HOME TOUR

How is Kai 4 already?! Weren’t we just sharing his 3rd rocket ship birthday on here? Gosh I blinked, we jaunted through the holidays and now it’s time to share his sweet race car party with you all with pictures by Ruth Eileen Photography. When Kai decided he wanted a “race car birthday” I inwardly groaned. Like you, I was thinking black and white checkered flags, bright red race cars–the typical race car decor. And there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not quite my jam and I was secretly hoping he’d want what I deemed “a cute or unique theme” like his adorable Brown Bear Party.

RACE CAR THEME

So I waited for him to change his mind. Maybe prefer something a bit more interesting for momma to plan, like jungle animals. I imagined a paper leaf jungle canopy or cute animals wearing party hats. But the sound of a 3 year old “car engine” interrupted my day dream. Come on dude, something, anything else. But race cars…well it seems like every little boy out there has wanted a race car party at some point and Kai NEVER changed his mind despite his mom’s subtle hinting.

So I got on Pinterest to pin away and was surprised that all I was really seeing were black and white checkered flags and red race cars. The occasional vintage race car party was thrown in there. I liked those ones more so that was the direction I headed and my “Aha” moment happened when I found a 16 x 24″ vintage racing poster from 1936 Monaco. The colors were muted, the car unique and I thought, this will be my jumping off point. Whether it’s a room design or party, find yourself a jumping off point.

Over time I collected vintage race cars off Etsy, a cool old racing trophy, found a second poster to match the first for the dessert table and created a muted soft beige stripe, blue/green and gold fabric bunting garland to go across the family room. As far away from checkerboard as you can get.

STATIONARY

As we inched closer to Kai’s special day, I found a sweet new-to-me artist, Crystel Bay Design, with amazing watercolor art off Instagram and asked her if I could use her watercolor vintage race car for the signage and invitations. She was so sweet to work with me on the color and design and has some amazing watercolor art that would be adorable in a kid’s room. The vintage race car was perfect. I used PicMonkey to make the invitations and signs.

KID’S TABLE

I found vintage replicas of old oil cans from a seller on Etsy which I filled with flowers and put on the kid’s table. It doesn’t look like that shop is still open. So print off these labels from this seller on Etsy and wrap them around cans to get the same look. We used our wood kids tables you’ve seen in past parties. These were the best investment. Solid wood, a beautiful unfinished color and adorable for parties. If you plan on throwing parties for your kiddos throughout the years these kid-sized tables and chairs are great to have on hand. It looks like the style we have isn’t available, try this one instead.

Kai wore a vintage race car tee shirt I had made on Etsy. I asked the designer to remove the checker flags and name so it was just the vintage race car. He looked so cute in it. It looks like it isn’t available anymore. Try this adorable sweatshirt, this cute shirt, or this adorable baby outfit.

DESSERT TABLE

I love dessert tables. They are the making of childhood memories. When else do you get a table full of treats? The sweetness of parties at their finest.

I had a local bakery, White’s Bakery, make the cake and cupcakes with just simple buttercream frosting. Decorating my own cakes and cupcakes at home insures it turns out more like the image in my head and it’s cheaper. No one likes all the food dye anyways.

I tied vintage velvet ribbon to skewers to make “flags” and added some of the vintage race cars and a sparkler number 4 candle to the cake. Simple and lovely. I found an online store, The Chocolate Vault, that makes chocolates in all different designs and they actually had vintage race cars! They were adorable nestled right on top of the cupcakes. I added chocolate melts to oreo cookies to make “hub caps” and filled glass jars with chocolate balls.

PRETTIEST COOKIES OF ALL TIME

But what would a party be without a gorgeous sugar cookies by Honey Lou Baking Co. Sweet Eileen is the master of absolutely, jaw-dropping cookies. Literally too pretty to eat. I love to give her a design board and just watch her creativity go.

I was speechless when she brought these beautiful cookies over. If you are in the Boston area, she’s now teaching cookie decorating classes which is on my agenda for the new year.

DIY RACING TRACK

Kai has a mid-November birthday and in New England it can be WAY too cold by this time of year for any outdoor activities. Kai really wanted a bounce house but the forecasted high was only 37 degrees. Too cold to want to jump outside. Therefore, knowing that the weather is always a wild card, hubby created this amazing racing ramp for the kiddos to play with inside inspire by some pinterest pictures. And it couldn’t have turned out any better. We had Home Depot cut a cheap 1/4″ plywood board to roughly 3ft x 6ft. He then nailed 2x3s across the board evenly spaced to create racing lanes. Using 3 more 2x3s cut to 30″ long he nailed them to the base of the top of the board so it became a freestanding sloped ramp. Using a drill bit the same size as the wooden dowel, we added two dowels to the top and bottom so I could create a “start” and “finish” banner. Next I painted the lanes black with white stripes and the sides a soft hay color. You need very little paint, the sample paint colors at Home Depot worked perfectly.

I found these adorable old time derby cars on Amazon and bought enough for each child to take home. So during the party the kiddos raced them and then they got to pick one to add to their goodie bag.

PARTY FAVORS

Every kiddo loves a party favor. They’re loot representing a good time. I had the Etsy shop Finch and Fox create these cute favor bags with their vintage race car. They customized the colors for me and it ended up being the perfect size for those derby cars, some stickers and a cookie. Or add these cute bubbles I found.

PARTY FOOD

We had Chipotle cater which is a treat for the adults and easily satisfies the kiddos. I made sure to have other options on hand for those pickier eaters. Consequently I made these adorable “race cars” out of apple slices and grapes. They were a huge hit and got the kiddos eating fruit and asking for more. We also had string cheese and popcorn.

After lunch but while those cute kiddos were still sitting, we lit the candles and sang to the birthday boy. Happy birthday Kai.

RACING MEDAL CRAFT

Last but not least, any entirely indoor birthday party needs an activity. I set up the breakfast nook with a vinyl tablecloth and found these cute medal-shaped wood pieces in the dollar section of Michaels. The kiddos used glitter glue, stickers and markers to color. A few days before I used puffy fabric paint to write “number 1 racer” on them.

Happiest birthday little boy. It’s an honor to watch you grow. And a huge thank you to my dear friend Ruthie, Ruth Eileen Photography, for capturing these gorgeous pictures. Seriously, from family photo shoots to events she’s a-mazing and worth every penny not having to worry about capturing these special, once-in-a-lifetime moments. Kiddos grow too fast and these years are too short.