Wow, another year has come and gone..I’m the mother of a THREE year old! I am pretty sure I started last years blog post the same way, but man I am just stunned at how fast the time goes. Banks is the best part about our day, every day. He is so fun, energetic, tender, funny, cute and oh so sweet. He loves to wear his Jazz jersey and play with “the girls.” He loves to watch kid’s youtube (I know mom of the year,) and play with animals, but above all, this boy is more obsessed with cars, than I’ve ever seen anyone obsessed with anything. So a cars party it was.
Scroll ahead now if you’re solely here for the party deets (which is party most of you!) I just want to take some of this space to write down what is more important to me than the party details, and that is my top ten favorite things about Banks when he turned THREE. I never want to forget him in this freaking crazy, busy, absolutely adorable stage.
Banks loves cars. *duh* He makes the most adorable revving engine sound I have ever heard. You can hear it in the beginning of his birthday video at the bottom of this post!
The way he says “excabator” aka excavator. so cute. True story that he once corrected me when I told him to look out the window at a “Tractor!” He said “No mom, that’s an excavator!” WHAT.
When he grabs Ry and I’s heads and slams them up to both sides of his cheeks and says “cuties.”
The way he laughs hysterically when he farts or burps. #allboy
How he prays for everything. His toys, clothes, the girls, each family member by name, trick-or-treating, his friend Alex (who I’ve never met lol,) you name it, he prays for it.
His deep deep love for pepperonis lol
How he sings twinkle twinkle little star in his sweetest voice.
His love for the Five for Fight Utah Jazz commercial haha! He literally runs over to the tv to mimic the commercial each time it comes on.
How he loves the surprise element of any sort of toy egg! It could pop out a fluffy pink unicorn stuffed animal and he would exclaim with joy!
His love for me…He is a mama’s boy through and through. He is so in tune with me and just my little best friend. We’ll always have a very special connection that Banksy boy and I.
Okay, you made it this far. Let’s get to the party details!!
I designed these invites on a super easy design website called Canva. Then I just had them printed at Office Max! They’re my go-to!
To be honest, the space isn’t my favorite. It has a lot of dark brown cherry wood and I just tried to make it as cute as possible because it holds a lot of people! I decided to get crafty this year and nothing I did was super time consuming! A couple little DIY projects was so worth it!
I made this “Welcome to Banks Derby” for less than $15! I got the plywood at Home Depot and had them cut it in half. I think it was $12! I then made the graphic on Canva and had it cut on vinyl using a Circuit cutter! Then you just use transfer paper and apply it to the plywood! Easy Peasy! The cake was made from a local baker named Vinnie! You can find him on instagram under @vinniebakescakes the bottom tier was banana foster + the top was double chocolate chunk. So freaking good! The topper is a derby car I got from Seedling + Co!For the table covers I ordered black craft paper off and some chalk markers off amazon and very quickly (like literally five minutes) drew these roads on! I was in a hurry or I probs would’ve made them a little more symmetrical but they still turned out okay and the kids didn’t care lol! I bought
Plates!! I based the entire color scheme on the bottom plates. They are Meri Meri brand and you can find them here! I ordered the mint plates on amazon and used my friend’s circuit cutter to make the vinyl phrases on them. I did “Bank’s Derby, Start Your Engines, and Fuel Up” on the dessert plates.
Speaking of desserts…Is it really a party without party cookies? I think not! I had these made by Megan from @bouldermesacookieco on Instagram. She did SUCH A GOOD JOB and they tasted good too! I sent her the invitation and the theme of and colors and let her have full creative liberty on the. I was so impressed and so were our guests! If you are in Utah and need cookies for any event, she’s your girl!
Since we’re talking about food…We did a hot dog bar! I bought the condiment holders from Hobby Lobby and used the circuit cutter for vinyl labels. We offered Ketchup, Mustard, Mayo, J-Dawgs Sauce (if you know you know,) Relish, Sauerkraut, and chopped onions. Chips and drinks = Easy and affordable! Kid + adult approved! I wish I had a better picture of the balloon arch, but it was super cute (and easy!) You can find the very best tutorial here!I wanted to have an activity for the kids to do so I ordered these little wooden derby cars from amazon with some wood markers! The kids loved it! Made the “Decorate your own derby car” sign the same way I made the others but this wood didn’t take as well! (I bought this wood at Michaels. I would just use plywood from Home Depot and cut it down to your desired size!
I knew when I saw these derby cars a full year ago, I knew had to have them! I was so excited that they still had them in stock for his party. They are even cuter in person and doubled as toys for the kids to play with. Got them from Seedling + Co!
Ryan didn’t get in many pics but I was so happy to have one with all of us together!My very best friends..
My aunts, grandma, and mom They’re always so supportive.
B couldn’t get enough of his “wheel” cake!My freaking adorable mom! Who came early to help me set up.Besties!
Here’s the video recap of his party done by our cute friend Monet! I love having these to look back on from year to year!
Overall, it was so fun! It’s been three weeks and Banks is still talking about it. If I left any details or links out, just comment and I will get them to you! Thanks so much for loving his parties as much as I do! Love you guys!
Man…I have a two year old. When did that happen? They were right when they said time would fly. We had so much fun celebrating him at his “nemo” birthday (hehe!) Planning the party was so much fun, but being this boy’s mom is the most fun I’ve ever had.
