Burton’s 5th Birthday : Number 5 Cake and a Toy Story Party

I am a little late in writing about Burton’s 5th birthday and party, mainly because as soon as it was all over the summer holidays began and we have been so busy! Anyway, back on the 15th July Burton turned 5 years old and he was in my room at 5am wide awake and wanting to open his presents! Considering I had not got to bed until almost 1am that morning, after wrapping presents and tidying up, I was not feeling the same birthday energy that my boy was! I managed to hold Burton off until 6am when I gave in and he, Daddy and I went down to the kitchen so he could open some gifts, taking care not to wake Jenson (who sauntered down an hour later!).

The cake was actually very simple but looked so effective I think, and was well worth taking the time to decorate it like that (thanks to my Mum for helping me with the shaping and smartie decorating – saved me a lot of time!).

Of course his birthday was on a school day, so Burton had his party the following Saturday where I hired a nearby village hall to accommodate all of his party guests.

Yes we went with a Toy Story theme, after waitig to hold one for him for 3 years I was very happy to be able to do it for his 5th birthday! I bought a lot of things from e-bay to decorate the hall with, and the life sixe character cut out was a big hit with all of the party guests!


Having 25 children to entertain was my biggest concern, especially as all of the parties I had taken Burton to where the class had been invited, were run by professional party entertainers! Eeeeeek! So I decided to mix some traditional party games, like musical statues, musical bumps and Simon says with some Toy Story inspired ones too. Therefore, there was Pin the badge on Sheriff Woody, Build a potato head and Bullseye (ie. velcro darts!). I also laid on some craft activities, so we made space ships with little green aliens inside (paper plates covered with tin foil, then glue a small plastic bowl to the top with a green pom pom inside – the alien on which you stick tiny googly eyes – and then decorate with foil stars) and space helmets (large paper bags which you remove the handles, cut out a square to see out of and then decorate with various crafty add ons eg, stars, buttons, pipe cleaners for ariels etc). These activities went down best of all and I wish I had thought of another one as they passed the time well!






I tried to keep things easy with the party food, and due to the amount of chilren attending and not wanting too much wastage, I opted to give each child a lunch box which meant it could be prepped just before the party started, and laid out on the tables in advance (I was fortunate as the hall had a seperate room which was clsoed to the main hall). Then all I had to do was bring out bowls of crisps and then the sweet things and drinks. I don’t have any photos of the party food – I was so busy on the day I just didn’t get around to it and the OH forgot!! Anyway, the menu for the Toy Story theme was:

Ham Sandwiches
Slinky Dogs – cocktail sausages
Mr Potato Heads – smiley faces
Mini Pizza Planets – muffin pizzas in their own miniature pizza boxes!
Wotsits
Stars – star shaped carrots
Batteries – cucumber sticks
Moons – babybel cheese
Jessie’s Jellies
Cowboy and Cowgirl Hats – iced and chocolate gems
Snakes in my boot – jelly snakes sweets
Buzz Rockets – Fruit Kebabs

I was going to make a Toy Story specific cake, but then I decided to make another number 5 one instead! However, I did make it a little differently to the one Burton had on his actual birthday, but to be honest as much as everyone enjoyed it and it all got eaten, I preferred the look of the frst one I made!

With the party bags I wanted the gifts to be useful, so each one was filled with

Dinosaur stickers
bouncy ball
alien pencil topper
fish eye periscope
Toy Story cupcake (in an individual cupcake box)
sweets

Despite the mayhem which occurred after the food and before the kids went home (when it was hard to manage and co-ordinate them successfully!!!), I think it went ok and everyone enjoyed themselves. However, I have learnt a valuable lesson, 2 hours is long enough for a party, as 2 1/2 is too much to occupy that many children!!

I was sent some party items from Tiger Feet Party including the alien party bags, the individual cupcake boxes, and some paper plates. These items really helped me with my party planning.

This post was brought to you as part of Flashback Friday

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Remember – a flashback can be from any time whether it be yesterday, last week, last month, last year or yesteryear! It can be a flashback of your own, your children, your partner or your friends.