Garbage Truck Party

Garbage man/trash truck parties are hard because there is no ready made party stuff available so this is what I did....  Invitations: I ordered invitations from zazzle.com.  There was a big green trash truck on the front.  The front read, You are invited to a Trashy Party!"  The back of the invitation gave the Collection Date Collection Time and the Collection Site.  Our last name starts with a "D" so I called the Collection Site "The D____ Dump".  It also had a RSVP.    Decorations:  At the end of our driveway I set out a large green trash truck with a sign saying "Welcome to The D____ Dump".  We attached balloons to make it more party like.  My husband made a big garbage truck that the kids could play in out of a refrigerator box & a dryer box.  He spray painted the back green & I printed off a Waste Management logo for the side.  He spray painted the cab of the truck black & cut holes for passenger & driver windows and he cut a hole for the windshield.  He cut wheels out of black poster board and headlights out of yellow poster board.  He also put on a bumper with some shiny silver duct tape.  He also used 2 dryer boxes duct taped together to make a big dumpster.  He spray painted it green & stuck on a Waste Management logo.  He also got some cylinder shaped tubes from his work that he spray painted silver.  He taped those onto the sides of the cab to look like the exhaust pipes.  It looked really cute & the kids played in it a lot.  Inside I used green table cloths & I had green white & silver balloons....but mostly we were outside. We also had lots of trash cans sitting around outside....  Party Snacks:   For the kids - I made them "Dumpy D____ Take Out"  I printed off labels with that slogan & attached them to brown lunch bags.  The "Take Out" consisted of 1 juice box 1 hot dog 1 bag of chips 1 bag of "trashy treats" (a mix of cereal marshmellows and fruit snacks) 1 toy & 1 party horn.  For the adults - hot dogs with or without chili nachos or chips fresh fruit & a selection of drinks.  Cake:  The cake was a trash truck that I made from the new 2010 Wilton Dump Truck Pan.  I just did the cab a light green & the back a dark green.  I also made white cupcakes with a squirt of green cake batter in the middle of each one.  I iced them white & added a green molded chocolate to the top of each one.  I made the molded chocolates. They were semi truck molds but when done with green candy melts they looked like trash trucks.  Games:  Game 1 - Trash Pick Up.....I collected "clean" trash for several weeks.  When it was time to play the game I threw the trash all over the yard.  I had bought "trash grabbers" from ebay (they were really called robot arms or something like that) & the kids went around collecting trash.  When they were done we emptied one bag at a time into the dumpster that we had made.  We were looking for "prize trash".  Ahead of time I had picked out 4 special pieces of trash.  Whoever collected those pieces won a prize.    Game 2 - Trash Can Game.....my husband filled up LOTS of water balloons & let the kids take turns throwing them into our big trash cans.  They loved this even though it was a cold day.  Game 3 - Trash Throw......I bought some small trash cans at our $$ store.  I put a scoop of sand in each & tied a helium filled balloon to each one....the trash can was the weight that kept the balloon from flying away.  We had 6 balloons.  Each balloon had a different point value.  We made a ball out of trash and the kids each got three throws.  They threw the trash ball at the balloons & if they hit it they got the amount of points on the balloon.  The total amount of points after three throws was their final score.  The highest 3 final scores got prizes.    I used Runts & Bottle Caps for my prizes....I got boxes of them at Walmart.  Favors:  I bought little trash cans from US Toy.  They come 12 to a pack and they are green pink & purple.  Since the majority of our guests were boys I had my husband spray paint most of the pink & purple ones to boy colors.  They I used a pooper scooper trash bag to line the little cans & I filled them with candy & $$ store toys.  They looked really cute sitting on the table.  Plus each child got to take home their trash grabber from Game 1.  My son loved the party and everyone had a great time!  Hope you can use some of these ideas to have some trashy fun of your own!!"