats, banners, invites, wall decor, table decor, goodie bags, etc. And I didn't even end up using most of it in the end.
A couple weeks before his party, I was starring at the Dinner Plates and felt so un-creative. I just wasn't satisfied with a Store Bought Party. Its just not for me.
I noticed that there were gears on the border of the plate. I decided to run with it. Chose a main color scheme (yellow, red and gray) and I was on my way.
One of the things that I did in fact use and was very excited about was the 6 foot Optimus Prime that we got for FREE (yes, that word still exists) from Shopko. Now, don't tell them I told you, but all they do with those giant cardboard displays from movies is recycle them. So if you go in and ask, most likely they will be happy to have you take it. We ended up using it for Popcorn bags.
One of my favorite parts of this party was the "Refueling Station". If you have children, this table may look vaguely familiar. That is because it was a changing table. One of the old fashioned spindle kinds. I bought it for $5 on Craigslist. It was brown and ugly.
Using a jig saw, I cut the top front and back rail off. I also cut out all the spindles in the middle of the 4 main corners. Does that make sense? Then a quick coat of Metallic Spray Paint and I had myself a beverage table/dessert table, etc.
The Gears above the table are nothing but poster board cut out and taped to the wall. But it really dressed it up. I also made some mini bunting flags to hang from the front of this table. I really think its all the little extra things that separate good party decor to AMAZING party decor.
The plastic goody bags that I bought at the store are sitting in a box - unused. Instead, I bought silver paper gift bags at my local party store. Then, to dress them up, I simply printed out a little card done in photoshop. Using the Autobot symbol and Transformer Font, it said "Thank you for Transforming Madden's birthday into a great one!" I also printed out gray gears and hung them on the handles. Just another little special touch. Serves NO purpose whatsoever, but still awesome!
Here is a view of the whole room. Complete with handmade bunting flags. I will post a tutorial on how to make them soon. They are so simple though, it is just crazy. Its hard to see from this photo, but I used 3 different fabrics for the bunting flags, all in the red, yellow and gray color scheme. I was lucky enough to find Transformer Fabric at my local Walmart. Then i found a gray and white polka dot fabric and a red and black patterned one.
For the Family Party that night, we pulled out the water bottles and pop instead of the juice that we served to the little men. The labels on the water bottles are again, so easy to do and is just another added touch.
Happy Birthday Madden! I am so blessed to be able to see you "Transform" into such a wonderful little man!
