Charlie's 8th Airplane Birthday Party

This blog content is a bit old considering how Big Man turned 8 in April. But I didn't really have my act together with the blogging back then, so... April, August... they both start with an 'A', so I consider that close enough.

I am a child of the 80s and therefore, like every kid in the 80s, I had lots of my parties at Burger King, complete with cardboard crowns. But as I got old enough to pick the venue, my mom said I began planning elaborate parties creating original themes and games for weeks before the party. One year, my mom and dad surprised me in the middle of the party with a stretch limo to take all of my friends and I to Ben & Jerry's. Amazing, right? Except, I pouted the whole time. The limo wasn't part of my plan... (Lord. Now that I'm thinking about it. Charlie's recent issues with having an entitled attitude is probably my karma for that exact moment ...)

As I've grown older and have kiddos of my own, party planning is still one of my favorite things. I love their birthday parties. I love picking a theme that suits them. I love, love, love picking out the stationary for the invitations. And I really love having people over, making delicious food for everyone and settling in for chats with friends and family as I watch my children play! What's not to love about a party??

I've always been in love with the birthday parties my good friend and former neighbor, Jamie, throws for her children. They are always beautiful. Forget beautiful, they're perfect. This year, with the amazing creative assistance of my talented girlfriend, Mandie, a baker-extraordinare at Got What It Cakes, I set out to have a party that was bigger than the ones I had done before.

The theme was airplanes. This was actually pretty hard to pull together for an 8 year old. I skipped ordering a printables package since it was impossible to find an airplane theme that was designed for an older child. I just used pinterest for every idea possible and adjusted it to suit my big kid.

We (and when I say "we", I really mean Mandie did all of it) created a runway to go down the center of the table and collected plates and napkins in a silver and blue color scheme.

For party favors, I bought the $1 balsam wood airplanes from a craft store and found packages of draw-your-own puzzles which were about 6 for $3. I had Charlie draw his "thank you's" on them and then we broke them up and put them in baggies. We thought this was a really fun idea for a combo of favor and "thank you".

Our proximity to the Dulles Air & Space museum was so convenient as a fun activity for an airplane-themed party. Just the week before Charlie's party, NASA delivered the Space Shuttle Discovery to the museum and it was especially exciting to see!


After the museum, the boys had real airplane meals and cake!


I think he enjoyed it... :)