Fire Truck Party -2yr- Fire Hat and Badge

Fire Truck Birthday Party for my son Nicholas - 2 years old.  I really get into birthday parties - and  this year we decided on a Fire Truck theme. 

I first ordered great invites from a website called  www.iby.com - they custom print invites and you can order only as many as you need (approx  $1.00-$1.50 each) - wording: " Sound the Alarm  Nicholas is Turning 2!  Volunteer Firefighters  needed - report for duty 12:30 Sharp!  Sagamore Beach Fire Station.  Cookout and Birthday cake to  follow at our house."  I included an enclosure with directions to the firehouse and explained that  the firemen would be giving us a tour and let the kids sit in the trucks, etc.  (I did contact the fire dept ahead of time and arranged for the visit - the firemen were great and so helpful!!) 

I then  ordered tshirts for both of my sons - as well as my husband and I - from a website called  www.Teamlogo.com.  They let you order only as many custom printed tees as you need (no  minimum) - and they carry childrens and adult sizes.  We got navy blue shirts with white wording  and they read "Bourne Fire Department" (the name of our town).  We looked very official and the  firemen loved them!!  I baked some brownies for the firemen they gave all the kids fire hats and  badges, explained all the equipment - let us all sit in the ambulance and fire truck - ran the sirens  - showed us where the firemen sleep - etc. 

All the grownups found it very interesting too!  Then it  was back to our house - I made a firetruck out of a large refridgerator box with working steering  wheels, doors that opened, gauges, dials and box on top for lights - an aluminum foil bumper -  two stools inside for seats - it looked great and the kids loved it!!  I also made up a "Firmens  training obstacle course" that consisted of 5 obstacles. 

The 1st was "Dial 911" - I set up a small  table with a 911 phone (by Learning Resources) that when dialed correctly answers as a 911 operator. 

2nd they had to "Rescue a Pet" - go up ramp on swingset - take stuffed animal out of  basket - go down slide and throw animal into other basket at bottom. 

3rd was to "Crawl thru  Smokey tunnel" - I made a tunnel out of another large refridgerator box - folded as triangle shape  (so it wouldn’t collapse) - and spray painted the outside with smoke and flames. 

4th was "Jump  thru fire rings" - I placed hula-hoops with flames made from consruction paper" around them on  the ground for the kids to jump thru (like hop scotch). And last was "Walk over fire" - we made a  balance beam with a wide piece of wood and cinder blocks - I put shiny orange and red paper  underneath on the ground as the fire.  Each station had a sign.   

After we ate the kids did a craft  which was to decorate picture frames - I brought my polaroid camera to the fire station and took a  picture of each child in either the ambulance or fire truck.  I ordered cardboard frames made  specially for polaroid pictures online (I couldn’t find them in any of the stores!).  I then bought all  different kinds of fire truck stickers, stars, flags, markers, glitter glue - etc.  The kids made  masterpieces and the moms really enjoyed helping.  We dated the backs of all the frames and put  the pictures in AFTER the frames were done (so the pictures wouldn't get drawn on!)  They looked  really cute! 

I ordered the birthday cake from our local Shaws supermarket and requested that they  put a big fire truck on it ( I brought them some pictures of fire trucks) - they essentially drew the  fire truck with frosting and decorated it - it came out great!  When it was time to sing happy  birthday I brought out a big bunch of red balloons I had blown up earlier with helium and gave one  to each child.  I then explained that after Nicholas made a wish and blew out his candle  - that they  then could each make a wish and we would all let our balloons go - it was fun! 

And the kids loved  it ( I wasn’t sure if some of the kids wouldn’t want to let their balloons go - but they all did and it  was fun watching them all float away!)  As an additional dessert I made sugar cookies and cut them  out with dalmation and fire hydrant cookie cutters. I placed chocolate chips on each of the  dalmation cookies and put lollipop sticks in all the cookies before baking.  After cooled I outlined  the dalmation cookies with white icing (outlining body shape,, ear etc) and put a dab of blue  frosting on each for eyes.  I frosted the hydrants red and outlined them with black icing - making  the round shape in center (look at a fire hydrant and you'll see what I mean!). 

Before serving I stuck  all the sticks in a rectangle piece of green foam I bought at the craft store so all the cookies were  "standing" - they looked really cute and everyone loved them!!   As each child left they took with  them their decorated frame/picture, fire hat and badge from the fire station - and a goodie box I  put together ( I ordered  handled firetruck boxes from Birthday Party Express) and put it them :1  tootsie pop, a whistle, a flashing red light, 2 fire badge stickers, a dalmation pad of paper and  dalmation  stamp pad. 

For thank you notes I plan to order note cards from www.Shutterfly.com  with a photo of all the kids sitting on the front bumper of the fire truck ( that we took at the fire  station).  We will also be sending some photos as well as a thank you note and donation to the fire  department - they were great!  What a fantastic time we had!  Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!