Lightning McQueen – Third Birthday Party

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In our trip down memory lane, we’ve now arrived at Hudson’s THREE year old birthday party, which was none other than “Cars” themed for our little Lightning McQueen loving guy. Much like his second birthday party (and first for that matter) this theme was a no brainer!

And also much like our other two parties, we still kept this small with just family and family-friends. So it wasn’t heavy on activities (I mean opening presents is the main activity at this age, right??), but it was certainly heavy on themed food – my forte!

So here we go, let’s dive right in shall we.

Much like my other parties, I just picked up some blank place setting cards at Hobby Lobby (similar Amazon ones linked here) and some Cars themed stickers (similar to my Mickey party, it doesn’t appear that these exact stickers are sold anymore. BUT look how cute these are – and they would make great party favors too!)

First up, we had “Mater’s Dip Sticks” – veggie cups with ranch dressing in the bottom – and “Sally’s Cozy Cones” – Cheddar Buggles!

Then, we had “Sarge’s Surplus Lil Smokies” – little smokies wrapped in crescent dough – and “Luigi’s Pizza Wheels” – aka Bagel Bites!

And some “Sheriff’s Stop Lights” aka fruit kabobs on a tooth pick!

We of course also had some of “Lightning McQueen’s Cake” as well! This was the year that I decided to start saving a little money and not pay for a professionally decorated cake. I decided to make a simple box cake (doctored up a bit of course!) and decorate it myself.

And let me just tell you – I am NOT a cake decorator by any stretch of the imagination. But my 3 year old doesn’t know that, he just loved that Lightning and Cruze were on his cake. And I love that it was something special I got to make just for him!

Anyway – the little cars were some plastic versions of Lightning and Cruze, that were gifted to us in a goodie bag, so they weren’t the real (heavy) cars from his actual set. And then I just added the sprinkles and checker flags (from Hobby Lobby, similar Amazon version linked here) for a little extra character!

Let’s be real – he went straight for the icing anyways 🙂

Our last little set up here was just a simple “Red’s Watering Station” with some strawberry infused water and clear cups with festive paper party straws!

All in all, this was a pretty simple party, but it was definitely a hit for our little Lightning McQueen loving guy! Daddy, also obviously dressed the part, and Hudson of course wore his Lightning McQueen suit. This was actually his Halloween Costume, and an outfit for our trip to Disney World, but we got one more good wear out of it for this party (and he is still sad that it doesn’t fit anymore, he asked to wear it not long ago!).

As a side note – if you’re looking for a Cars themed birthday gift…the little Red’s Fire Station Set (as pictured above!) was a huge hit – and is still played with to this day, currently over a year later!

And there you have it – our Lightning McQueen Third Birthday Party!

Until next Party 🙂