worker man party

Oh, we all had so much fun at this party.

For starters... the best part... my sister and (most of) "the cousins" came, along with Geegee and Papa and Mymaw. All traveling from out of town. Every once in a while I have to remind myself that not everyone has such amazing extended family. We are truly lucky and blessed immensely by our families. I often take that for granted.

Since diggers are still such a *huge* part of Hayes's life and imagination right now, it had to be a construction party. He's so easy to please... if it is a digger or has to do with construction, he loves it. The party planning was super easy knowing that he would be excited about every bit of it. He still tells me (over a week later) that he really wants to have another digger party... right now!

I think the highlight for the kids was the wrecking ball game. A tennis ball with a rope attached, hanging from a tree. The kids swung the ball to knock down a set of boxes that Addie and Claire had decorated to look like buildings. Stack, demolish, repeat. It was quite a hit. (No pun intended.)

We also had a sand pit with hidden treasures to dig up and a "hammer and nails" station (golf tees and floral arrangement blocks). Robert made a house out of cardboard boxes for the kids to paint. We only put out blue paint because Hayes tells us all the time about his "big blue house"... the house he will live in when he grows up. It has 5 sandboxes and a swimming pool, in case you are wondering.

Snacks were simple. A few healthy things to ballance out all the treats. The cakes were yellow and chocolate cake layered and baked inside mason jars. The jars made it wonderfully easy for people to bring home leftovers and extras. "Mud balls" made from doughnut holes rolled in chocolate glaze and chocolate sprinkles. And of course, M&M's... Hayes's favorite.

The kids got to bring home a tool belt and worker man hat along with some other little prizes. The tool belts were bought from Home Depot (amazingly cheap!) and I just sewed a few little pockets on the front with some construction fabric scraps.

We covered the tables with some of Robert's architectural drawings that we taped down with colored duct tape. My dad happily found a few mistakes on them, to which Robert informed him that this was actually a red line set and not final construction drawings. Ahem.

{Love Robert's hair in this last one, taken after the party. I have no idea why he looks so frazzled... the party was actually really smooth and easy! ...or at least I thought so.}

Thank you to all our friends and family who helped us celebrate! The birthday boy had a ball and we loved spending time with all of you!