There are some things I want to remember about my Banks at age two. First of all….He gets cuter each and every day (not biased at all 😉 ) He has a deep love for cars and won’t go anywhere without his Lightning McQueen or Cruz Ramirez. (See above picture lol.) He is OBSESSED. He even puts them in a safe spot right before he climbs into bed. Cute, right? He has like eighteen cowlicks in his hair and Ryan and I can’t ever figure out which way it goes so usually it goes both ways or straight up in the air. ha ha His favorite word is “cookie” thanks to his best friend, Graham. Oh, he has a best friend named Graham. He loves Moana, Nemo, Cars, Coco, and The Greatest Showman. Yes you read that right, The Greatest Showman. His favorite food is The Cali Toast from the Protein Foundry and he loves juice. He is so social and adores other kids. He’s got the best little personality and does “knucks” with everyone he meets. He loves being outside and is freaking terrified of our Roomba vacuum. No one knows why? He says “Was that?” a hundred times a day, and you can find him with stickers on his face almost always. Lastly, he is obsessed, OB-FREAKING-SESSED with me. and I love it. so much. (low key bugs Ryan though lolz) Anyway, those are some of my favorite things about my favorite person. He is so special to me. I love him so much. Can’t believe he is mine. Okay, now I’ll get to what you came here for….THE PARTY DEETS!
I made designed these invites and just them printed at my local Office Max! That way they were exactly what I wanted esthetically, and affordable!
Loveland Living Planet Aquarium
So…Obviously I changed his theme THREE times before deciding on the aquarium! First, it was ‘Welcome to the zoo, Banks is turning two!’ then since he loved cars so much, I felt like I had to do a cars theme. I had already designed those invitations as well as purchased party decor when I had the idea to do it at the aquarium. We have season passes there, and he loves it so much! We were playing in their “Turks Playhouse” area when I spotted the nice and spacious party rooms! I immediately text my friends to see what they thought about the idea. They were all on board, so I got home and started researching! I vetoed the other ideas and contacted the aquarium to see if it was available. We were so happy to learn that it was and “Banks is O’fish’ally Two ‘was born! We had the best experience with them! They have decorated, private party rooms, they do all the clean up, and Aquarium admission is included. They also have delicious in house pizza they make as well as unlimited soft drinks. It was so nice to not have to worry about clean up! You can check out their party options here!
Decorations + Food
So the rooms at the aquarium already had beautifully painted murals (they are simple and not too much,) but I brought a couple of things to make it more personal for Banks! I designed and printed off a banner for the wall and made a balloon arch to hang above the dessert table. Other than that, it didn’t need much decorating!
Since they provided pizza with our rental, I decided to go all out for the most important part of the meal…dessert!
We had donuts by Utah’s best, Banbury Cross Donuts! My father in law made these adorable donut stands for me for less than $10! The owner of Banbury Cross said that the cake donuts stack better than the regular so we went with those. The blueberry were my favorite and I seriously crave them like every single day. SO GOOD.
This beautiful (delicious) cake was done by Kenzie of @kenzies_cakery she is so talented and super affordable! She brought my vision to life and hand delivered it to my party! Okay, I found @sharescakes from a friend who used her last year and let me just say I was NOT DISAPPOINTED! She is so talented and made these cookies by hand! They were so cute and delicious. I am way too indecisive so I gave her the theme and the color scheme and let her get creative. Not. Mad. At. All. I think these cookies tie any party or theme together and I’ll probably always find an excuse to order them! Anyone that knows me know I am big huge SUCKER for cake pops! Swirly Girls Bakery in Daybreak makes the best tasting (and most adorable) cake pops ever! I kept these really simple because I felt like there was a lot going on, but she can do ANYTHING you ask her too! She has so many different flavors to choose from as well.
I wanted to provide a Vegan and Gluten Free option for the guests that had dietary restrictions so I decided to go with Dough Co, which is edible cookie dough…Let me say that again, EDIBLE COOKIE DOUGH PEOPLE! We did the Chocolate Chip, Samoa’s, Loaded Brownie, Cake Batter, Cookies N’ Cream (vegan,) and Oatmeal MM (Gluten Free.) They were so easy to work with too! They cater to parties, weddings, etc all the time so they have it down to an art! They also offer Nationwide Shipping for all of you out of staters! 😉
Candy Bar…DUH! I am notorious for making way for a candy bar no matter what the occasion! I love them…and apparently so do random kids from other parties haha. Yes, some randoms were sneaking into our party room for treats. It was hilarious and we had plenty to go around! More the merrier right? I just ordered the blue candy off of amazon and got my clear canisters at Hobby Lobby!
Other Party Deets
Last minute I had the fun (and slightly crazy,) idea to make some shark hats from scratch..Literally had no Idea what I was doing. I reached out to my cutest friend Sarah of @calliandoak and she had a party hat template made for me in like five minutes. Literally pulled it out of her butt! She is so talented and has the cutest party ideas / tutorials on her instagram. Also she is just a good person…SO go follow her!
Made these super easy party favors with some blue jelly beans + gold fish. Hint** You’re going to need more jelly beans than you think lol. I had a late night run to Zurchers the night before to re-stock…for the third time. BLESS UP!This is the table spread! I loved how it turned out, though I only had like fifteen minutes to get it all set up. Luckily I had planned it all out in my head before-hand so it wasn’t too bad. Balloon arch inspo by @calliandoak (again, you need to follow her you guys)
All photography and videography was done by Emily Francis! Her instagram is @emfrancis_ so go follow her! She is just in HIGH SCHOOL but is already killing it in the photo / video world! I was so happy to have her on board.
Video Highlight
@emfrancis_ is amazing and got this back to me so fast!
