Guess who's turning three?

My Mister! haha

His party is this weekend. We only invited a few close friends and family b/c it felt right for him this time around.

I wanted to see how many things I could make for his birthday with materials I already had at home, or finding some cheaper ways to get my items made. I think I found some solutions.

First, we decided to have it off campus...or at Chuck E Cheese's instead of at our house. This made the decoration budget much smaller since CEC has a table set up w/ balloons, etc. I will be bringing a few things but not nearly as much, which does save us some $.

Next, I noticed on my Street Signs Cricut cartridge, that I could make cute little street signs. I then had a major "AHA" moment to use the signs as nametags to attach to each of the bags that the kids will receive for favors. They turned out cute.

Over mid-winter break, I took some time to scan Etsy sites to find ideas I could easily copy. I found many but narrowed it down to my favorites. B/c we are members of AAA, we can order maps for free. Dj ordered a couple for me and then we found some old ones up in the cupboard we weren't using. I had some ribbon I wasn't using, so used that to tie around the top. I still have plenty of maps left to continue wrapping a few smaller favors.

Next, I wanted to make a centerpiece that I could attach a balloon to. I saw this cool idea on someone's site and the Cars-themed centerpiece was SUPER expensive in my opinion, so I began my Etsy search yet again. I found a lady on the site who sold Cars die cuts for $2 each...this was a bargain to me b/c when I use my character cartridges, it takes a lot of different kinds of paper and time to put the layers together, so time was money. I let Baylen pick out the 4 cars he wanted and waited for them to arrive. They were big and wonderful. Then, I went to Party City and found a plastic Cars bucket for $2.99. I already had tape, dowels, paper stuffing, and the floral styrofoam on hand...voila: for $9, I made this cute centerpiece. The lady on Etsy was selling it for over $25. Um no.

I found another cute idea using water bottle labels, so I searched some blogs until I found a bottle label template. I switched all of the info/colors/pictures and made my own for free. I had cardstock on hand and a color printer. Done.

The kids will each receive a favor box--I just bought those at Party City...they are cheap and can't fit much inside, so we also bought $1 gift bags in red, black, and white to add a few more things that are bigger.

Favors...I think we have found some cute favors and this time, it won't take me forever to make them all.
-Hot Wheels are cheap--under a $1 a piece at Target. SOLD.
-Cars kazoos found in the $1 aisle at Michael's. SOLD.
-Cars flying airplane thingys in the $1 aisle at Michael's. SOLD.
-Chocolate Dipped Oreo Cookie Suckers...cute & easy...cheapest at Target and then already had some candy left over to melt. Can't wait to make more of these on Thursday night.
-Cars Gummy Snacks...easy--already had some we just purchased for our own kids to snack on
-Cars yo-yos: Found at Michael's in the $1 aisle...SOLD.
-Clearance Pet Shop toy for the girl: $1.75 for TWO pets...SOLD.

Did you all know Michael's had a great dollar aisle? So does Target, Party City & JoAnn's. Always fun to see what kind of cute things you can find that fit with your party theme and are still cute to add to a favor bag.
-a couple other little things inside...we're good to go.

The biggest thing I splurged on this year: His cake. A lady is making it for us this year. I found her online, so I am hoping it will work out. She is making a cute 3-D cake in the shape of Lightning. I am excited to see it.