Kids Birthday Party Ideas: Start Your Engines!

This year nothing was more fitting than a race car birthday party theme for our three year old son, Alex Archer! I was able to create the perfect invite and decorations for his party at Pear Tree, making for a memorable party, once again.

Here are all the printed pieces I used, and I will show you below, in more detail, how I used them at the party to create these fun kids birthday party ideas you can do, too!

I love how the Race Is On Kids’ Birthday Invitations turned out. The checkered flags and race car details in the design looked perfect with the photo of Alex, and I thought it was really fun to put his stats and the year’s recap on the back of the invite.

I ordered two sets of the Race Is On Table Décor and it was the perfect amount for all the decorating ideas I had in mind. I used checkerboard-patterned duct tape to hang a set of table décor on the door to greet our guests. I also punched holes in the table décor and strung them up for another decoration!

I also bought 50 red balloons to add to the decorations. I pumped 10 up with a hand pump and thought there has to be a better way since I had 40 more to go! TIP: Use an electric air mattress pump to fill your balloons up with air. I had all my balloons filled within several minutes, saving a lot of time and effort. I hung the balloons from the ceiling with ribbon and added table décor to add a little extra personalization to the party theme.

I also used the table décor in the traditional way of scattering it out on the tables. For one more finishing touch I put one of the fuel gauge pieces on the juice dispenser, making it into a “refueling station.”

I wanted to create a registration table to welcome guests to the party, and made VIP passes for each kid to pick up on the way in. I printed their name with a marker to make it their very own pass.

To make the cupcake toppers I took two Race Is On Birthday Favor Stickers and stuck them together on a flat stick. I also ordered Pear Tree’s chalkboard Backer Pattern Table Cards to make place cards for the table, and to label the food and stations at the party. The black color was a nice contrast to the red tablecloths, and I used a white opaque paint marker to write on them.

Hot wheels were the perfect favor for this party. I tied the gift tag around each car as a little “thank you” for the kiddos. I also had a little goodie bag to go for each kid. I used the same checkerboard duct tape to seal the bags.

Lastly, because I strongly believe in writing thank you cards to all your party guests, I ordered a set of Race Is On Thank You Cards, personalized with Alex’s name on them instead of a thank you message. That way, if I had left overs I knew Alex could still use them for note cards because he’s such a racing fan.

Everybody who raced over to the party had a good time. I asked Alex what he wanted to be for Halloween, since that is next up on the agenda, and he said a “race car driver!” How fitting.

To get your engines going with this race car kids’ birthday party theme, shop our kids birthday invitations. Looking for more inspiration for your next birthday, keep reading our kids birthday party ideas on our blog.