This was the 5th birthday party that we threw for our son at our home, with only a handful of children. It was such a sweet memory – back when our boy still had longish hair and was my trusty side-kick – always going out of his way to say hello to anyone he encountered, and believing that everyone in the world was his friend. . . . It was such a precious time.
It’s fun to look back on the details for this super cool, handcrafted fire truck (Pixar’s Cars: Rescue Squad Mater) theme. I realize that this may not be a theme every kid would think up, but the idea of a fire truck party is sweet, simple, and super cute. I loved it and he had a blast!
The “party” was basically a customized pinata that we allowed him to smash, all on his own, and a small decorated table in our living room, with a cake, treats and balloons. He absolutely loved it!
I loved it because it was so simple and so small.
To make the pinata look like Rescue Squad Mater, we purchased a plain fire truck pinata from one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants, La Pinata, in Old Town San Diego. I glued paper shapes for Mater’s teeth and customized the windshield a bit. I added his eyes and a #5 to the siren. In a matter of minutes, we were set. I can’t even explain how excited my son was!
Since we had so few children to serve, I took the time to print out custom labels for the drinks. The decorations for the shelf above the table were taken from our son’s bedroom, and I had him write his name for the very top.
The cake was a super simple design to match the badge on his birthday-boy fire chief hat. For some reason, my son has always had some form of blue in or on his birthday cake, so I worked it out and made a version of a checkerboard for him, with Red Velvet and Blue Velvet.
Then of course, there was the candy. I was able to squeeze in just enough apothecary jars, for a few selections, with some added color. For the lollipops, I used a piece of square craft foam, and pushed the pop sticks in. I covered the sides of the foam with paper and red ribbon.
I admit, there were too many lollipops to count, and that’s all right! It was more for decoration than for dessert. The joy of just looking at all of them, made the kids happy to choose just one for now, and one for later.
Then it was time to smash the pinata! This event was an absolute joy to watch, and went by quickly with his Louisville Slugger in-hand. We filled Rescue Squad Mater with a little bit of candy, and lots of little plastic toys, whistles and musical instruments for the kids to play with.
The best part for me, was holding my awesome “big” boy, and having those sweet little arms wrap around my neck. That and a kiss is just about all I need to get by.
Life gets busy, and I don’t want to forget how my sweethearts have grown, so every single birthday, I make it a point, to take my kids outside – even if it’s only in our backyard – and take some photos, using my “good camera.”
Here are a couple from that precious 5th birthday. My heart is so full, even now when I see them and I get exciting thinking, ‘I can hardly believe that that’s my son!’
