lego themed birthday party!

Today's winning party feature goes to this LEGO THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY submitted by Anders Ruff Custom Designs! Maureen and Adria have done it again. Their minds think of amazing things! I mean...they made their own 'lego' candy dots! What will they think of next?! This party is beyond adorable. I love all the lego themed treats and cookies, the lego activities {look at the adorable matching game}, the setup, the photobooth, the cake, etc! Amazing party, gals! Thanks for your submission. Congratulations on being chosen as today's winning party feature!

All printables for this party can be purchased here. Photography by Becca Bond.

Maureen sent me a write up of all the party details. She definitely says it best, so I'll share them with you!...

"My son, Jeffrey, has loved Legos since he was literally 18 months old.  Every year he has asked for a Lego Party, and this year was his lucky year.

At first, I thought that every Lego Party idea was already “out there”, so I didn’t even research on the web for inspiration ideas because I was worried my ideas would start skewing towards all the cute things people have already done.   I really wanted to come up with some fresh ideas for activities, decor and favors.  This was a challenge, but I am excited with how things turned out.

For our printable collection, I decided on creating a fresh Modern Lego Inspired Collection that used shapes, patterns and colors that remind everyone of the longtime favorite building block.  This really allowed me to have flexibility in decor and partyware and is perfect for any age.

The Invitation:

To get his friends excited about the party that was in store, we delivered an invitation that was designed to be a bag topper.  We filled a cello bag with 6 Legos and topped it with the folded Lego Inspired invitation which had party details on the back.

Dessert Table:

The dessert table had a modern and bright yellow backdrop with white evenly spaced Dots.  This was my inspiration for the graphics on the printables.

DIY Lego Props: The prop that takes center stage on the dessert table was the wall of giant legos.  I reused Capri Sun Boxes (that I had collected over the whole soccer season for my son’s team) and wrapped them in solid wrapping paper (most of which was found at Dollar Tree!).  For the Lego “Pegs”, I wrapped small foam discs (found at my dollar store!) with the same paper.  This was a cheap, easy and really effective way to add impact to the dessert table.  

On the backdrop, I framed a giant print of Jeffrey’s name that is representative of the Lego Logo. We offer these as printables in our shop now for any child’s name.  This frame now hangs in Jeffrey’s room. (I love to reuse my props after the parties)  Printing of my design was done by Sign Guy.

Another easy DIY Decoration was the strung lego garland.  I found clear tubing in the plumbing section of Lowes and go the ¾” size so that I could fill it with long skinny lego pieces in the same colors as the decor.  I used a thumbtack (clear) to attach it to my dessert table.  Worked like a charm!  This tubing will be seen again at the party in the “games/activities”...

To display the cupcakes on the table, I found white square platters that had round divets and completely reminded me of the shapes/patterns from my lego collection. Cupcakes were placed in each divet and I embellished the cupcakes with a topper from Two Sugar Babies and used Bella Cupcake Couture’s paper cupcake wrappers.

The centerpiece (the cake) was made by Mandie of Got What It Cakes and was displayed on an upside down round melamine serving tray (from Target) that I placed on top of a white plain cake platter.  The blue was the perfect shade and I thought it helped tie in the blue from the Lego backdrop. (An easy way to spruce up a cake platter!)

I used a custom runner from A to Zebra Celebrations across the table in the same pattern as the backdrop.

I designed printable “Jeffrey” logos and put them inside acrylic photo holder stands to use as food label place card holders.  These would hold the printable food labels describing what each dessert was.

Lego block cookies from Allyson Jane were served on solid white platters.  We also displayed modern dot embellished chocolate covered oreos from Sweeties By Kim.

We embellished Lego Head Marshmallow pops with printable party flags.  The marshmallows were made by Oh! So Yummy Cookies and Confections and were placed in clear vessels filled with green and red candies.  (Take a look at the green candies - they are Haribo gummies that look exactly like building blocks and the pattern from our collection)

I made Lego Oreo Truffle Pops (myself!) and embellished those with printable flags as well.  The kids LOVED these!  

I had so many treats display, I decided to have a Lego CANDY bar as well!

Lego Candy Bar:I designed a modern “SIX” graphic for over the Lego Candy Bar.  It was printed by Sign Guy and I nailed it to my backdrop, and repeated the same backdrop pattern from the dessert table.

