the construction party

After sifting through 300 photos from the photographer, I narrowed it down as much as I could for this post… There were just too many cute ones! So, without further ado…

With a couple of tents, the backhoe, barricades, and tape (industrial caution tape ordered from Amazon) creating a party boundary, we contained everyone in an area of relatively-dry grass to play and dig.

Wearing his personalized crane truck birthday shirt, a construction vest and his rain boots, the birthday boy was ready to party.

After having no luck finding someone local to do the cake (booked with weddings), my mom went to a bakery in Savannah. I had seen construction-themed cakes on Pinterest and sent some images to my mom to guide the process just a little, give her an idea of what I was thinking. We wanted it to be as special as Hannah's Fancy Nancy dress cake was. The cake was a big deal.

I was so excited when my mom arrived in town and we opened the box. Construction cake perfection:

We set up shovels around the dirt-filled kiddie pool, kaolin ready to be mined.

The photographer took pictures of my little photographer. Just had to include them. He takes his work seriously…

Hannah's shirt was an Etsy find from Meme.

I had so much fun planning the food table. Orange, yellow, and black/brown was the color scheme and we had plenty of construction equipment around the house to use as decorations. Joe pulled out all the orange and yellow dishes from our kitchen cabinets. Thankful for all the tangerine and sunflower in our Fiesta collection! Meme and I found the tablecloths, plates, and napkins online.

Coming up with the names for the food was a family collaboration. "Concrete" for the apple dip and "stucco" for the pimento cheese dip was all my mom. I did mini chocolate donuts and Oreos so we had "spare tires" and "tractor wheels". We also had tile, safety cones, wrecking balls, rebar and 2x4s.

For favors we filled cellophane bags with Reese's Pieces (again, the right colors) and put construction slap bracelets around the tops (yes, they still make them!) with ribbon.

We used an official hard hat for the guests to sign and handed out cheaper ones to the kids as they arrived. My sister-in-law, Crystal, and I wrote their names on them. While my mom was picking up some party supplies at Home Depot (where else for a construction party?) a manager gave her 30 aprons, so we tied one of those around everyone of course!

Let's get this party started!

A favorite activity for sure was "mining" for kaolin. The little diggers were so excited when they'd find a piece and tuck them away safely in their apron pockets.

We had construction equipment toys set out, plenty of shovels and another kiddie pool filled with sand. In there they hunted for mini construction vehicles that were theirs to keep. It was also a popular place to be!

My mom found miniature measuring tapes for everyone. They were metal and actually worked really well; I was impressed by the quality in such a mini tool. We set out all sorts of hardware and things for the kids to measure - you know, like real construction workers do!

Family from Atlanta and Savannah came in town to celebrate the day! I love this picture of Joe, his sister and parents:

And I love the one of our family of four, too!

Joe and I organized an impromptu relay race. The kids had a ball running with their shovels, filling the buckets up with dirt. The looks of determination and concentration were hysterical.

Some of the kids did not want to get in the scoop for the group photo, so my mom took it upon herself to be a bench. Did you spot her?

It's probably safe to say that the main attraction at the party was the backhoe. When Mr. C.V. showed up and told me he would take the kids for a ride, I was blown away. I was excited enough we had the backhoe there as decoration; I had no idea the kids were going to get to ride it. We were about to make some memories! The lined up and eagerly waited their turn…

Joseph was actually a little apprehensive about going, but I knew he'd wish he had if he didn't, so I climbed in with the second batch of kids and went for my first ride in a backhoe, too! Joseph even got to sit in Mr. C.V.'s lap and lift and dump the scoop!

You better believe he is still talking about it to anyone who will listen!

Finally it was time for cake. Big sister was so sweet and excited for her little brother…

The cake and snacks, while yummy, didn't hold interest for very long. The boys especially were right back to the dirt and a little more digging before the party was over.

We are so glad our cousins Liam, Marshall and Stella got to come to Sandersville for the celebration. It was so much fun seeing them and playing together.

Well, you don't play too much with an infant, but how precious is she??

Joseph's memento…

…and a sweet photo with Meme:

Joseph had a big time at his construction site, and, I think it's safe to say, so did everyone else. It was so much fun to plan and the party was just perfect for our little boy - I mean BIG boy. He's FOUR now!!!