Okay… let’s DIG IN to this Bright and Bold Construction Party, which Gwynn of  Gwynn of Gwynn Wasson Designs cleverly assembled for her son’s 4th Birthday! All of the guests got to enjoy a kids-sized bulldozer and wrecking ball, complete with “brick walls” to knock down! As if that isn’t enough fun on its own, they also got to strap on their personalized tool belts and go wild in the dig zone (which is a brilliant way to avoid digging up your yard). ;)

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Colorful party entrance, complete with saw-horse construction signs, giant balloons, and orange pylons
• Dumptruck & Tractor sugar cookies + Chocolate “Dirt Mounds” (cupcakes) & “Boulders” (donut holes)
• A super bright dessert table with adorable cement truck cake pops & AWESOME construction site cake
• Personalized Tool Belts for all the pint-sized construction workers

PARTY DETAILS as told by Gwynn…

When my son Dashell was closing in on 4, he came out of his room one day adorned with all of his toy tools and declared that he would like a Construction Party! This was the first time that he had ever had a strong opinion about his birthday party theme and so I was thrilled to be able to embrace his enthusiasm for all things tools and construction and help bring his dream to life.

The Entryway

Over here, we are big on making sure that our guests are swept up in the magic of our theme the moment they arrive. For this party, I created a giant sign declaring the space “Dashell’s Construction Site” and hung it at the entrance to the party. On the ground below were a few saw horses I had built and then outfitted with fun signage: “Entering Construction Zone” and “Hard Hat Area Ahead.” Dashell had a blast decorating the driveway with tons of construction cones!

Party Attire

The sign at the entrance, “Hard Hat Area Ahead,” gave the guests a small hint as to what was to come next. As they drew nearer to the party, they were met with a large sign “Grab Your Gear and Let’s Build” which was hanging over rows and rows of personalized tool belts and toy hard hats decorated with party circle stickers stating that they were about to be part of “Crew 4.” Each little guest was thrilled to put on their very own construction gear emblazoned with their name and packed with toy tools!

The Party

Once the guests were appropriately suited up, they entered the official party area and the fun times were on! Once past the custom saw horse declaring “Authorized Crew Members Only,” they were face to face with the “Dig Zone — a huge box we constructed and filled with sand, wood chips, tons of shovels and construction vehicles. The kids loved it.

Completely inspired by the cardboard bulldozer masterpiece originally created by Pure Joy Events, we set out to create our version, which the kids loved climbing on, as well as a cardboard wrecking ball which ended up being the hit of the party! I wrapped large empty boxes in seamless paper with brick wall detailing and then Dashell brought out all of our cardboard blocks and the kids simply could not build and wreck enough of the walls!

Dessert Table

Every party needs a dessert table to help capture the magic of the theme. For Dashell’s construction party, I baked a chocolate sheet cake and then crumbled it up and arranged all the beautiful construction vehicle cookies (masterfully created by Angela at Oh Sugar! Events based on my designs) to look as through they were really going to town on a mound of dirt!

For the cupcakes, I crushed up chocolate cookies and rolled the chocolate icing that topped the cupcakes in the cookie crumbs to make them look like dirt mounds and then decorated each one with a fun cupcake topper and construction themed cupcake wrapper. I then arranged all of them around a pile chocolate doughnut hole “boulders” and placed one of the vehicle cookies on top to complete the feeling of an actual construction site.

The miniature cement truck and dump truck cake pops, created by Entirely Sweet, were displayed in aluminum lunch pails and their arrangement was punctuated by adorable fondant construction cones, made by Brittany at Edible Details.

The center piece of the table was a two tier cake that I designed, and was beautifully executed by A Sweet Design. Cranes lifting giant number 4’s, dump trucks spilling their loads and bulldozers digging were all part of this cake “under construction.” Each one of the vehicles was painstakingly hand sculpted by Brittany of Edible Details and Dashell (as well as all the children) couldn’t have been more entranced!

Party Favors

When the end of the party drew near, each child left with their personalized tool belt packed with toy tools, their own hard hat and a fun construction themed puzzle. And, of course, so many fun memories! I still have parents come up to me and tell me that their child continues to enjoy putting on their tool belt and fixing everything around the house. It’s those kind of stories that remind me that when we design these parties we are helping to create a little bit of the magic that is part of childhood.