Monday, February 01, 2010

Samuel loves cars!

Thank you for all the Happy Birthday wishes for Samuel yesterday! He had a fun day! We started out with some yummy muffins and of course, spent the morning at church. We celebrated in the early evening with dinner and presents.

Samuel is very in to cars right now - he carries them around, lines them up, throws them, drives them around, etc... He just loves everything cars. So, it was easy to choose this as a theme for his special day! I was having a bit of a hard time being inspired for his day, and after an internet search - found this party which was the perfect inspiration!

Best part of all, I spent a whopping $1.75 for the car plates, bought some white paper napkins and the food - didn't spend one penny more on the party!

Let the party begin!

Enamelware plates were perfect for adding some blue color to the table,
and the napkins added to the car theme plus doubled as place cards!

Scrapbook paper helps dress up glasses!
I found a car clip art in Microsoft Word and printed it out in multiple sizes
for my various projects.

Mini cars on colored popsicle sticks are planted in a pot of split peas.
It's all about matching the colors!

Down the middle of the table, I made a road out of black construction paper.
Small natural blocks were a great base for paper cars that spelled out Samuel's name.

More cars were threaded onto the chandelier to create a mobile.
Stripes, polka dots and solids brought in the blues and greens again.
I love how you can see the Happy Birthday sign in the background of the second photo!

It has really turned into a joke at our house that Samuel loves cookies so much!
If anyone mentions a cookie - he won't eat any dinner or anything else, but holds out for a cookie! So, it was an easy thought to make cookies instead of a cake! Initially I thought I would make a big cookie and decorate it - but I borrowed a car shaped cookie cutter and made one big pan of cookies and cut them out in car shapes.

I had planned to get green plates, but when Samuel saw these - he just kept saying,
"Car! Car! Car!" How could I resist?

I decorated an ice bucket and enamelware pot for holding chips during dinner!

For dinner, I served car shaped hamburgers ... (note: I'm sure some will wonder how I did these. Here you go - spread your ground beef on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until no longer pink. Drain drippings from pan. Proceed to cut with cookie cutter and use kitchen scissors as needed to trim edges. For the buns, I used hotdog buns so that I was able to get two car shapes per bun. Kitchen scissors were very helpful here as well!)

car shaped cheese to go on the burgers ...

car shaped watermelon, and sides of beans, chips, lettuce and tomato.

Samuel did not seem too interested in us singing to him - he just grabbed for a COOKIE!

Opening a favorite gift - train!

Of course, cars are fun! And, a rug to drive them around on (thank you, Kelly!)

I was pleased with how his evening turned out! And, was excited to pull off a neat boy birthday since I am extremely inexperienced at all the boy stuff!

29 comments:

Leanne said...

oh how fun, Monica!! Our boys are into to trains, cars, and trucks! oh...and cookies!! while, I still sometimes wish for a daughter...I enjoy the "boy side" of my children so much!
One of these days, Samuel is going to kiss your hand and say "Mom, I want to marry you!"... I promise your heart will MELT!
Happy Birthday, Samuel!

~katie~ said...

Darling and so special! Happy Birthday to Samuel! :-)

Julie said...

Happy Birthday.
I love all the girly things you do, but I have a boy and all the other children in my life are boys. No girls anywhere!
I knew you would arrange a terrific boy-themed party. I'll keep watching for some other boy-themed inspiration I can try to duplicate.

Wendi said...

Love it! Simple and fun, everything a party should be. Happy Birthday, Samuel!

*carrie* said...

Fabulous ideas, Monica! The car-shaped burgers are hilarious. =) Love the cars spelling out his name.

Who is Kelly? That's funny, because we've thought about getting one of those car rugs for Nathan.

Patty Williams said...

Awww... Happy Belated Birthday to Samuel ! Omgosh, he's getting to be a big boy ! And looking more and more like his daddy !

What great party you planned out for him, so adorably cute! All cars are a favorite around here.

You're such a good Mom ! And creating such wonderful memories for the kids.

Anna said...

I love how how you make each child's birthday so special, with so many added details, and you do it all without spending a fortune. Thanks for the inspiration!

Bonnie said...

What cute ideas! I may change the theme of my sister-in-laws baby shower to cars instead of elephants, and use some of these ideas for my little guys 3rd birthday coming up this weekend!

Happy Birthday cute Little Man!

Mom said...