DIY Lego Old Fashioned Candy Buttons/Dots: I love candy buttons and so do my children.  I made my own candy dots and colored them to perfectly match the red/blue/green and yellow from my scheme.  I piped them onto the same color cardstock and trimmed them into lego shapes. (Some had 3 pegs, some had 6).  I then stuck them onto a sheet in a pattern that looked like lego building blocks put together and packaged them in a cello bag with a printable bag topper from our collection.  I then pegged these to the backdrop to create a “candy store” feel to the table.

The Lego Candy Bar NEEDED Legos, so I found a way to display both legos and candies on the table.  I randomly found clear acrylic bathroom organizers at Ikea and decided to use them as my vessels for treats.  They were all squares and rectangles, which fit with my theme and modern scheme.  

I displayed consistent colors of legos in the bottom acrylic boxes and then the top acrylic boxes held various reds/blues/yellows and greens candies.  We stacked our vessels in a way that reminds you of stacked Legos.

I love the building block gummies (Haribo) that have white dots (perfectly matching our pattern).

I displayed another vessel filled with solid candies toward the back of the table that held packaged cookies from Allyson Jane and Sweeties By Kim.  We added raffia and a printable favor tag to the packages.

The black buffet table also had a modern printable “Happy Birthday” banner strung from the knobs.

Favor Table

My antique red table held a variety of treats as well with some more DIY Giant Legos used as height display pieces.  Red, blue, yellow and green Colored Caramel Popcorn was packaged in small cylindrical clear containers from Nashville Wraps.  These containers reminded me of Lego Pegs, again tying in with the theme.

We stuck some of the Lego shaped Oreo Truffles with party flags in the lego pegs on the backdrop.

On either side of the table we had stacked giant legos with a green round tin filled with another take home favor.  We created Printable Coloring Books for each of the children and made Lego Man shaped crayons (EASY DIY using the Lego Ice Cube tray!) to include in the cello bag.  The kids were amazed by the crayons and the cool coloring book with several pages of activities.

The backdrop was a black and white print from our printable coloring wall poster.  This was actually a “mess up” print, and I wanted to use it so it didn’t go to waste.  It actually worked perfectly to break up all the color in my “red room”.

The kids each got a box of Legos (which I embellished w/ a “Jeffrey” logo over the standard “Lego” logo on the box) to take home.  We displayed these in blue tubs under the red table.

I also worked in some of my favorite paper plate polyhedrons (remember those from our I Heart Valentine’s Day shoot?)  I found red/blue and yellow small paper plates and made one of each to hang above this table for a fun hanging decoration.  I loved how they looked “plastic” because of the coating on the paper plates.

Children’s Tables

I created more Giant Legos for the centerpieces.  This time I ran out of Capri Sun boxes, so I used my children’s “Melissa and Doug” building cardboard bricks and wrapped them.  (DIY Edible Centerpieces) For the Lego Pegs on top, I found the most perfect glass rounds that I made solid bright red/yellow/blue and green jello in.  They looked just like lego pegs and were edible centerpieces for the kids!  They got a kick out of eating legos!

DIY “Lego style” Chair Covers - The chairs needed some love, so I made slip covers for the backs out of solid blue or green fabric.  I then ironed on round white fabric circles using iron on adhesive) - 6 per chair back to represent a “lego” and coordinate perfectly with our printable patterns from our collection.

Each child’s place setting had a plastic tote for the party.  They would carry this through the party and it was really useful to carry their prizes, favors and treats.

The tote was embellished with a printable name tag that we turned into a luggage tag (great for school bags later!)

In the Lego tote, it was filled with a few things:

- “Build your own magnet” kit (will explain in “activities”)

- Fork (for cake later) - that we hot glued a little lego on the handle

- Straw (with a printable party flag) for their drinks

- Yellow packaged Pack of Gum (Jeffrey’s favorite - Chiclets!)

- M&M container (loved the round shape) with a printable logo on the front

The children also received cute solid colored sports bottles that we wrapped with our printable drink wrap.  

Games/Activities

The top priority at the Lego Party was to have fun and unique activities for the kids.  It would be expected to have a bunch of Legos for the kids to build with, but I had to think of something new and fun and unexpected!

Game 1: Lego Race:

The kids had a BLAST with this game.  

I found the clear tubing (as shown on the lego garland on the dessert table) at Lowes Home Improvement and thought it would be the PERFECT vessel for a Lego race.

