Police Birthday Party

Jace turned three this weekend and we had so much fun celebrating his birthday! A while back I started asking what kind of party he wanted and the response was always, “A square cake with frosting.” His favorite things these days are trains, fire trucks, tractors and Dora, so I would have thought we’d end up with something along those lines. But after suggesting a fire truck party he said, “A police car party!” And that’s what he stuck with.

Thankfully Pinterest quickly connected me with a few bloggers whose sons also love to celebrate law enforcement style and I had my inspiration. I designed the invitations using Publisher and had them printed as photos at Costco.

For the past two birthdays (1 & 2) I’ve made Jace a special shirt to wear for his party, so this year was no exception. I used my Silhouette to cut out a stencil from freezer paper and painted a police car on a Garanimals shirt.

My favorite part of the shirt is the lights because I used glitter paint for them. When I showed Jace the shirt, he instantly touched them. So he must have liked the sparkle too.

The proud birthday boy wearing his shirt.

We later realized that when Jace was saying he wanted a police car party, he really meant he wanted a police car cake. (I guess the rest didn’t really matter to him?) I started out looking at the Wilton car cake molds, but read a review that said you’d be better off just putting a square cake on top of a rectangle cake. How simple and affordable! I dressed up a box cake mix (recipe HERE) and made my favorite buttercream frosting (recipe HERE), and portioned out amounts of frosting to color for the detail work and then used an entire jar of black food coloring for the majority of the car.

It wasn’t until about 10 pm the night before the party and I was almost finished decorating the cake when I realized I didn’t have any red food coloring. So we improvised and I used two packets of Cherry Limeade Crystal Lite to color the frosting. And we made sure no one tasted it because it was STRONG!

The birthday boy blowing out his candle on the “Police Car Party!”

The favor bags for the cousins who came held a bag of “Cop” Corn and crayons and were sealed with a shield.

I ordered a policeman set candy mold and used it to make crayons for the kiddos. I think this was my favorite project for the whole party because they turned out so cool!

I followed THIS tutorial and template to make police hats for each of the cousins that came and put them on them when they arrived.

I also had little note pads and pens for the kids to use to write “tickets” for everyone. It was pretty cute… they’d walk up to an adult, say, “You’re under arrest” and then have the adult sign a piece of paper and write that they are under arrest.

The decorations were simple but fun. I bought a roll of Crime Scene Tape and taped some to our front door.

A garland of balloons and strips of crime scene tape was hung over the buffet and fireplace. Check out my tip for easy balloon blowing HERE.

We also strung crime scene tape around the fireplace and Jace’s special seat for opening presents.

During the party we played a Cops and Robbers game where the kids had to find the bad guys—ping pong balls with masked faces drawn on them. It was Easter Egg hunt style and the kids had a blast with it—especially since they noticed some of the hidden robbers when they arrived at the party.

Another fun activity was a photo booth. I attached on of the police hats, a mask, and a mustache to skewers for props and had everyone at the party get their picture taken.

 

The kids especially had fun with it!

We also had to do a craft! I picked up a pack of wooden stars at Walmart and some glitter glue and the kids got to decorate “badges.”

I loved how much they all got into it, especially my 6 and 8 year old nephews.

We had the party at 11 am so it would be over in time for naps, so the food was brunch style. The table was decorated with cheap plastic table cloths and a police toy set of Jace’s. We also bought a Police Beacon Light (which Jace called the siren and LOVED) and had it on the table. And I may have had to turn the light on every day since… We served broccoli quiche, breakfast bake, fruit, muffins and…

…what police party would be complete without donuts?

It was so much fun celebrating our fun, crazy, silly, smart, creative, stubborn little boy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Parties I like to link up with:

Transformation Thursday The Sunday Scoop, The Sunday Showcase Party, Made By You Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, Weekend Wrap Up, Just Something I Whipped Up, Get Your Craft On, Real Momma, Real Style, Tutorials and Tips Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday, Make it, Wear It, Show and Tell Saturday, Weekend Bloggy Reading, I’m Crafty Party, Take a Look Tuesday, Simply Link Party, Whatever Goes Wednesday