Jasper's Disney Cars Inspired Birthday
As someone who prides themselves on being a planner, Jasper’s second birthday caught me by surprise. Maybe it’s a byproduct of not planning a first birthday due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 but I was not prepared to pull together an all-out toddler birthday party in two and a half weeks. That being said, I think I earned a pat on the back from myself for how this party came together! I have obviously never thrown a kids birthday party before and my party planning experience, in general, is pretty minimal but I am obsessed with how Jasper’s Disney Cars Radiator Springs inspired birthday turned out!
Disney Cars Birthday Party Theme
I didn’t originally set out to do a full-on Disney Cars birthday party theme for Jasper’s 2nd birthday but when I realized I was going to be hard-pressed to find any kind of vintage race car themed decorations locally or even get them in time for the party if I ordered, I knew I needed to pivot the idea. Plus, Jasper is obsessed with the Cars movies and just little toy cars in general (it all started with his Sarge car this past Christmas). I knew we were going to keep the guest list minimal because we’re still in the midst of this pandemic and, well, Jasper only has one friend so I felt like I could take some more creative liberties when it came to Disney Cars birthday party decorations and the menu.
I guess the idea started with this vintage-looking Disney Cars toddler shirt I picked up for Jasper from Target when I was prepping his spring and summer wardrobe. I loved the overall vintage vibe of the t-shirt which is why I bought it for him in the first place even though I’m not typically a fan of characters on clothing. He also loves the shirt so I knew that if I ended up going with a Disney Cars birthday party theme that he would be really into it. If you’re planning your own Disney Cars birthday party and looking for a Disney Cars birthday shirt, I definitely think this one is a great option! I had already done some searching for inspiration on Pinterest for the vintage race car birthday theme so I decided to take some of the ideas from those pins and make them work for our Disney Cars 2nd birthday.
Disney Cars Birthday Decorations
I knew I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by Disney characters everywhere so I decided to keep the decor somewhat minimal and also in touch with those vintage Radiator Springs/Route 66 vibes. One of my inspiration pins used prints of vintage posters as the focal point for their party decorations and I loved the idea of trying to incorporate that with our Disney Cars birthday decorations. I went hunting on Etsy and found this set of Route 66 prints which I thought were absolutely perfect! If you want to save yourself a few bucks, the photos can actually be found for free on Unsplash but I really liked the editing style and didn’t mind paying for that work to be done for me, plus I figured we could use them as decor afterward as well. After purchasing the prints, I had them sent to my local Walgreens for printing as size 16x20 since I already had these black frames on hand from redoing our master bedroom.
The next decoration I went hunting for was a good table cloth for our dining room table. We’ve been using a tablecloth on our table for the last few months and I had already been looking for another one for ages locally with no luck. I kept the same idea in mind that I used to justify the posters and decided to look for something we could use for the party that would also double as something we could use afterward as well. I picked up this table cloth from the Hearth and Hand line at Target and I absolutely love it. The color was perfect for the plates I had picked up at my local grocery store and I loved the added texture the table cloth brought to the party decorations. It looks like it’s only available as a runner right now.
I knew we would rely on our bar cart for holding the cake but I wanted to make it look fuller without spending a ton of money. We already had a giant bag of suckers in our pantry from Halloween so I picked up these little plastic dishes from Walmart and had my husband sort out colors that would match into separate bowls. The bowls desperately needed some added height for impact, however, so I grabbed our stack of Monthly Mini photo books from Chatbooks that we’ve been ordering since Jasper was born. Not only was this a great way to add some definition to the decor but it also helped personalize the party decorations! (PS: Use promo code CBTEAM20 for 20% off your Chatbooks order, excluding Monthbooks, Monthly Minis, and gift cards).
If you’re planning a birthday party, one of my biggest pieces of advice is to use consumables as decor. Not only does this keep you from blowing a ton of money on random birthday party decorations but you’re also not left over with a bunch of decorations that you either need to find a new home for or repurpose. I had the idea to get bottled Coke when I saw them in a pack at Costco during one of our grocery trips and added black and white paper straws to mimic the road and tie them into the theme. From there, I spring boarded into include other vintage looking soda cans for more of those Route 66 and Radiator Springs vibes. Ollipop has been my favorite to drink lately in the evenings (the Strawberry Vanilla is sooooo good I drink it as dessert) so I picked up a few cans to have on hand and fill up the bar cart as added decor.
In my opinion, the piece of decor that really brought the entire theme together ended up being the waytoplay flexible toy road that was actually one of Jasper’s birthday gifts. I used the flexible road to dress up the top part of the bar cart around the cake and made a track at the center of the dining room table which I think really helped bring both pieces together in a cohesive way for the party. Then I grabbed some of Jasper’s Disney Cars toys and placed them sporadically around the tracks. He already had these and it cost nothing extra to bring in more of the Disney Cars characters so the theme was more clear. I loved the subtle nod to the Disney Cars movie that this touch brought, along with the Disney Cars wrapping paper my mother-in-law was able to find before coming up.
Disney Cars Party Favors
Since the only other kid at this party was also a 2-year-old, I just picked up a few of these wooden cars from my local craft store. I actually grabbed these before I knew I wasn’t doing the vintage race car theme but I still think they worked out perfect as a small favor for the party. I even thought about actually making them into a craft and having the kids paint them but ended up deciding against it. However, if you’re having a party for some older kids that includes cars, I think this is a fun idea! You can also grab a multipack of Disney Cars character toy cars as party favors depending on how many kids you have coming to the party.
Disney Cars Birthday Cake
I knew I wanted the cake to be simple and understated. We also had less than 10 people, including two toddlers so I didn’t want to go for one of the typical character birthday cakes. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that you can get tiered cakes done at Walmart! I selected the mini two-tier cake and had them just keep it really simple with white icing and vanilla cake and no borders or decorations. Justin actually thought the cake was wrong when he picked it up. My original idea was to do my own borders with blueberries since Jasper loves them but we ended up skipping that just to save time. However, this cake was only $22, and decorating the top myself was so easy and I really love the way it came together. I just grabbed a Lightning McQueen car from the toy section that I knew Jasper would love after the fact and had fun picking out some different candles. I wanted to give the cake some dimension and interest so I staggered the candles and I think it actually gives the illusion of them being flag poles. Of course, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to stick a little #2 candle on there either. I served the cake alongside Neopolitan ice cream which was a huge hit!
For the rest of the food, we kept it really simple. My mother-in-law made homemade salsa and I made two kinds of deviled eggs. The salsa and deviled eggs were a hit and were completely gone by the time everyone left. For the main food, we grabbed a few of the chicken street taco trays from Costco and called it good. I loved not having to spend a lot of time prepping before the party in the kitchen and could actually enjoy spending Jasper’s birthday with him.
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