Most people that know Denver describe him as a little Tonka Truck. So, it's fitting that for his first "real" birthday party he would want a construction party. Thanks to a little help from Family Fun Mark and I were able to throw one of the best birthday parties. . . ever! It was really simple and fun--all of the kids had a good time and even the adults couldn't help joining in here and there. I made the invitations almost exactly like Family Fun's only I didn't have the fancy wood stuff. Instead I just used cardstock.

For games Family Fun suggested a pinata and a wrecking ball game. I skipped the pinata just because I wanted to skip the whole candy thing and keep things relatively healthy. Instead we went with a Construction Worker Bootcamp Theme and had three challenges the kids had to complete in order to receive their toolbelt and tools. I liked the wrecking ball game idea but made a few adjustments. First, instead of cardboard blocks I used our own wooden blocks and had Chris and Meg help me build a giant tower. Then, with black water balloons attatched to some clothesline (attatched to a tree branch), the kids swung the wrecking ball and tried to knock down the tower. If the water balloon sprung a leak it was an added bonus and we let the kids squirt each other with them.


For the second challenge we had the kids load one of Denver's dump trucks with more wooden blocks, race through some cones, and dump the blocks at the other end. We gave them a time to beat and most of them did it. For the kids who were struggling, we just counted a little slower.


And for the third challenge, the kids had to work together as a team to build a tower taller than the tallest kid there and it had to stand on its own for 10 seconds. This proved to be the most challenging and in the end I held the very tippy top for the ten second countdown. It would have been much easier if we'd had a flat surface for them to build on. To keep with the boot camp part of the party, we lined them up a lot and made them say things like "Yes Sir!" and "Yes M'am" and had them run laps around the yard and do lots of pushups, well okay. . . ten pushups only. But the boys seemed to like being treated like soldiers and they took their tasks almost very seriously.


Once the challenges were complete we lined the boys up and awarded them with tattoos and toolbelts. We had a "tool bar" set up on the table and the kids stuffed their toolbelts with keychain tools (Oriental Trading Company), keychain tape measures (Home Depot/Walmart), paintbrushes, tool stickers, gummi tools (OTC), and mini flashlights.


Most of the kids needed a drink by then so we let them eat for a few minutes while I poured the paint into the paint trays. For snacks I did animal crackers, goldfish, watermelon, grapes and Capri Suns and Water. I used Family Fun's idea of using toolboxes for the drinks and the fruit, which ended up being totally cute. I cut up the fruit about 45 minutes before the party started, stuck the entire toolbox in the freezer and by the time the party began we had icy cold watermelon and grapes. For the crackers I used Denver's dumptruck and loader--they made great, inexpensive table decorations and handy snack holders too.


When they were ready we set them loose with their paintbrushes and the cardboard castle Mark and Denver had constructed the night before. They painted and played and used their tools and shined their flashlights until their hearts were content.


Last but not least, we cut the cake and Denver opened his presents. I didn't make their cute truck cake because Denver wanted Cream Cheese Poundcake. To make it fit into the construction theme I tried to turn it into a tire but instead got a chocolate covered gear-looking thing. Doesn't matter though--it tasted really good.


And that was it. The entire party took less than two hours, was relatively inexpensive, was easy to clean up, and best of all was a great success! Hurray for us! And most importantly. . . Happy First Birthday Party, Denver!