Vintage Bicycle Party
Child’s Name: Brayden Hunt of Titusville, FL
Child’s Age: 5
Location: Mitchell Ellington Park in Merritt Island, FL
30+ children
Coming up with the theme for this bicycle party was easy because of how crazy about riding bikes with his friends the birthday boy is. He was simply thrilled with the idea of having ALL his friends together to ride is a “spectacular bicycle parade” on his birthday.
Design Inspiration
Personally, as Brayden’s mother and owner/designer for Pinkadot Shop, I wanted a clean modern flair and the old-timey vintage bicycle look gave this a fun twist. Of course we started with the printables, specifically the invitation, and built a theme around that. I chose some bright colors, orange and turquoise, and used a silhouette-ish older style bicycle design on the invitation.
I spent hours upon hours creating tassle bunting to match. It reminded me of the bicycle tassles handing off of bike handlebars and just had to be done, of course! It did turn out beautifully. I used a metallic turquoise tissue paper in the mix that really set it off.
Matching water bottle labels, favor tag strips, and mini banners for the table centerpieces tied the theme and colors together, essentially branding the Vintage Bicycle Party.
Activities
The party was located at a park which provided great entertainment and play area for the children as they arrived. The children and their families enjoyed lunch, played on the playground equipment, or at the activity tables where they could doodle with crayons on a table covered in paper, with sidewalk chalk, bubbles or mold with play dough.
Each child brought a bike or other riding toy to the party. Items for decorating bikes were provided which included multi-colored streamers and spoke beads. At last, the bike parade began. I had originally chosen this specific park for the sidewalk trail that surrounds the area in order to keep the children out of the parking lot, off a street, and safe from moving vehicles. HOWEVER, parties don’t always go as planned, sometimes they turn out even better than expected. Opposite the playground was a tennis court and somehow the bike parade ensued inside. (Little did they know, all of us parents were thrilled to have them caged inside safely. Ha!) The birthday boy thoroughly enjoyed leading the pack of riders containing all his friends.
Favorite Items
Two favorites of the Birthday boy (and mine as well) were the sweets table and the Birthday boy’s shirt.
The sweets table included a gorgeous cake and cupcakes by my favorite cake shop of all time, Something Sweet. Brayden was so thrilled with the spread, went to the table to gaze at it several times, showing it off to his friends. (Yep, that’s my boy!) The birthday cake is a big deal to him, and this one was sure to be quite memorable with that big orange bicycle sitting on top. In addition to the cakes, we had a small candy bar which included jars of Oreo cookies, orange and white bubble gum, and orange fruit-by-the-foot which were open for enjoying during the party but also went home in treat bags for the children along with already assembled toy favor bags. I also made some turquois marshmallow pops for the spread, and included a few bike-related prints in photo frames as well as a picture of the birthday boy to complete the table.
Brayden’s shirt was the other favorite. I had initially purchased a shirt that simply had the orange and turquoise colors for him to wear at the party. However, when I showed it to him he was utterly disappointed and had very specific requests. “But mom, I want it to have my name, the bike from my invitation and it needs to say 5 years old. I also need a badge that says happy birthday. Can you make that for me mom?” Two days from his party, uh, of course! It was one of the proudest moments of my life. LOL. I know that he prefers button up shirts to t-shirts and what I came up with thrilled him (and myelf)! His sister even got “lil sis” shirt to coordinate.
It was a huge success! The kids had a blast and the parents were thrilled that this bicycle party encouraged their children to become more enthusiastic riders (and even overcome some fears). Nothing better than little peer pressure to get you to try something new!
Creative Credits
Printables:
Pinkadot Shop facebook
Photography:
Bitz of Life Photography facebook
Cakes: Something Sweet Cake Studio, Cocoa, Florida
facebook
Thanks for joining my party!
Stacy Hunt, Pinkadot Shop
