No Toy Gets Left Behind!

 
As my daughter, Anabelle's fifth birthday was approaching, we were throwing around ideas of the theme of this year's party. We traditionally try to find a theme that is gender neutral, especially due to the number of little brothers there are in our gang, as we did last year in her Finding Neverland party. Though Anabelle is a girly girl through and through, she can definitely hang with the boys! She adores the Disney "Toy Story" series and when the idea came up, she was dead set on having a Toy Story-themed party to ring in the big FIVE!

The challenge on my end would be to execute the theme, while avoiding making it overly commercial. With the three different movies and storylines, the possibilities were endless, but also a bit overwhelming! So, in talking with Anabelle, we decided to focus on the latest movie where the toys' owner, Andy, is packing up and leaving for college and they are mistakenly donated to Sunnyside Daycare. I wanted to play up the use of cardboard boxes to represent the toys being boxed up, as well as throughout the decor. I also thought the use of color was really important to capture the vibe of a school, while also corresponding to the rainbow logo of Sunnyside.

The invitations set the mood for the party and when I envisioned them coming out of cardboard boxes, I knew I had to enlist the help of the incredibly talented Do from Piggy Bank Parties, who designs the most fabulous and creative printables and especially favor boxes! She made my dreams come true when she created these amazing box envelopes (with editable text!) for both the invites, as well as labels throughout the party! Too cute, right?! I found the most adorable illustration of a little girl (resembling Anabelle) dressed up as her favorite Toy Story character, Jessie, by the artist Carolyne Tillery in her Etsy shop oh hello dear! I utilized it in the design of the invitation, along with additional graphics from Kika Esteves.

The guests were greeted with giant "magnet" letters reading "NEW TOYS", as the characters heard when they arrived at Sunnyside Daycare. I wanted the kids to feel like they were toys themselves and the oversized letters and alphabet blocks were perfect! I enlisted the help of my father, who did such an amazing job with the blocks with the use of wood/paper mache letters, masking tape and paint! Oh, and my mother helped, too! I just adore how the blocks turned out!

The backdrop for the dessert table was built out of cardboard boxes and filled with the Toy Story toys popping out of them, while the banner was strung with alphabet block letters.

The main attraction on the table was the cupcake display made out of smaller boxes. I made fondant toppers of the main characters and placed them on cupcakes in individual boxes. I also printed out additional block letters, rainbows (from Kelly Medina Studios) and additional characters (found at the Disney Family site) for the rest of the cupcakes displayed on the table and inside plastic Slinkies.

Also included on the table were different types of candy, as we wanted to steer clear of any chocolate in the unusually hot weather of 95* that day! They were displayed inside clear paint cans and, as you can see below, in perfect arm's reach for the kiddos!

Instead of a tablecloth, the kids' table was lined with drawing paper from a tabletop paper holder from Ikea and all the toys... I mean, kids had their own Sunnyside lunch box. Two days prior to the party, I unwrapped the lunch boxes and realized the latches were not of the highest quality and after brainstorming with my family, my father came to the rescue with his idea of securing them with a rubber band, which I embellished with a tag. Just another example of making the best of things when they don't go exactly as planned!

I wanted the kids' food to be exactly what a toddler would find in a packed lunch with a sandwich, apple slices, rainbow goldfish crackers, fruit snacks and juice. I found the Toy Story sandwich boxes, as well as the themed snack bags and tissues at the 99c Only Store, which were just perfect!

One of the characters in "Toy Story 3" is Lotso Huggin' Bear, who {spoiler alert} turns out to be bad, but once we saw this humongous, huggable stuffed bear at a Costco store, we just couldn't resist! Anabelle's great-grandmother bought it for her and it is indeed a hugger!

We set up an art area with easels, coloring pages and Sunnyside art boxes for the kids. Drawings from Andy's room (printed from Pixar Planet Forums)were pinned across a string, while a blow-up bookworm from Oriental Trading welcomed the toys/kids.

I found the fun and colorful art boxes at the 99c Only Store and attached the Sunnyside label to them with Mod Podge. Inside, the kids found a box of Toy Story crayons, character erasers and crayon bubbles.

Some of the activities we had in store were kept in these numeric mesh containers from Ikea and labeled with the box cards. The colorful paratroopers from Oriental Trading were a huge success! The kids also had fun with the trash bag races and saving characters that I cut out out of cardstock with a grabber = the claw!

We laid out empty boxes with an oversized post-it note for guests to "donate" their gifts to Anabelle!

The adult food was displayed separately in the "Parent Cafeteria" section. The colorful plates, cups and plasticware also came from Ikea, while the other containers were purchased as the 99c Only Store.

We were so incredibly pleased when we hired Ms. Louisa last year to lead the children in activities that we contacted Soulfire Studios to have her back again this year! I cannot praise Ms. Louisa enough with her ability to capture the kids' attention and bring so much joy in their imaginative play! We received such great feedback from not only the kids, but the parents who enjoyed watching their kids play, rather than run after them the entire time! She read them the Toy Story 3 book, warmed them up and dressed them in costumes that she brought.

 Western dance to "You've Got a Friend In Me"! Yee haw!

Ken's fashion show... walking down the runway to "Freak Out"!

 Rockin' the maracas and sombreros to "Ay Un Amigo En Mi"!

For Anabelle's second birthday, we hired Balloons With a Twist to create balloon animals and when they were holding a photo contest last year, we submitted a photo of her wearing an elaborate balloon crown the artist had created at the party. We were so super excited when we won the contest and redeemed our prize with face painting, per Anabelle's request! We were so happy and thankful and the kids just loved it!

The kids had a fun time with the Toy Story coloring pages and seriously... do bubbles ever get old?! Ummm, no! ;)

This Toy Story party had such a different vibe from last year's theme, but the constant was the amount of fun had by the birthday girl and her friends and that was truly THE most important thing to me. The kiddos had a fabulous time at Sunnyside with the rest of the toys celebrating Anabelle's fifth birthday! And a special shout out to my family and my friends (Harriet and Do) without whom I could not have done it all!

The favors were hiding in these "TOYS TO DONATE" boxes...

The kids went home with a set of Toy Story characters and the note quoting Andy in the movie, who just donated his toys to a deserving little girl as he departs for college:

"Now you gotta promise to take good care of these guys. They mean a lot to me."

So long, partner.

♥ Anabelle