Happy Birthday Noah!

I can't believe he is already 6 years old.

Noah got to have his first friends party this year. Since he wanted to invite a somewhat large group we decided to reserve the Cultural Hall at the Church.

He decided he wanted a Cars theme since the new movie was coming out. That's all he would give me. I came up with the idea of having the kids decorate cardboard cars and then creating a Drive-in movie. Noah really liked this idea and I was able to get Dan on board as well. He helped me figure out how to make it a reality.

The movie set up was a no brainer. The church had a projector and screen we could set up. The hardest part would be finding enough boxes. It just so happened that we had a new family moving into the ward. The Foists were more than happy to give us their empty boxes. It was so nice to have so many the same exact size. Dan painted them all for me, with left over paint we had in the garage. I went through our craft boxes and found a number of things the kids could use to decorate them.

Noah and I worked together and designed the invitations on the computer.

This party was a fun family project.

Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Welcome to Radiator Springs...
Sally's Cozy cone Gift Shop, aka the gift table...

Ramone's Paint and Body Art shop, where they got to decorate their cars...

We set out markers, glitter glue, contact paper, foam sticker letters and shapes, paper, scissors, glue, and contact paper, and electrical tape. We let the kids go to town. Don't worry there were several adults to supervise.

Some of the other stations we had were:

• Doc Hudson's - the kids picked out their car, they had a choice between yellow, green, or blue.
• Sarge's Surplus - they could pick out patriotic stickers for their vehicle.
• Lizzie's Curio Shop - the kids had to pick up their license plates.
• Luigi's Tire Shop - no car is complete with out tires (black paper plates), headlights (contact paper), or tail lights (red duct tape).
• Flo's V-8 Cafe - the refreshment and cake table.
• Radiator Springs Drive-in - the final destination of the evening.
• Tow Mater's Salvage yard - Jackson's hang out.

All the kids had picked up their car and were waiting for further instructions...

We had a really good turn out: Erik, Kysha, Kambrie, Wyatt, Dayton, Jenna, Kiplan, Dallin, Sam, William, Felicity, Shelbie, Colton, Cameron, Rachael, Joshua, and Sister Egbert. Grandma Sandi and Papa Tim were able to make it too.

Decorating their cars. This was a lot of fun to watch Some kids were more in to it then others. Everyone had fun making their car unique...
Tow Mater's Salvage and Tow Yard, aka Jack's hang out...

Notice his Mater shirt. I had to go to several different Walmarts to find one small enough for him.

The cars are all decorated and everyone is waiting for the movie to begin...

Noah was so embarrassed to have everyone sing Happy Birthday to him...
During the Movie...

We decided to show the Cars Toons Mater's Adventures. This way we could play as many or as few of the shorts as we had time for.

Kambrie really enjoyed all the food available at Flo's V-8 cafe (our refreshment stand)...

We had Cars cupcakes from Sam's Club, red licorice, popcorn, bottled water with Cars labels, and 4 different snack sized chocolate bars to choose from.

I think all the kids who attended had a lot of fun. The only hectic part of the whole evening was while Noah was opening his gifts. All the kids were really anxious to see him open what they brought and to see what else he got.

Set up went smoothly and clean up was a breeze. We had a lot of parents who helped clean up as they were picking up their child. I know I couldn't have done it with out the help of my parents, or Erik and Jalyssa, who helped man the stations. It was also nice to have Colton, Cameron, Rachael, and Sister Egbert there to lend a hand as well.

Not bad for our first attempt at an actual birthday party.