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My sweet little guy turned three this month and all he asked for was a firetruck party.  Well honestly, he asked for a real hose and a real ladder…He went into great detail about all the things he would do to our home with a hose & a ladder.  I told him unfortunately that we couldn’t give him those things but that we could have a fun firetruck themed party.

I came up with a firetruck invite, thank you note & return address labels to set the theme for our little party.  On a side note, I think it is always a great idea to go ahead and plan for your thank you notes to coordinate with the party.  Plus it makes it easier when it comes time to write thank you notes to have everything all together.  This year we told Anderson that he had to write (well really color) his thank you notes before he could play with his new gifts.  Needless to say, he was very eager to sit down with me at the table and talk about being thankful for the things we receive!

 

 

Thankfully we were able to have the party outside in our back yard!  I had a couple of tables set up for the adults and then had two tables for the kids. For the place settings, I printed out a blank firetruck on cardstock for the kids to color.  They also had a fire badge and a fire man’s hat to play with during and after the party.  I think dress up things are always great at a party…the kids always seem to love to have something to dress up in and it is a fun treat for them to take home.

 

 

Now under normal circumstances I am a do it yourself type of girl….I like to plan all the crafts & activities for a party!  But being near the end of my pregnancy in the summer- I knew I needed to have some help with the entertainment for the party!  I have heard of several friends who have called the local fire department and they were happy to drop by a birthday party.  I considered doing this but I was afraid if there was a fire emergency and they weren’t able to come to our house that we wouldn’t really have anything for the kids to do at the party….After some research online I found a great local company who will come to your house with a firetruck and will stay for an hour and a half.  My son was shocked when a real firetruck pulled into our driveway and he was able to play all over it with his little friends.  My son absolutely loved it!  The name of the company was lil’ fireman and you can find out more information here.

For lunch,  I knew I wanted to keep it super simple but I wanted to stay with the firetruck theme…so we ordered sub sandwiches from Firehouse Subs.  I had never ordered from them before and I think the manager thought I was a little crazy that I insisted that each individual sub had to be wrapped in their signature paper because I was really only ordering from them because of their name!  They were great to work with and it turned out to be an easy  Saturday lunch option.  For the kids, I packed white lunch bags with coordinating labels with my son’s favorite lunch….peanut butter & jelly, cheddar bunnies & applesauce.  I think it is so easy to go ahead and have the kids’ meals already packed up with everything they need!  Hopefully it is a help to the parents at the party and they can actually sit down and eat!

For the cake, Tricia made an adorable firetruck cake.  She had so many cute details including my son’s name and the number three.  I absolutely loved it and my son was thrilled when he saw it for the first time!

 

Originally, I had planned for the firetruck cookies to be the party favor and for these wooden firetrucks to be a fun little party activity while we waited on the firetruck to arrive.  I had planned for the dads to be working with their little ones to assemble these cute little wooden firetrucks that they could then take home along with their other goodies.  Thankfully, I asked my husband to assemble one truck so that I could put it out on the craft/activity table.  My husband quickly told me that there were too many pieces for the kids (especially at two and three years old!).  Once I saw the pieces scattered out on our dining room table, I quickly agreed with him!  I didn’t want these little kits to go to waste so I used my favor tags and some gingham ribbon and made those the party favors!  I am learning more and more that I need to be flexible and be willing to change my plans!  I had spent hours online and on the phone trying to find a firetruck wooden kit appropriate for a three year old….so it was a little difficult to give up the idea of having a craft at the party but I have heard from a couple of the kids that they loved putting together their trucks at home with their dads!

At the end of the day, my son LOVED his party…he had such sweet expressions of joy and excitement all day and that is all that I could ask for.

Thanks to my dear friend Sarah who helped take pictures at the party. I was feeling overwhelmed and she was such a help to me so I could focus on other details during the party.  She has a great blog here.  She writes about her family, recipes, crafts, etc…she is so talented and does a lot of really fun things with her kids!  Thanks again Sarah!