Samuel’s birthday was coming up and I decided to give him a choice between a few of his favorite things to have as a theme for his party. As a 2-year-old boy, he loves Toy Story, Dinosaurs, Trucks, Sharks and Mickey Mouse. I asked him over and over again, constantly switching up the order, to make sure I would still get the same answer, and over and over again I received a confident and convicted response - “TRUCKS!” The theme was decided.

We love to host parties and wanted to make sure the celebration was special and fun, not only for Samuel, but for the other kids who would be there. Having an activity was important since we had 30 kids attending under the age of 7 (and 30 unoccupied under 7’s is a recipe for disaster). David’s idea was to have as many trucks as we could get so one night he went out with our little man to thrift stores and Walmart to gather up all the trucks he could find. Going to the store with your child when the goal is volume is almost too much fun! “Yes, we can get that one and that one and that one… we can get them all!” This may have set a terrible precedent for future shopping with our Samuel, but we ended up with around 50 trucks for less than $ 200. Just as my sometimes clever husband suspected, the trucks were a huge hit. We obviously didn’t need all these so after the party we let kids take home a vehicle of their choice (way better for a 5-year-old boy to leave a party with a truck of their choice than your quintessential goody bag). Where we live we also have a very large, communal sandbox, so the other trucks that didn’t make Samuel’s varsity squad all found a new home there. We see them from time-to-time and they all seem happy.

Hosting a party takes time and money. I was on a mission to make sure the truck theme was both cute and affordable so I went to my three trusty friends, Amazon, Facebook Marketplace and Etsy, to help me out for the big day. I purchased the number 2 marquee, balloons and traffic cones all from Amazon. The large cut out truck was purchased from a woman on Facebook Marketplace who had just used it for her son’s birthday, and Etsy proved to be indispensable for driving home the theme in style.

I love Etsy! You can find any theme you can think of in many peoples’ stores. Trucks and transportation didn’t have as much as others but there was still plenty to choose from. We did ‘welcome’ and ‘milestone’ signs for his first birthday and thought it would be fun to repeat that tradition for his 2nd. They were downloadable signs from Paper and Ink Design Co. that we then had printed at Walgreens (in less than an hour we went from having downloadable printouts to customized 2’ x 3’x poster printed on thick paper backings). This year we did a simple cake from the local grocer, King Soopers, but had a cake topper made on Etsy from Creations by Lily Quin. I was a little late ordering and thankfully she worked with me so I would have the topper by the time of the party. As an added touch, I wanted Samuel to have a special 2-year-old birthday shirt and I found just what I was looking for at Ant Bazaar.

Cooking for 50 people was going to be too much so we decided to cater. To my husband’s delight, we did taste tests the week before for both BBQ and donuts. After sampling several BBQ options, our decision was made at Smokin Yards BBQ. Not only is it delicious, but it’s far more affordable than many of its competitors. On the donut front, given our household’s passion for the baked goodness with a hole in the middle, we weren’t going to settle. I bought samples from 4 donut stores in our area the week before and one stood out as some of the best donuts I have ever had. Tasty Donuts in Commerce City, Colorado has been around since 1929 and is now my new go to spot! And of course, you can’t just have BBQ, sides, cake and donuts… you need decorative cookies too! We were looking for cookies that not only tasted fantastic, but added more cuteness to the theme. Last year I made them myself, but this year I decided I didn’t have the time, patience or baking creativity that I was looking for. Luckily, one of my life long best friends has an amazing talent for cookies. Heidi runs Heidis Bake Haus in Ft. Collins, Colorado, and after providing her with some direction, she came up with the most gorgeous and tasty cookies I could have imagined - an added bonus to Samuel’s special day.

The kids picnic table, which I borrowed form a nearby friend, was also a big hit! Even the littlest munchkins really enjoy feeling independent. Samuel spent a good portion of the day sitting next to his favorite little cousin, Luci!