A Construction Birthday Party - Then and Now

John had his 4th birthday last week! Same theme as his 3rd birthday so I thought it would be fun with a then and now take on doing a little boy construction party.

3 years

4 years

Last year I got some generic construction cones from Amazon. Some of them survived to this year, but the most exciting addition were these construction cone cups. I would recommend getting a small funnel to use since the opening is pretty narrow for pouring.

Baby Therese is still cute. More hair. I live for those curls!

We still have friends who are just the best at picking birthday gifts. 

Last year I was all cute and made a "construction zone" on the patio with all of the diggers, tools, blocks we own. This year I took the big area rug outside, put out the box of blocks, and called it done. The kids loved it. I've learned this isn't an area of big concern at this age.

Somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of the food last year (sorry Matt!) but it was mostly the same. Again I was cuter and made little construction themed names for everything last year - build-your-own sandwich bar was cute, ok! Crockpot chicken sliders this year plus this spread.

 Same concept for the cake, new number. Last year it was a single layered cake made out of two joined round cakes. I did a double layered rectangle cake this year. Edging using the caution tape I had from last year was an awesome way to cover up my less-than-perfect aligning of the two layers.

The "dirt" is crushed up chocolate graham crackers. It adds the texture without being super sweet. Genius!

John was not into blowing out his own candle at all this year. Apparently being egged on by all your friends does wonders for preschooler participation.

Coat hanger wreath I made by tying little strips of caution tape all around the stretched hanger.

I was able to reuse most of my signs from last year to direct people to our apartment. My printer ran out of color ink so I filled in the yellow with highlighter. 

We're fans of the laidback kid party. I only DIY as much as is fun for me and no more.

There is a direct corrolation to how much cuteness is involved in party prep and how much time I have to kill with kid naps.