Tag Archives: toy story

Toy Story Mania Party Printables

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For Jason’s recent Toy Story Mania party, I created the invites, signage and cupcake toppers. I’ve posted the files below for anyone planning a similar party.

Invitations

A customizable PSD template, along with instructions for downloading the fonts, are available in this post.

Activities Signage

Cupcake Toppers

Toy Story Alien Cupcake Toppers

To create the cupcake toppers, I printed the above sheet of alien faces and cut them out using a 1″ circle punch. Using light blue paper, I cut 16 squares measuring 1 1/2″ each. I glued each of the alien faces onto a square, inserting a toothpick between the two layers. I also used a rounded corner punch to round the corners of the blue paper.

Toy Story Mania Birthday Party

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Earlier this summer we took a family trip to Disneyworld and J+J absolutely loved the Toy Story Midway Mania ride at Hollywood Studios. When we started planning his party a couple of months ago, it seemed like the perfect party theme. Not many themes seem readymade for a bounce house, which Jason also LOVES. More recently, of course, he’s turned his attention to Star Wars, and despite his pleas for a Star Wars birthday party over the past couple of weeks, I was not successful in combining Toy Story, Carnivals and Star Wars. I am simply not that creative.

But despite all of this, Jason had a blast at his party. Here are a few scenes from the recent festivities…

The Food

For more details on the food, see this post on planning a carnival-themed party menu without using dyes or artificial flavors. I especially love this recipe for homemade caramel apples. Oh, and if you’re wondering what I did with the leftover caramel apples, three words: Caramel Apple Oatmeal.

Fun & Games

Did you notice the light saber bounce house scenes? Someone definitely had his heart set on a Star Wars party.

I expected the bounce house to overshadow the other activities, but the photo booth turned out to be the real hit. J+J LOVE dressing up these days, so guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. I got the idea for the backdrop and alien eyes here and here.

More pics are posted on Flickr and I’ve posted some party printables here.

Pinboard: Toy Story Mania Party

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Jason’s party is just around the corner. It’s probably time for me to stop collecting ideas and start implementing a few of them. Of course, since requesting a Toy Story party, Jason has since turned his attention to a galaxy far, far way and has been insisting that his party be Star Wars themed. Doesn’t he know mommy starts planning months in advance?

Here’s my moodboard courtesy of Pinterest.

Planning a Carnival Party: Menu Ideas

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Choosing a Toy Story Midway Mania theme for Jason’s 5th birthday has been a challenge for me on a couple of fronts. First, the design aspects, which don’t mesh so well with my modern, minimal style. But worse than the aesthetic concerns are the unhealthy foods associated with carnivals – cotton candy, whirly pops, funnel cakes, etc. From the beginning I decided that if I was going to work with this theme (which wasn’t my idea, as you can probably tell), I wouldn’t skimp on our commitment to eating minimally processed, dye-free foods. In fact, now that Jason has begun to recognize when foods contain dye and point out that he can’t have them, I’m even more committed.

But what’s a carnival without treats? Hopefully, I’ve put together a menu with enough tasty treats that no one will even go looking for the cotton candy machine.

1. Caramel Apples

I just made these caramel apples tonight, and I have to say, this caramel recipe is awesome. Just 3 ingredients – honey, cream and sea salt – and A LOT of stirring and these apples turned out perfectly. Tonight I used granny smith apples, organic cream and organic orange blossom honey, but for the party I’ll probably look for small lady apples. The caramel doesn’t taste as sweet as what we’ve grown accustomed to, but it is very creamy and rich.

2. Peanuts

Served, of course, in retro carnival-ish bags that are sure to remind J+J of their favorite Chipmunks episode.

3. Mini Pretzels

I haven’t tested the recipe yet, but I’m considering these mini pretzel bites.

4. Popcorn

Photo via Hip Hip Hooray

5. Trader Joe’s Salt Water Taffy

The only taffy I could find that doesn’t contain any artificial flavors or colors. And let’s face it, I’d probably earn the title of worst mom ever if I threw a carnival party for my child and didn’t allow at least some candy…

Toy Story Mania Birthday Invites

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Jason’s upcoming birthday party is based on the Toy Story Mania ride that J + J absolutely loved during our recent trip to Disneyworld.  The 4D ride features a variety of carnival-inspired games hosted by the lovable Pixar characters, but the ‘blasters’ used to interact with the games were clearly Jason’s favorite part.

This week I finished the invites and thought I’d share the template for anyone else with a Toy Story-obsessed child. The invite plays more off the carnival theme, but the party games will incorporate more references to the characters in the movie (more on that later).

The fonts in the invite are Big Top and Delouisville, each of which can be downloaded for free. For additional carnival-style fonts, see this great post about circus, carnival and western fonts.

You can create your own invitations by customizing this template in Photoshop. I printed copies onto 5×7 cards and cut them out along the border. Next, I glued decorative paper (approx 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches) to another 5×7 card. Last, I glued the printed card on top.

To Infinity and Beyond, But Mostly Just Beyond

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I’ve made a few changes to Jason’s room, and while I’ll probably never call it ‘complete,’ I think it’s at a pretty good stopping point. Best of all, I think Jason is pretty happy with it. I started out working on an outer space/Toy Story theme, but luckily I went very light on the Toy Story references. In the past few weeks, Jason’s favorite movie/toys/characters have shifted from Toy Story-inspired to heavily Star Wars-based. I’m already eyeing this bedding to replace the Toy Story sheets he’s had for the past year. Did I mention his room will never be complete?

To Infinity and Beyond

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Jason is crazy for Toy Story, so in decorating his room I’m trying to pull in a bit of his favorite imagery. But this year it’s Toy Story, last year it was Wall-E, and next year (or maybe next week) it will be Star Wars. His room won’t be able to keep up with his ever-changing obsessions. Instead, I’m working with a retro space theme and incorporating just a few Toy Story-specific elements that can easily be swapped out later down the road.

Here are a few ideas for a Toy Story-ish room decor:

Sources (Clockwise):

John W. Golden Space Prints, Pottery Barn Kids Curtains, Toy Story Poster, Pottery Barn Kids Bean Bag, Room and Board Moda Chest, Pottery Barn Kids Rug, Toy Story Bedding, Toy Story Alarm Clock, Pottery Barn Kids Rocket Lamp (no longer available), Simon C. Page Poster, Toy Story Removable Wall Decals, Pottery Barn Kids Solar System Mobile (no longer available), Room and Board Steel Bed