Curious George Loves Firetrucks -2yr- Hand Puppet

My son is crazy about firetrucks.  He also collects Curious George toys so I combined these for his 2nd birthday - "Curious George Loves Firetrucks".  I scanned in pictures for the invitation that had Curious George and firemen and arranged them to tell a short story, included party information. 

Since these were two-year-olds, I kept the activities simple.  First, I put out every one of my son's firetrucks and Curious George toys.  I also have a cute thing where two firemen are actually chasing Curious George.  Plus, my son had just received a large ride-on firetruck that morning. 

The only things I had to make were firehoses - blue metallic fringe table skirting rolled up and taped inside paper towel tubes.  These were easy to decorate with paper and stickers.  Then, paper cut into flames and glued into cone shapes were set-up to be knocked down with the blue "water".   

For each child, I made a Curious George hand puppet.  My local closeout store had nice fireman hats for less than a dollar.  These, plus a matchbox firetruck, a fire station coloring book and candy from the piñata completed the goodie bags. 

Decorating was easy, but not quick.  I strung A LOT of yellow, blue and red crepe streamers across the ceilings in the three party rooms.  Then, I hung balloons and pictures of either Curious George or firetrucks from the ends of every streamer. 

The center piece of the table was a firetruck piñata with a Curious George doll dressed in a fireman's outfit (it went with a different doll and just happened to fit).  I also made large posters to hang everywhere that read "Fire Station No. 2".  Having so much stuff made everything look special, but by having it up on the ceiling, nothing was in the way. 

The cake was a masterpiece make by a great friend.  It was a firetruck that actually sat on two wedding cake pillars turned sideways.  She put Oreo cookies on each end, so the truck looked like it was up on wheels.  Then, she made a monkey from two stacked cupcakes and a firehydrant from icing.  There was even a liquorice fire hose. 

We kept the food simple, and cut out most of it in related shapes, like the yellow hat.  

One more quick idea - almost everyone invited had an older sister, so my daughter had her own tea party upstairs for them.  That helped keep the bigger kids from running over the smaller ones.