"Cars/Cars II" Birthday Party

My son, James, just celebrated his 4th birthday this week and we threw him a pretty awesome Cars themed birthday party!  Kachow!

James and his friends had an absolute BLAST.  It warmed my heart every time he discovered a new party element and would say, "Oh, that's so cool!  Thank you, Mommy!"  I think he will remember this party for a long time... and so will I!

 The highlight of the party was the CAR WASH!  If you follow Kidspired Creations on Facebook, you may have seen me post, and repost, and repost this awesome idea (not my idea, by the way):  Deluxe Kid Wash. 

I used a hack saw, a power drill, and my mean arm muscles, and followed the instructions on the website.  All in all, it took me about an hour with two toddlers "helping" me.  The car wash was a huge hit!

I used strips cut from a plastic table cloth to hang from the entrance.  I also added pool noodles to the end of it by tying them on with zip ties.  James told me this was his favorite part!

 My absolute favorite part of the party was Flo's V8 Cafe Drive Thru!  Instead of pizza like we originally planned, we decided to do a  healthy lunch of PB&J sandwiches, apples, bananas, carrots, string cheese and goldfish.  The kids got to pack their own "to go" boxes inside of cardboard cars that I purchased from a local restaurant that uses them for their kids meals.

The adults got to make their own sandwiches so I had an assortment of meats, cheese, breads and add-ons for them to use.

I turned the kitchen island into a highway for the to-go cars to drive on.  I used black plastic table cloths that I got from the Dollar Tree and colored masking tape for the road lines.  I found cute logos online to print out for centerpieces and used orange cones (also purchased from the Dollar Tree), cut slits in the top of them, and stuck the signs in the slits.

We used the cardboard cars again for party favors.

James was fortunate enough to have TWO birthday parties (one in Oklahoma and one here at home) and his first party had a Cars II theme.  He got to go on a scavenger hunt as Spy Mater to help find his presents.  He had so much fun searching for different landmarks around the yard.

Another idea that I had that was ruined when it started raining, was my chalk-drawn road map.  I bought cars from the dollar tree for the kids to drive around on here, but the rain washed it away.  My secret for not getting chalk all over the kids?  A light layer of clear acrylic sealant spray or hair spray.  That'll keep the chalk from rubbing onto the kids, but even a light rain will wash most of it away.

I made this invitation on MS Publisher.  And the logo on the top on Paint!