Race Car Party: Caleb's Disney Cars 3rd Birthday Party

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I was thrilled to help with my little buddy Caleb's 3rd birthday party.  He's big into the Disney movie Cars. In fact, he never goes anywhere without his Lightning McQueen toy car (see pictures below).  So, a Disney Cars movie-themed race car party was a must.  Please enjoy the Cars birthday ideas below.

Disney Cars Party Invitations
These race car invitations featuring Lightning McQueen turned out awesome.  They looked just like race tickets!  Caleb's mommy ordered them on eBay from Magic Design Invitations.

Race Car Birthday Party Shirt

I love when the guest of honor is dressed to match the party's theme!  Caleb's cute checkered flag t-shirt came from I Spot You on Etsy.

Cars Party Food
Caleb's mommy Jessica wanted to serve snacks that you might find at a race track, such as popcorn and candy.  I had fun decorating the containers for the M&Ms and popcorn below, which were inspired by a race car party featured on Maddycakes Muse.  The personalized medallion on the popcorn highlights the birthday boy's age along with a Piston Cup from the movie.

 

Continuing the race party food theme, hamburgers and hot dogs were served for dinner shortly after guests arrived. I love the checkered fabric used to line the baskets for the hamburger and hot dog buns. 

 

Cars Party Decorations

I designed some cute pennant flag banners with checkered backgrounds, Piston Cups, and tire-tread borders to coordinate with the Cars party theme.  One featured Lightning McQueen's catchphrase, "I Am Speed", and the other read, "Happy Birthday Caleb".  

 

In addition to plain checked-flag pennant banners, balloon bouquets were placed around the room to add pops of color.  Caleb already had a ton of Cars toys, such as Hot Wheels, race tracks, play sets, and a pop-up tent.  These were affordable ways to add more Cars theme decorations to the party and provided a lot of entertainment for the guests.

  

Most of the Cars birthday party supplies were ordered from EZ Party Zone, which seemed to have great prices.

Race Party Games 

The absolute hit of the party was a bean bag toss game with an old tire! From the moment the party began until the very end, guests young and old had a blast trying to throw bean bags into the tire.  Some groups made up rules with under the leg tosses to add difficulty, and the toddlers enjoyed climbing inside the tire during breaks in the game. I declare this the best party game ever!!! As a result, I think I'll try to incorporate some kind of bean bag games into all of my parties, since it provided entertainment for both the kids and adults through the entire event.

  

Another hit game was "Guess Which Cone the Car Is Under".  A car was placed under one of three traffic cones, and Caleb's daddy swirled the cones around for a few minutes while the guests tried to keep their eyes on the cone with car underneath.  The toddlers were surprisingly good at this game. Everyone got a Disney Cars sticker to wear as a prize for playing. Giving out stickers or temporary tattoos is a great, inexpensive way to decorate your guests to match the party's theme.

  

  

Little boys love toy cars and vehicles.  Caleb's extensive Disney Cars collection of Hot Wheels and play sets made perfect decorations at the beginning of the birthday party, as well as an engaging activity as the event progressed.

 

This Disney Cars pinata provided a lot of excitement, too.  Jessica smartly had empty Cars treat bags on hand to help the kids collect their candy when the pinata popped.

  

Disney Cars Cupcakes

Jessica found some cupcake paper liners decorated with Lightning McQueen, which her baker gladly used on these cupcakes.  If you're looking for Cars birthday cake ideas, I highly suggest cupcakes because the little guests at this party really enjoyed helping themselves to cake after "Happy Birthday" was sung.

I made personalized cupcake toppers for the birthday boy that said, "Happy Birthday Caleb" or "Ka-Chow!", which is one of Lightning McQueen's catchphrases in the movie Cars.  Some also featured a number 3 with a Piston Cup.

 

Disney Cars Lollipop Stand

I had a lot of fun making this lollipop display for the dessert table.  I used black ribbon and yellow rick rack around the edges to mimic the design of a highway, so it fit great for the race theme party.  The personalized medallion featured Caleb's age and a Piston Cup from the Cars movie.  The little tags attached to the lollipops featured characters from the movie, such as Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Doc Hudson, Sally, and more, with the message "Thanks for Stopping by Caleb's 3rd Birthday" on the back.

 

  

  

Disney Cars Party Favors

When it was time to leave, guests were treated to Cars theme goodie bags filled with a variety of mini coloring pages of the Cars characters, crayons in Cars boxes found at the Dollar Tree, little bags of Cars graham crackers, candy, Cars stickers and temporary tattoos, and lollipops with personalized tags made by Belly Feathers just like the ones shown above.

 

It was so much fun to help with Caleb's party by designing decorations and sharing Cars birthday theme ideas.  Jessica's mommy of Albany, GA, did an excellent job of planning everything for the race party!  I was most impressed with the party games. They were super age appropriate for the birthday boy, while being fun for the older crowd, as well.

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