
Super Cool Disney Pixar Cars Birthday Party
If you’re a super fan of Disney-Pixar Cars (or happen to be fond of a little one who is), we’ve got tons of fun Cars party ideas to share with you today… including easy menu & drink ideas inspired by the characters themselves! My personal favorites being Luigi’s Pizza Tires and Fillmore’s Organic Fruit Cups. ;)
We dreamed this Cars theme up in collaboration with the new Disney • Pixar Cars Party line from Hallmark. They make everything from Lightning McQueen plates & cups to Cars inspired party games, activities, favor packs & more… not to mention the cutest little Tow Mater Snack Caddy you ever did see.
So… we took some of these Dream Party products and incorporated them into the full-fledged Cars theme you see here! Some items were used just as they come, and some products were re-invented for use in a totally new & unexpected way. We can never resist the DIY over here, ya know! ;) So if you’re on the hunt for party inspiration, scroll on down and buckle up for the ride – because party images and details are coming up at LIGHTNING speed!
PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:
- “Tires” and “roads” created from black shelf liner material + yellow duct tape
- “Pit Crew Toolbox” eating utensil holder for plates, napkins, and embellished forks
- “Re-fuel” Drink Station featuring drink dispensers fitted with colorful funnels
- “Race Car” kids chair backs crafted from colored duct tape and paper LightYear wheels
- Tons of FREE CARS PRINTABLES from HWTM… party signs, “Radiator Springs” water labels, & more!
Grab all the Free Race Car Birthday Printables by HWTM right here! And find the matching custom items here!
The Theme & Inspiration
I have to admit I didn’t have a super clear-cut plan on this theme at first. Sometimes that happens – where you can kind of see in your head what you want a party to look like, but the exact details feel out of focus. So to get things more in focus, I wandered… straight down every single aisle in the automotive and tool sections at Walmart! I looked for anything in those sections that could possibly work as a party decoration AND was also inexpensive. I then proceeded to get way too excited over things like bright red/blue funnels, an $8 toolbox, and $2 car reflector packs. But the icing on the cake? A pack of 4 wheel covers for $19.99 that just seemed destined to become a cars themed food table backdrop. Ka-Chow! ;)
Also picked up some good stuff elsewhere in the store, including .92 pizza pans to work as “tire” serving trays, wrenches for the “pit crew”, and disposable cake pans with red lids that reminded me of giant reflectors.
Once I got all of this home and paired it with the Cars Dream Party supplies and a couple other key embellishments like colored duct tape and rolls of black shelf liner, things finally started to come together. Read on for the details…
“PIT CREW” Inspired Food Station
- Backdrop created from a blue sheet, wheel covers, Dream Party garlands (from the Dream Party ceiling decor kit) & hanging wrenches embellished with duct tape
- A Cars “PIT CREW” sign (actually the top part of the Dream Party Doorway Curtain) was glued to silver dowels. The dowels were inserted into silver boxes embellished with duct tape and filled with red glittered funnels and popcorn.
- Tire-inspired serving trays made from hat boxes covered in rubbery black shelf liner material + cheap silver pizza trays. A funnel was also used on the tiered server for added height.
- The “holder” for the plates, napkins, and forks was actually a Toolbox embellished with duct tape & a free printable sign
The Menu
The food & dessert items will be covered more extensively in another post, but here’s the quick list for now: Mater’s Taters, Luigi’s Pizza Tires, Guido’s Pizza Rolls, Fillmore’s Organic Fruit Cups, Sarge’s Sandwiches, and Doc’s Engine Dipsticks
Kid’s Table
- Table runner crafted from black shelf liner material + yellow duct tape
- Lightning McQueen inspired centerpiece featuring an ombre glittered “95”, paper lightning silhouettes, patterned paper and a mini Lightning McQueen himself!
- Dream Party “95” cups + free printable Lightning themed party flags
- Kids chairs embellished with duct tape “racing stripes” + paper wheels to create the illusion of race cars on the back! The seats were also covered with black shelf liner reminiscent of tire tread
Drink Station
- “Fillmore’s Organic Racing Fuel” (apple juice) + “Fast as Lightning Fruit Punch”
- Drink dispensers embellished with duct tape and custom labels, then fitted with plastic funnels to create a fun “pouring” experience for the kids!
- Kid sized water bottles with free printable “Radiator Springs” bottle labels
- “Re-fuel” free printable drink sign + Cars themed cups
- Drink Station Backdrop & extra character embellishments are from the Disney Dream Party line
Dessert Station (HUTCH)
- A DIY “Traffic Light” was created for the middle of the hutch. We used foam core covered with black shelf liner and glittered paper circles for the lights, plus the liner of a gift wrap roll spray painted silver for the traffic light “pole”
- Cozy Cone Cakes (recipe coming soon), Sheriff’s Stoplight Brownies, & Piston Cup Popcorn embellished with Printable Party Circles
- The serving trays are $1 photo boxes from Michaels embellished with colored duct tape & lined with patterned paper
Favors Station
- Black shelf liner table cover + Cars themed “Grand Prix” flag, banner, & hubcap backdrop
- “Piston Cup Prizes” free printable favor sign in a blue glittered frame with lightning bolt silhouette & a duct tape riser
- Plastic M&M cups embellished with party circles on the lids
Temporary Tattoo Activity
- “Ramone’s House of Body Art” free printable sign + white frame decorated with yellow duct tape
- Cars themed temporary tattoos… easy-peasy!

