Up, up and away: 3 year old boy Airplane Themed Birthday Party

My little guy turns three in just a few days and it was time for a party.  For a number of reasons this was his first real party.  Dad, an airplane nut, who has been indoctrinating him suggested airplanes and little guy thought that was a great idea.

His requests were simple - airplanes, cupcakes and balloons.  

I designed the invitation and created a Garcia Airlines logo that I used  on all the printables. 

The party was at a local park.  I was surprised to find there weren't a lot of good ideas for me to steal be inspired by on pinterest and other sites. I decided to have the food match the theme and did "in flight snacks", "meal service", "beverage service". For the snacks I made up small cellophane bags of goldfish (one of my son's favorites), pretzels and found prepackaged small mixed nuts.  I added little toppers to the bags that used the Garcia Airlines logo.  I added some small tangerines, again a favorite of my son and small pb&j sandwiches cut with an airplane cookie cutter.  For the adults I made hoagie sandwiches, cut and wrapped them reminiscent of food you used to get on the airplane. We had cloud cupcakes decorated with marshmallow fluff (do not use... trust me on this one) and cotton candy.  The biggest hit of the menu was the cloud jello cups made with layered blue jello and cool whip. 

 

The party favor also doubled as the activity, a small inexpensive kite for each child. I picked them up for about $1 each and they were a huge hit.  We had about 30 people from 1-50 and almost everyone took part in the kite flying.  I would highly recommend and might use again for another child.  It was a very windy day which helped.  The park also overlooks the local Air Force base flight line which added to the "plane" atmosphere.    

The wind did kill a few of my decorations.  Although I bought helium balloons at the little guys request most did not survive very long nor could they be on the tables as planned.  Also my banner backdrop for the table became airborne! That will teach me to ever bring glass anything to a park no matter how much weight I put in the jar.  All and all it was a very fun birthday.  When I asked sweet little Sam for his favorite parts he said cupcakes, balloons, airplanes and fishes.  A success!

One of my goals for the year is to complete things.  In that light I actually did thank you notes!  If you know me, you know that is a big thing for me... I know baby steps.

Sharing over at: