Sunday, July 13, 2014

{LEGO City Police Birthday}

It takes my little boy two or three days after his birthday party to tell me the theme for his next one.  Last year at his {Robot Party} he got several LEGO City sets and so he immediately asked for this theme.  And even when I start to fantasize about other options, I always end up giving in because, after all, it’s his party.  So after months of playing with his LEGO police cars, his Career Day at school and Halloween, for which he dressed up as a policeman, he said that he wanted a LEGO Police birthday.  And my mind started racing! I loved the idea of combining two of the things he likes most and stay away a bit from so many LEGO birthday parties out there.  So I am delighted and so proud to share you my little boy’s LEGO City Police birthday party! 



As usual I start by imagining the invitation; always trying to make something different with a little “wow” factor.  So I researched bloom boxed greeting cards and decided to make my own little version of a LEGO brick invitation.  I chose a palette of shades of blue, red, gray, black and white setting the scheme for the whole party. 






Kid’s Table
This year I wanted smaller party, concentrating on inviting just several of his closest school friends and his cousins.  So based on a guest list of only 15 kids (birthday boy included) I decided right away that I wanted to set up a kid’s table.  I contacted my friend Ivette from Jamalú Rental and found the cutest blue chairs and low tables perfect for my setup.  I used several LEGO containers in different shapes and colors for the centerpiece as well as a brick banner. 











Each kid would have a place setting consisting of square and round plates, personalized juice bottles with striped straws and little flags.  Personalized favors were placed on each setting, functioning as a seating card.  The birthday boy’s chair was specially decorated with large die cut of a brick with his name.


               
Party Favors
The favors are one of my favorite projects.  Since we went with a smaller group of kids, I wanted these to be extra special and as personalized as I could get. I bought these muslin bags and ironed on a dollar sign to make them look like loot bags, and filled them up with toy handcuffs, whistles, police badges and handmade soaps by my friend Mariselys from Three Changos Handcrafted Soaps in California.  I also got really lucky and found LEGO stickers and erasers which I found on sale! I like to personalize my favors, so each boy got a customized building set complete with enough bricks to build his own little car and for the girls I made these fantastic necklace and earring sets.  I also made LEGO crayons along with several mini coloring pages to be placed on each place setting along with their loot bag which was closed up with rope and a personalized thank you tag.









The Sweets
The dessert and cake table is always a favorite of everyone.  The background is always a challenge because it takes convincing my husband to do something drastic to our wall. He’s awesome and he ends up encouraging my party induced craziness. So this time I painted the wall in a shade of gray and glued on some plastic plates upside down to make it look like a LEGO construction baseplate adding depth to the wall. I also had two of our main characters, a policeman and a burglar, placed on each side of our table.  Black and white striped overlay linen over royal blue tablecloth tied everything up.  Instead of a birthday banner I created a fabric garland which is always a favorite element of mine.  Off to the side of each character, I placed two big balloons with tissue tassels that I made myself.







The fantastic and always mesmerizing cake by Jovanna Valentín was sitting atop a huge LEGO container as a cake stand. She created a masterpiece depicting my son’s favorite LEGO toy: a police station.  We used our own mini figures and helicopter to complement her design setting and she even constructed a police car out of fondant.  Did you notice the little burglar in his jail cell?  Genius!









Part of the décor of the table included two customized LEGO heads.  I created the facial expressions of a cop and a burglar, complete with their respective hat. For dessert we served LEGO cookies, French macarons, and coconut-walnut macaroons by Sugar Bliss by Mari and cupcakes with custom gum paste toppers by Jovanna. I also wanted to make some of the desserts myself, so I made Jell-O, Nutella cheesecake and, everyone’s favorite, lemon-raspberry cheesecake.  We also served the usual candies such as gumballs, sixlets, rock candy, lollipops, chocolate kisses and some LEGO brick hard candy.
























As always, I created dessert and candy labels, personalized the wooden spoons with LEGO pieces and washi tape, framed welcome and thank you signs, brick toppers, water bottle labels, embellished plates and centerpieces.











I also always create a small gift table.  I needed a place to showcase another favorite project I made for the party.  I had seen this idea on Etsy and decided to give it a go.  I had purchased a large letter M several months ago and decided to make a LEGO mosaic.  It turned out amazing and it will be part of the décor for his room.  The table also held the props for our photobooth.





The Fun
There was no way we would host this party anywhere else but home.  Mauricio wanted a water slide and pool party.  I also created a police lineup photo booth for our guests to take pictures with lots of props such as mustaches, masks, glasses, money bags, and a mug shot sign.  Everyone, especially the adults had a blast taking pictures.











The Birthday Boy!

Even though this is the smallest party I’ve hosted so far, I couldn’t help but give Mauricio the party that he deserved.  We are really grateful and happy to have enjoyed great weather and a great time with so many good friends.

Vendors:
Styling, décor, paper products and more: Partylicious
Balloons: Johanna Padín ~ GloboArte
Kid’s table, chairs and linens: Jamalú Rental http://www.jamalurentalpr.com/
Cake and cupcakes: Jovanna Valentín
French macarons, sugar cookies, red velvet cakes and coconut macaroons: Sugar Bliss by Mari
Handmade soaps: Three Changos Handcrafted Artisan Soaps https://www.facebook.com/ThreeChangos
Plastic bottles, wooden spoons, and polka dot paper bags: Shop Sweet Lulu www.shopsweetlulu.com
Striped favor bags and straws: Back to Zero https://www.etsy.com/shop/BacktoZero