Will's 4th birthday party

A part of me feels so bad that Will has a birthday around Christmas because planning a party around holiday festivities is very difficult. Something Daniel & I never had to deal with as children- we're summer babies- so we had a special day unto itself, not one shared with other things. I know you may be thinking, what's the big deal? He's only 4, how does he even know the difference? Well, he may not now, but he will as he gets older. And he may feel like his birthday is on the back burner, like so many with Christmas birthdays have or do. Until he tells me he doesn't care one way or the other, I'm going to keep it as special as possible. Since scheduling got more and more difficult with each birthday, we decided waiting until January for his party was the way to go this year.
I didn't want to go too big this year, but after throwing Maggie's big 1st birthday, I wanted to go a little bigger than I did last year. I made cake, cupcakes and cookies. I really leaned toward making only cupcakes, but I do enjoy cake decorating and I promised Will awhile back I'd make him a CARS race track cake. I wanted more practice with the cookies but wasn't as pleased with how these turned out as I was Maggie's. I had more issues with bubbles in the icing and need some practice writing with icing. Still, Will was pleased and they were eaten.

You know I had to decorate with balloons and streamers and made him a banner as well. Like I've said, I think they make a colorful statement and are not expensive, those coupled with some paper to make his other decorations and I threw a very budget friendly party. 

 When designing Will's invitation, door sign and cupcake toppers, I decided to make centerpieces as well, here's what I came up with:

 Favor bags filled with a  puzzle that you can color on one side (complete with a few crayons) and a cute container filled with little toys and rolling stamps  from Michael's. Then I bought some fruit snacks and a tree freshener for the car. The last one is not really for the kids, but I thought of the idea and it felt so clever I couldn't help myself. But I'm not the first to do that, I'm sure. Everything was CARS-themed except the car freshener. And at the end of the party, I added a cookie to each child's bag as well.

I did a simple menu- pizza, chips & dip, veggie tray and fruit, plus the dessert. I should've mentioned on the invitation lunch would be served like I did with Maggie's cause several people came without their appetite! That's alright though, we sent some pizza home with family and my nephews finished most the cookies before leaving Sunday.

 I also made water bottle labels but didn't take a specific picture of them. I had plenty of time before the party, but forgot to take pics of the food/drinks because I set most of it out at the last minute to retain freshness and cool temperature.

 Will is pretty uncomfortable having a room of people singing to him, he wouldn't even blow out his candle! His friend, Riley ended up doing it. Silly boy.

He had a lot of fun and was sad to see everyone go. And we are well stocked on toys!!