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| Tata & Sean (aka Lil' Brother) |
What is so much fun as watching three-year-olds in hard hats run around at a party? Maybe the only thing that comes close is getting ready for said party.
It's Rylan's birthday, and since Rylan is a truck fanatic, his mama chose a construction site. Each girl and boy got a yellow construction hat, although the Birthday Boy's hat was safety cone orange. I'm told it is standard at construction site for the foreman's hat to be orange so workers don't have to wander around asking, "Who's the boss around here?" Always something new.
To make the party favors for you own truck lovers, take two dozen dunce cap-shaped standard party hats and spray paint with, you guessed it, safety cone orange! One can will do two dozen hats, but don't get too carried away to soon or the last ones will be weakly orange.
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| Dad cuts the cake |
Once the paint is dry, take a white paint pen and make two lines around the cone about 2 inches down from the point. I found it was easiest to do this by resting the point in my palm as a pivot during the line painting. When that is dry, a little glitter paint in-between the lines provides a sort of reflective surface--you could use tape for this, but I'm not sure the cutting and pasting would be less work. We wrote each young guest's name on the cone as "Property of ______." On the back side of the cone we printed CAUTION with big black crayon marker. We considered a thin layer of gloss paint but decided that for three-year-olds that was overkill. (Now for teenagers, maybe.) The cones then rested on matching orange napkins.Rylan's Auntie Abi and I had fun painting the cones. Rebekah designed the tablecloths with black plastic and white stickers to indicate highway stripes. Another grandma had a four-foot safety cone in the garage that keeps her from bashing the car when she pulls in. This was pressed into service with balloons as a party marker in the park. We had considered twisting black and yellow crepe paper as Caution-Construction site tape substitute, but abandoned the plan at the last minute.
In addition to the construction cones, each party-goer received a baggy containing a truck and the popular stickers. While the fruit bowl was popular, the digger cake was the winner, hands down.
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| Sean in the Creek |
Civic Green Park was perfect in that a playground and a landscaped creek open for wading were only a few running steps from the shelter house where the treats and balloons were waiting. It was a warm enough day for bare feet and modest splashing.