In honor of the big T-H-R-E-E, we celebrated with the only way we could… with FIRE TRUCKS! With a little online inspiration and some fun DIY, we were able to put together a fun fire truck themed birthday party! Keep scrolling to see what how we created his fire truck themed birthday party and how you can do this for your little one!
For Dylan’s birthday, we wanted to come up with a unique party space. We were tired of the normal birthday spots – Indoor Trampoline Parks, Indoor Play Areas, etc. Let me be straight – there is nothing wrong with these venues. However, we had gone to several birthdays back to back in a short timeframe so we were done. (Not to mention, some of the play areas were quite literally “back breakers” for anyone over 3 feet tall. Take two ibuprofen and see yourself to the couch. Oof.)
VENUE LOCATION
If you’re like me and you’d prefer NOT to host at your house, an appropriate venue is key. Lucky for us, we were able to host at a Fire Station. We had made calls to all surrounding town fire stations and landed with disappointment. We understood, of course, but with the theme of the party… we needed a fire station! Luckily, we found a VOLUNTEER fire station a few towns over. Our location was just what we needed!
The best part of hosting at the fire station? The opportunity for the kids to climb and explore the fire trucks! There were two fire trucks that the kids could climb on and explore inside and out. We were also able to use THE HOSE! There was a space where they had a working hose and a target to shoot water at – with the help of one of the volunteer fire fighters. The kids LOVED it! What’s even better, you won’t need to entertain the kids with games or activities!
The fire station was equipped with a large conference room where we convened for food and cake. We did minimal decorations since the venue quite literally was the theme. We could of done balloons or added festive garland, but we didn’t stay in the room for very long. Bonus – no added decoration expenses!
INVITATIONS
DIY-ing your invitations has never been easier with Canva. There are a lot of options to choose from in their FREE and Pro (paid) versions. If you’re new to Canva, they let you try out Canva Pro for 30 days… FREE!
Once you have your design created, purchase some card stock and print! I printed two copies on one 8×10 piece of cardstock and cut them down the middle. We were handing them out instead of mailing! If handing out isn’t your planned method, you can print on one side of a 8×10 and create a fold. Create your own “envelope” for the card by sealing the card stock closed with a cute sticker! Just check with your local post office on mailing costs and requirements! There are so many options!
OUTFIT
The only outfit option was a fire fighter themed outfit! The party was held in the fall and the temperatures allowed for us to be without coats. With that in mind, I opted to create a fire fighter inspired t-shirt. My DIY heart was extremely happy with this project. I used Canva to find the fire fighter emblem for the front of the t-shirt and created the t-shirts with my Cricut. I added a fire truck and spelled out “THREE” on the back. Paired the t-shirt with a white long sleeve shirt and a plastic firefighter helmet, he was good to go!
FOOD
For Dylan’s first and second birthday, I themed out the food with everything. Spent hours on the cupcakes, charcuterie boards, cookies, fruit cups… the works! However, this birthday, I didn’t want to stress about it. We went simple. I assume you expect the same here, all the Instagram-worthy themed perfectly food items, but we just didn’t.
What did we serve? Sandwiches, chips, fruit, cake and veggies and dip.
Sandwiches – We ordered the large party sandwhiches from our local grocery store. We had several sandwich options. We opted to have condiments on the side and the best part, the sandwiches were cut, ready to serve. Open the container and go.
Chips – We went to Costco and purchased their chip variety packs. It could have been more economical but with kids and germs, I thought the individual packs were better suited and provided a broader variety.
Fruit – We did two options for fruit. 1) clementines (whole and unpeeled) and 2) fruit salad with strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. I put the fruit salad in a large serving bowl where guests were able to take as much as they wanted. For one of the previous birthdays, I had purchased small individual cups with covers and portioned out the fruit salad. If you choose this option, just make sure you have a large enough container to hold these individual containers and extra room to transport.
Cake – I had these grand ideas of making the cupcakes like I had for Dylan’s previous birthdays. Planned on two different flavored cupcakes, a variety of themed toppings, etc. Let me tell you… ordering a cake from Costco is THE WAY TO GO. They offer different sizes, flavors and decorating options – balloons, flowers, etc. If that doesn’t sell you, we had multiple guests ask us where we got the cake! We had chosed the chocolate cake with red and blue balloons. The only change I would do different is to opt not to have Costco decorate the cake with a selected theme. Instead, I’d opt to decorate the top with options that I can add and more on theme.
PARTY FAVORS
With Amazon, there are a number of easy party favors you can choose. Toss them all in the bags and call it a day. However, if your soul lives on doing a little DIY, then, read on! Inspired by Dylan’s outfit, I decided to create fire fighter t-shirts for each of the kids to wear and purchased plastic fire fighter helmets. They came out perfect, if I do say so myself! And I do. haha 🙂 If you wanted to go the extra mile, you could even create your own logo to cover the ones on the plastic helmets. (I ran out of time, so that DIY never happened!)
T-shirts – I found multipack navy t-shirts from Amazon. For any one off sizes, I was able to buy from Michael’s. I bought during a sale and it kept the t-shirts costs just under $3.00 per child.
NOTE: I did ask the parent’s for their child’s t-shirt size in advance. It was helpful to be able to group the number of sizes I needed to order multipacks online.
Fire Helmets – The plastic fire fighter helmets were from Amazon. We had ordered and returned several. I found that these weren’t as flimpsy as some of the others.
The best part of these party favors – seeing the kids wear the t-shirts after the party!
FOR THE VOLUNTEERS
In addition to feeding our fire fighters, we also pulled together a THANK YOU gift basket with assorted goodies and treats. We had the best time and we wanted to make sure the volunteers felt appreciated! They were amazing from start to finish!
The party was a huge success! We had guests asking how we were going to top this party… and you know what, we will see what next year has in store! :). If you’re looking for additional inspiration, check out Dylan’s TWO-dles inspired birthday party!
Lastly, don’t forget to take a group shot. It’s a great memory to hold on to when your kiddo is older!
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