Thanks for sharing these photos of Samuel's special day -- looks like you have a happy boy! :) (Thanks for the explanation of how you did the hamburgers -- I was wondering about that!) Love, Mom/Grammie

Cheryl said...

Oh Monica,
How sweet. Love all the car ideas you came up with. Car cheese is too cute.
On the contrary, I think you did a great job with his boy birthday. You are so creative. All we need is a theme, and then run with it!! And you did. My fave was the car cookies. Great idea instead of a cake and they will go faster than a cake. Cakes seem to linger until they get stale in our house.
When my son was little he loved cars and liked to line them up as well. I always thought that was so interesting. Perhaps he likes order.

Anonymous said...

Monica,
You are a sweet inspiration.

Thank you, too, for making this blog a labor of love and keeping it ad-free.

You are a rare gem.

:)
Amara

Sheri said...

Happy 2nd birthday Samuel! I just love all your "car" ideas Monica. You are so very creative and how incredibly special your little man must have felt!

Elise said...

What a cute party!! Love all the special touches you put into it!!
Elise

Unknown said...

Monica! You are such an inspiration. I check your blog all the time to get ideas - You have a beautiful blog - thank you!! And, Happy Birthday to your beautiful little boy!

Bevy @ Treasured Up and Pondered said...

Look how amazingly creative you are!! And I bet, you didn't even "run out of gas" ;),how do you do it??

I do my burgers the same way...in a pan like that. It makes it so easy. Nobody minds squares, but I'll have to remember the shape idea.

And speaking of ideas, I've got one for you: I hope you publish your blog into a book one day or at least, your themed birthday parties and ideas...There so wonderful! And you know that to "publish your blog into a book" is a *new* feature out there, now?

Your blog would so worth it... with all of your frugal, creative ideas. Just a suggestion/hopefully you'll recieve as a compliment. ((smile))

angie said...

I think you just went from novice to expert on boy birthdays in one party! Fabulous!
Another bonus of cutting out all the food into car shapes was the resulting small sizes. Perfect for little hands and bellies.
Do you tend to save, reuse, or repurpose the decorations you make for all of the lovely parties and family fun nights? I have trouble getting rid of the work that I have spent time on, yet I doubt that I will ever use the decor again.

LynnMarie said...

That was just too much fun to see. Great job!!!

Rima Family said...

What a fun and creative Mum you are! Looks like a very memorable Birthday for your cute little guy!

Sheila said...

So cute! You should have your oldest daughter go to Home Depot and make this for him.

Home Depot will be hosting a free Kids Workshop Saturday, February 6 between 9 a.m. and noon at all of its stores.

This month's project is a cool car display for your child's car collection.

Shannon said...

My Christian loves cars, too! This looks like an adorable party.

Unknown said...

Awwww!!! Great job, Monica! Happiest Birthday to your Samuel! My Sam is soooo lovin' trains right now...maybe I'll have to use some of your ideas for his birthday this summer!

Hope your day is WONDERFUL!!
Amy

Ginger said...

Fantastic! for your first real try at a "boy" party.

Brenda said...

What a GREAT job you did!!

I really enjoy your blog!

Angelia in TX said...

So glad you have a sweet lil boy to enjoy cars with too. What a blessing to enter his world in such a way like you did. Cars cars and more cars. That is truly like our father in heaven delighting in your sweet son and what brings him joy. Hugs, Angelia

TaraG said...

Monica, Looks like Samuel had a great birthday! Loved seeing what you did with all the cars!

Anonymous said...

All those cars looked so cute, you did a great job..Belated happy birthday to the big boy..

Erika

MrsCoach said...

I was inexperienced at the boy parties, too, before I had my son. We've gone the route of tractors, Cars, Buzz Lightyear, and now we're onto Superheroes! I guarantee you, though, there is no other love than a little boy's love for his Mama!! Having a daughter is definitely a gift, but having a son is a bond like no other.

Sheila said...

Sorry to leave another comment. You see, I don't have any boys, so I never got to do any of the 'boy' stuff. :) Just came across this:

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/12/cozy-car-caddy-tutorial.html

It's a sewing tutorial for a caddy kind of similar to a crayon roll, but you put little cars in and it folds out with a 'highway' for him to drive his cars on. Too cute!

Anonymous said...

Love the party decorations.
Of topic-in one of the pictures you have your 2 little flags hanging on your walls, I was wondering if you would remember where you got them? I have ours taped to the wall right now. Thanks`Danene
danenestewart@aol.com