Diggers & Dumpers Construction Birthday Party

I did so many projects during December and January, but just couldn't find time between holidays and traveling to share on my blog.  While I attempt to reorganize my craft area over the next few weeks, I'm going to share some of these "forgotten" projects.  First up --  decorations I made for my son's third birthday party.

My little guy loves construction equipment, so the party theme was Diggers & Dumpers.  I combined some decor from a local party store -- the construction tape and signs -- with my own Cricut creations. 

I made this banner to hang in the dining room over the food table:

Here's a better view of the patterned paper, ribbon, and embossing:

My guy's birthday is in early December, so I try not to decorate for Christmas until after his party is over.  This year I incorporated our Christmas tree into the party decorations, and my son loved it.  He talked about his "construction tree" for weeks -- even after I flipped it to a normal Christmas theme after the party!

I decorated the tree with paper dump trucks and with toy dump trucks filled with candy (another party store find).  The "garland" is construction tape, and I used a plastic tablecloth for the tree skirt.  The toy dump trucks were the favors, and my son's friends enjoyed choosing a dump truck from the tree.  How often does a toddler get to undecorate a tree by December 10?  (Unfortunately, I didn't snap a picture of the tree until a few guests had left -- so it's a little bare, but you get the idea.)

Here's a close-up of a paper dump truck with lots of embossing:

In a moment of non-papercrafting inspiration, I also put together a discovery table/box for the kiddos to dig and dump with pinto beans.  It was a big hit and now a permanent toy in our house!

Project Details:

• Papers - patterns from American Crafts - Play; cardstock by Recollections
• Cricut Cuts - dump truck from Boys Will Be Boys, page 28; letters with "Arrow Font" function from Boys Will Be Boys; banner from Birthday Bash, page 58
• Embossing - Cuttlebug's Distressed Stripes, Spots & Dots, Traffic Jam; The Paper Studio's Mesh Texture
• Other - ribbon by Ribbon Boutique

I'm entering this project into the following challenge(s):

Decorate to Celebrate: Challenge #19 - All About Boys (Must Use Blue) -- there's a little blue, right? :)