Evan’s Cars and Planes Birthday Party

Evan turned 5 years old today! We celebrated on Saturday and he chose Cars and Planes for his theme. Here are links to his previous birthday parties: Ocean, Lego, Mickey Mouse, and Star Wars.

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I baked the cake and my mom decorated it- with Evan’s help. The base layer is the same Vanilla Almond recipe from Around My Family Table that I have used for the past few parties. Evan only recently started liking chocolate and he decided on this Nutella Cake from Kirby’s Cravings for the top tier.

Both tiers were frosted with a light blue vanilla buttercream. My mom used an off-set spatula dipped in hot water to help smooth out the sides.

The bottom tier was decorated into a desert with sand, cactuses, and rocks for Cars. The top tier had a flight line and clouds for Planes. A few dragonflies were added at Evan’s request.

Evan’s toy Dusty was placed on the top of the cake with Mater and Lightning at the base.

I decorated the drink table with an orange tablecloth, blue cups, and blue napkins. I served Strawberry Lemonade for the “Jet Fuel.” During Claire’s birthday party in February, I made a Raspberry Sorbet Punch. It was a huge hit, so this time I made it with Mango Sorbet for the “Antifreeze.”

I covered the food table with a red tablecloth and topped it with this checkerboard one. I used this Planes Birthday Banner (cut it in half to separate the Happy and Birthday) and surrounded the banner with clouds cut out of white paper. Evan and I sprinkled Cars confetti that I found at Party City (where I also picked up Mater plates and Cars napkins) over the tablecloths. The rest of the room was covered with Cars and Planes Wall Decals.

I wrapped orange cardstock into cones and used them to hold this Salted Caramel Popcorn from Manu’s Menu.

I found this idea for Dusty’s Dippers on Pinterest from 30 Something Mother Runner. Each cup had a layer of ranch dressing and was filled with carrots and celery.

When I asked Evan what kind of food he wanted for his party, his first answer was Mac and Cheese. So I made “Mack” and Cheese using this recipe. I skipped the topping since Evan isn’t a fan and used Rotelle pasta.

I also served Mater’s Taters (Tater Tots) and Tires (Baked Vanilla Bean Doughnuts). After baking half of the vanilla bean doughnuts, I mixed in some cocoa powder to make the other half chocolate. I did the same with the glaze to create an assortment.

We had hot dogs (Hot Rods) with ketchup, mustard, and relish served in a traffic light pattern (I got the idea from Events Not Forgotten). My mother-in-law also brought over Pancit (Filipino noodles) and Lumpia (Egg Rolls)- always a huge hit.

Planes Hanging Party Decorations on Amazon.

Happy Birthday Evan!