Behind the Scenes :: Monster Truck Party

Hello!

Today I want to do a little "behind the scenes" action from our Monster Truck party, because I know a lot of people may wonder how I get to some of my "after" moments.

I'd like to say that there was a method to my madness; some kind of event planner "secret", but really I just get crafty with whatever I have around, making stuff out of {literally} junk. To say the least, there are plenty of "make it work" moments :). And with that, comes a lot of creative ideas. I promise you, the moment's I am most creative are born out of the times that I am completely stumped on how to do something!

The first project that I want to show you are the track mark tablecloths that {with a little assistance from me}, the birthday boy made. The idea was born from something I came across when researching ideas for the tires we bought. You can see that post here.

I loved the idea of creating track marks for the table top. The tires we had just seemed too big to make the marks; the smaller hotwheel toys too small, but J's larger Gravedigger toy was just perfect ........

of course, looking back now, I kinda wished I went bigger :) Isn't that the way it always works!

I love this project because it was a great way to get Jameson involved. And it was a super cheap way to create something custom for the party. The tablecloths were from Oriental Trading, and pretty cheap. I was worried that the paint wouldn't stick to them, but we had not trouble at all. The paint was brown tempura paint {poster paint} I have seriously had since I did his 2nd Birthday Party!

Jameson got really into it, and really thought about how the tracks should go. He had a blast! Afterwards, before it could dry, we washed off all the paint off his toy.

Easy-Peasy, right???

The second thing I did was create stands that would not only hold and display some of our trucks, but actually prop them up so they would look like the were heading towards each other. I did this the day before, with no concept in mind, just knowing I would have to find stuff around the house.

And enter the oriental trading boxes that half the party supplies came from! Those boxes + wrapping paper {which I needed anyway} + the roll INSIDE the wrapping paper = some awesome stands!! I love this project because it was F.R.E.E.

This is where that creativity I talked about earlier comes into play. I had NO idea what I was going to do for these....as I made it and pushed the roll into the box, something about the height sticking out made me think of the leftover tape I still had.....and boom! We have flames :) And to think I almost wrapped these babies up in paper! The stickers were an after thought because (1) the fabric wasn't as tight to the box as I wanted, so these secured them a little and (2) they were right next to me on the counter from where I had left them after making the pudding desserts! And the fabric?? I I only thought of it because I thought the front looked too plain.

Here's a sneak peek of them in action:

In a room full of Kindergarteners, almost every boy there was able to read the words "Gravedigger" and "Grinder". ha!

My last behind the scenes moment is how I craft some of the dessert and candy displays.

Once again, anything I can find around here or the dollar store!! Add a little crinkle paper, and you have one good looking piece to put on your table :



.....and if you're one of my lucky guys, you get a little bit of loot, as well :)

Hope your day is sweet as well and that you found some of these tips helful.

xo,

Rachel