Race Car Party -1yr- Baby Food Memories

Race Car Birthday Party -   My son's first birthday party had to be unique and special just like him, so I thought long and hard about making it special just for him.  My creativity went wild. 

It first started with the invitations which my husband and I made on our computer.  We first took our son to an old antique car store and took a picture of him "driving" in a red convertible car (worth $650).  We scanned the picture, wiping out everything in the background, and made this the front of the invitation card.  The front read, "This year has zoooomed by!"  The bottom of the car, where the tires lay was cut out so you could see the shape of the tires.  The inside of the card was decorated according to street signs and lingo. 

The tires (from the front of the card) sat directly on a paved road (on the inside of the card) which we designed to sit perfectly.  The remaining three sides of the interior of the card was black and white checker boards to resemble flags. The inside of the card read:   Stop (In the shape and colors of a real stop sign) by my 1st Birthday Party! Driver:  Kane _______ On Saturday 10-19-02 (the letter "O" was a tire) (race car flag symbol) Start Time: 12:30 p.m.  (the route 66 road sign because the party was located on route 66) @Foothill CC etc. RSVP.....etc. Directions were on the back side of the card 

They were a HUGE hit and people could not believe we did it all ourselves!   The creativity did not stop there tho.  For decorations I ordered race car balloons, red, yellow, and blue balloons and bunched them together.  They sat in little milk cartons I saved and painted like a traffic light (black with red, yellow, and green circles).  These were my center pieces.  We made our own sand bags and tied the balloons down and stuffed them in the painted milk cartons.  Again, they sat on the middle of each table. 

I then saved baby food jars and used them to put chex mix inside as a snack for guest to eat.  I painted the covers red, yellow, and green and made home made labels stating all the things my son did in his first year of life.  We replaced the Gerber baby face with my sons.  The ingredients listed my sons nationalities: 50% Mexican, 25% Caucasion, and 25% Filipino.  Daily Value listed all the thinks my son enjoyed doing in his daily routines: 3 meals, 2 snacks, 20 zillion kisses to the cat, 1 Baby Einstein video, 2 naps, 3 crying tantrums, 8 dirty diapers, dancing, all day fun with sports balls, and constant attention from mom and dad.  The Nutrition Facts stated Total Fat: 18 lbs (my son's weight at the time) and Serving Size: 30" (my son's height at the time).  The Calories listed were all the things my son enjoyed eating: bread, rice, cereal, pears, Kix, meat, breastmilk etc.  The barcode numbers were changed to reflect the day he was born 10 19 01. We tried our best to keep everything that is on the original Gerber food jar labels and just personalized it. 

We decided to do this to tell our son what his first year of life was like when he got older.  It also familiarized our guests as to who our son was because not all of them spent time with him.  I placed two of these jars on each table for guests to take home.  To thank each guest for coming, I made sugar cookies with red, yellow, and green M&M's in the center and placed them in little zip lock bags.  I then made stickers that read, "Thanks for stopping by my party or Thanks for cruisin into my 1st birthday party" and sealed the bags.  A cookie was placed at each seat to thank every individual.   

The games were a blast.  My husband made a little race track out of particle board.  He painted it jet black and made race car lanes with shish kabob sticks painted black with yellow dots.  Each kabob stick was glued down.  He painted the starting lane above it he created a starting banner.  On the computer, he made black and white checkerboards with the word START on it and taped it to kabob sticks then taped it down to the sides so the sign would stand up straight.  On top of this, he welded a metal base that slanted downwards then dropped the painted particle board race track inside.  Each kid (no matter what age) was given a race car in their goodie bag.  We had our own race car event where parents with babies got too play too.  The first place winner one a play trophy and the 2nd and 3rd place winners won ribbons.  You can buy these prizes at your local party or paper stores. 

Additional games played were: race car coloring contest, scavenger hunt, hula hoop contest (which adults participated too), and face painting.  My son's pinata was a red race car.   

The party favors or goodie bags were Lego race car boxes I purchased.  I then filled them with a whistle, a car, bubbles, cotton candy or baby cookie (depending on age), a key rattle (for babies) and party blower. My favorite idea which I was proud of and parents and kids loved were the name tags I made for each child.  I thought of making name tags to look like real drivers licenses.  I kept the same format as the CA licenses and left the state name on there etc.  I just scanned my license and copy and pasted each picture over mine etc.  Fortunately I had pictures of all 15 kids where I didn't have to give away my surprise and personalized it with their names, ages, hair color, eye color, sex, and under their picture was the expiration date of the birthday party.  It looks identical to their parent's licenses and the kids loved it!  I had them all wear it from the moment they walked into the door.  Some parents didn't want to have their child wear it because they wanted to keep it.  I just sent them new ones and insisted they let their child wear it.   

The food was catered Rotissere chicken etc. and my idea was to make signs above the food table which would stat "Concession Stand" and above the drinks "Drinking Fountain." Unfortantely, I did not have time to finish this idea into the party, but someone out there could use it!

Lastly, the thank you cards I created was a collage of the party and everyone who attened (or at least one family member from each party of guests).  The front of the post card simply stated words such as: Thank you, Memories, Fun!  Then on the postcard side it said, Thank you for my ______, it was a real winner!    Overall, I wanted the party to be unique and special for everyone, but especially for my son!  I wanted him to know about his first year and someday tell him how loved he was and how much joy he brought us.  I also wanted guests to know how special he really is! :)