Each kid teamed up with their buddy and they got a cup of small legos.  The goal was to get their cup of legos to their partner as fast as possible through the clear tubing.  Then their partner had to catch the legos in their cup and send them back through the tube to their partner.  The team to do this the fastest won!  (The prize - a little green envelope embellished with “winner” printbale logo and enclosed with a dollar! (At this age, our kids LOVE getting dollar bills).  We did 3 rounds of 3 teams.  It was perfect!

Game 2: Lego Memory Game:

Jeffrey is a master at the “Memory/Matching game”, so I decided to create a “Lego Memoriy Game” for the children to play at the party.  I found these perfectly “lego board green” tins on clearance at Micheals and wiped them out ;-)  On our table, I put down a large piece of green wrapping paper ($1 at Target after Christmas clearance) and then evenly spread the green tins to create the “matching game board”.  It looked like the classic green lego baseplate/building board, which made for really cool decor.  

Under each “peg”/tin we stuck a printable party logo from our “printable memory game” set.  4 kids played at a time.  Each child would pick 2 “pegs” and see if the lego stickers matched.  If so, they took the pegs, and if not, it was the next child’s turn.  The player with the most pegs won!  The kids loved this game and got really competitive with eachother (and used their minds, too!)

Game 3: Pin the 6 on the Lego Man:

I love to include classic party games that remind me of my childhood parties.  Pin the tail on the donkey - nope. Pin the “6” on the Lego Man, yes!

Each child got a sticker that had a 6 and their name on it.  They were blindfolded and had to try and get their 6 on the “6” on the lego man’s chest.  An oldie but a goodie.

(I think the kids all cheated because they almost all got it right!)

Activity 1: Build Your Own Magnet:

In each child’s Lego Tote, they received a cello bag packaged with all of the items needed to build a Lego Magnet.  I had gotten a few cups of Legos at my local Lego Store (You can fill your own cup with any legos you want from their lego wall).  I made sure to get equal amounts of each of the styles of legos and also included the mini green “baseplates/boards”.  I glued magnet strips to the backsides of the mini lego baseplates and the kids could build anything they wanted on these bases and use them on their fridge when they got home!

Activity 2: Giant Lego Scene Coloring wall;

We created a printable graphic scene for the wall - a 120” by 36” tall poster that we had printed at a local printer (blue print paper) and attached to the wall.  The kids could color on the bricks or little lego man inspired figures with the lego man shaped crayons.

Activity 3: Lego Table

Jeffrey has a Lego Table in his room so we brought that down for the party. I found the cutest step stools for $10 each at TJ Maxx - and it all fell into place because the tops of the stools had the same modern dot pattern as our printable collection and were black and red and white!  They were the perfect height for the kids to sit at around the table which had a huge bowl of legos for building any creation that they dreamed up.  This was a great “filler activity” table for the younger kids who lost interest in my “planned games”.

Activity 4: Lego Photobooth

Sign Guy printed our pattern onto a backdrop and we used it as a photobooth for the kids to show off their awesome shirts and Lego creations.

Credits:

Complete Event Styling, Graphic Design and Printables - Anders Ruff Custom Designs (www.andersruff.com)

Photography - Becca Bond Photography (www.beccabondphotography.com)

Packaging and Decor:

Cupcake Wrappers - Bella Cupcake Couture (www.bellacupcakecouture.com)

Custom Table Runner - A to Zebra Celebrations (www.atozebracelebrations.etsy.com)

Clear Candy Packaging and Cello Bags - Nashville Wraps (www.nashvillewraps.com)

Label Material - OnlineLabels.com (www.onlinelabels.com)

Sign Printing - Sign Guy (www.702signguy.com)

Desserts:

Custom Cake - Got What It Cakes (www.gotwhatitcakes.com)

Custom Marshmallow Pops - Oh! So Yummy Cookies and Confections (http://www.facebook.com/OhSoYummyCookies)

Chocolate Covered Oreos - Sweeties by Kim (www.sweetiesbykim.etsy.com)

Candy - Candy Warehouse (www.candywarehouse.com)

Fondant Cupcake Toppers - Two Sugar Babies (www.twosugarbabies.com)

Sugar Cookies - Allyson Jane Designer Desserts (www.allysonjane.com)

Colored Popcorn - Sugar Bunch Creations (http://www.sugarbunchcandybuffets.com/)

           

Fashion:

Shirts - Made By Morgan (www.madebymorganwiebke.etsy.com)

Lego Bracelets - Reware Style (www.rewarestyle.com)"