- Sponsored by: Dream Parties by Hallmark & Disney
- Party design, printables, photography, food & styling: Hostess with the Mostess
- Cars party products: available at Walmart (manufactured by Hallmark)
- White kid’s chairs & red table cloth: Raphael’s Party Rentals
- Wheel covers, reflectors, funnels, wrenches, pizza trays, drink dispensers: Walmart
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Super Cool Disney Pixar Cars Birthday Party http://t.co/mPpuDTaQVF #weddings
Where did you get the drink Funnels from?
I got them from Walmart in the auto section :)
Hi! Planning my son’s 2nd party for this weekend…cars themed…would you mind sending me that recipe for the cozy cone cakes please? Thank you so much!
Hi Heather –
I actually just used a traditional “cake ball” mix inside of the sugar cones, which is a baked cake broken into crumbs and mixed with frosting. I used yellow cake mix and vanilla frosting, but you can really use and flavors you want… chocolate is usually a hit too. :) So all you do is spoon the filling into the sugar cones, then place them on top of graham cracker squares. Make sure the cone is nice and full – potentially even a little overfull, so that the filling helps the upside down cone stick securely to the graham cracker. That’s all you need to do to form the structure of the cones!
The final step is to spray them orange with edible orange food spray by Wilton, which I found in the baking aisle at Michael’s. You can also brush them with melted orange candy melts (also made by Wilton & available at Michael’s), but that will definitely take a bit longer. Hope that helps & good luck with the party! :)
Hey Jenn!
Great! Thanks so much for the instructions!! I have yet to make cake balls/pops, so really didn’t even know how to attempt these cozy cones! I was like, how in the world would you bake the mix inside these pointed cones?? DUH!! Anyways, thanks again!! These will be much easier than I thought!
Hey Jenn!
For some odd reason, I am unable to upload the file. It may be my computer. You have some beautiful pictures and ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Katine –
Are you referring to the free printables? They are actually available here: https://www.hwtm.com/2013/08/free-printables-disney-pixar-cars-birthday-party/ You’ll find a list of individual PDF links at the bottom of the post – or you can download them all in one zip file as well :) If you still have trouble let us know and we’ll see what we can do!
Cheers,
Jenn
Hi! Wanted to know where you get the photo frames from
Hi Jenn
I’m planning my sons 1st birthday disney cars theme and love the idea you made with the drink and the funnel ! Very creative how did you connect the funnel to the jug? Please let me know ASAP his birthday is next month and I’m going insane trying to make this happen lol thank you tons !
Hi Brenda!
For the funnels, I was actually fortunate that the drawers on the side table I was using had a little notch in them, which I used to rest the funnels in, then used 3D glue dots to help secure them to the edge of the table. If the drawer notches weren’t there, I probably would’ve used duct tape that ran from on the underside of the funnel to the underside of the drink container though. I also just did a quick search and found another person that simply rested the container on top of the small edge attached to the rim of the funnel: http://juicy-bits.typepad.com/juicy_bits/2010/09/163-race-car-birthday-part-1-the-details.html and here’s another person that accomplished this sort of idea in a much different way – but it’s really cute too: http://juicy-bits.typepad.com/juicy_bits/2010/09/163-race-car-birthday-part-1-the-details.html Hope that helps – and good luck with the party! :)
Amazing!!
I looked on the sites for dream party and can’t find the little allinol bottles. Did those come from Wal-Mart as well?
Love this cars party! Having a cars party a week from today. Just curious what did you use to hold up the food signs? if you could let me know that would be awesome
Great Ideas thanks
Did you make the pit crew and refuel sign? I Love It I’m having a Cars themed baby shower and that would be Perfect.!!
Hi Sydney – Yes – I made the Pit Crew and Re-Fuel signs that are shaped like emblems :) You can download them for free right here: https://www.hwtm.com/2013/08/free-printables-disney-pixar-cars-birthday-party/ (The big Pit Crew sign up on the backdrop with the actual Cars Characters was a storebought item though)
There are lots of other free printables from this party on the link above as well. Good luck with the baby shower! :)
Where did you buy the plastic m&m cups? You’re very creative!
Where did you print the "lightyear" tires used on the chairs?
Where did you find those trays that’s holding the pizza bites it would help thanks
Hi Marlishia –
The round metal pans were .99 at Walmart, and then I made the “tire” portion of the trays by wrapping black shelf liner material (from target) around round nesting boxes. Then the metal pans were placed on top :)
Hi Jen! I love everything about this party…thank you for sharing your ideas! Would you mind telling me what you used to get the little food signs to stand up? Thank you!
Hey, Jen! Where were you able to find the Mater snack caddies? Because I am having no luck! I want to get my hands on several and I’ve searched EBay and Amazon but there are usually only 1-2 postings and even then, they’re only selling one and it isn’t enough! Any help would be awesome!!
Where did you find the Mater snack caddies?! I’ve been on the hunt for them but have only managed to find them on Ebay and Amazon as of now, and its only 1 for each seller. I’ve only found four people selling them, so that would make 4 caddies but I’d like more! Thank you!
Hi , everything is so awesome! Im Planning my little boy 2 nd BDay! i want to know where I can get the Mater Food Tray! ? Please, I’ve being looking all over ! Thank You
Hi Kary – I got this one at Walmart, but it was back in 2013… not sure if they still sell them, but that’s the first place I’d check. Good luck! :)