Last summer we had taken our son Avery to the movie theater for the first time and watched the new Toy Story 4 movie! He loved it! I loved it! Who doesn’t love the Toy Story movies?!

So the idea came to me then, to plan a Toy Story themed party for his upcoming birthday! I ran the idea past him of course, (because what almost four year old doesn’t have opinions, likes, & dislikes?) and he loved it! I started a Pinterest board with this new wonderful idea, and then tucked it away in the back of my mind to revisit at a later date, as we had several months before his birthday - six to be exact.

With a no rush approach to planning, I wrote down ideas whenever they came to me, and pinned inspirations on Pinterest periodically. At about the two month mark from his birthday, I got a little bit more serious, and really dove in on the planning/designing.

I wanted to take a simplistic, modern approach to our Toy Story theme with neutral colors of white, gray, and tan, and then I added black for a modern touch. I was excited to use the new character “Forky” in the party, along with basically every other character because they are all too cute!

To help save money, I started buying some of the Toy Story Characters as gifts for Avery, but also to be used as decoration throughout the party. My planning was off to a really great start and I was so excited for his big day!

You can NEVER go wrong getting your invitations through Minted! They have been our “go-to” for years now, and I just adore their products! The invitations I chose for Avery’s party initally caught my eye because I loved the fact that I could personalize it with with a photo - and we just had our family photos taken in the fall by my sweet friend Mistie McLaughlin & I immediately knew which one I wanted to use - the one with my husband Aaron looking at Avery so lovingly - just melts this mama’s heart!

Because I am a huge sucker for stripes, the backside option of adding black and white stripes to the invitations immediately won me over. The matching accessories including: Personalized stamps, coordinating favor tags, birthday party stickers, and the wrap around address labels with the fun “Avery is four” on the backside were all incredibly cute options in this invitation suite! They were also the perfect simple, clean, modern vibe I was going for.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Chalk Chic Mama’s work NEVER ceases to amaze me!! She created Avery’s milestone chalkboard below and my heart just fills up with so much joy each and every time I look at it!

The perfect placement for this milestone chalkboard was at the gift station. As each guest dropped off their present for Avery, they could read and learn more about some of his favorite foods, songs, movies and other certain things he loves at this age. Such a special keepsake that I will certainly cherish forever!

One of the advantages of having our theme set so early on was having lots of time to prep and plan. I found this cute green Toy Story wrapping paper on clearance after Christmas - which wrapping paper in itself really isn’t that expensive - it’s just always nice to save money wherever you can while prepping for a party! I was super excited when I found it, & decided on pairing it with neutral colored wrapping paper to really make it stand out!

Another fun way I saved money for Avery’s party was with the balloons! I found the adorable “Let’s Party” balloon through The Flair Exchange & came up with a great idea to have one of the Toy Story characters holding a bunch of balloons. Well, come the day of the party I was running out of time to get everything done, & made the quick decision to just blow up the balloons & use double sided tape to make them look like they were filled with helium & floating perfectly. I was a little skeptical during the process thinking the double sided tape might pop the balloons, but it couldn’t have worked better, & I bet from the photos you couldn’t even tell they weren’t filled with helium?!

Because this was a birthday party, I decided each Toy Story character should don a party hat I made out of neutral colored card stock, complete with a pom pom on top! They turned out too cute!

For the decor, I love creating items that match the invitations. It really helps to create a cohesive look throughout the party. I just adored the simple round party favor stickers from our invitation suite through Minted so I cut out a large round piece of birch wood and painted it black. I then had Chalk Chic Mama copy the stickers, and it turned out so great! Such an ideal piece to hang above the kids table.

I cut & made a simple kraft paper runner down the center of the kid’s table and found cute black and white striped napkins through The Daydream Society! I loved how they matched our invitations perfectly!

Beautiful black acrylic name place cards by Simple & Sentimental assigned a seat to each child and added the perfect modern touch. They were just the sweetest!

For an integrated look and a fun touch, I placed Minted’s round party favor stickers on the drink ware and then made drink flags to match the table runner. Chalk Chic Mama heightened the cuteness factor by adding “Hooray” and “Yay” to the drink flags, & to the adorable mini sign for Bullseye the horse! He is definitely right up there with my all time favorite Toy Story characters!

Since the new Toy Story 4 movie had just came out, there were promotional toys everywhere and I just so happened to stumble upon some at the Dollar Store while out shopping for supplies for the party! This certainly helped the kid’s favor bags come together quite nicely - and a total cost saver to boot! Inside each favor bag were a few figurines, a 24-piece puzzle, and some temporary tattoos. I also grabbed some extra figurines while I was there, knowing I would come up with another placement for them as decor in the party.

I knew I wanted to feature the new character “Forky” in the party, and decided his best placement would be at the activity station, where each guest could make their own and take him home!  

Hanging on the wall above all of the supplies to make your very own Forky was a beautifully illustrated and easy to follow instructional chalkboard by Chalk Chic Mama! I mean, how darling is that sign?! This activity was definitely a hit, and I enjoyed watching the joy of each guest creating their own version of Forky!

I don’t know about you, but I just love when I find the perfect outfit for a special occasion! Eli and Emery’s Toy Story character sweatshirt was the perfect piece for Avery to wear on his special day! It was soft, yet durable, with just the right modern touch, and I absolutely loved how we were able to customize it with all of Avery’s favorite Toy Story characters!

The design for Avery’s dessert table was inspired by the “You’ve got a friend in me” wood frame canvas sign from The Wooded Lane. It was such a sweet focal point and it perfectly fit our theme! I simply adored the combination of the neutral colors, wood elements, and the eucalyptus. This dessert table is one of my favorite designs to date!

Avery’s birthday cakes were made by my dear friend Olivia, from Flour + Sugar. The adorable mini black & white striped cake was inspired from our invitations & I can’t help but choose her semi-naked cakes - they’re amazing every time! In my early stages of planning, I envisioned some of the Toy Story characters by the birthday cake, & I just love how it turned out!

The incredible Toy Story character cookies were made by none other than Stefanie Roasales. Her creations continue to amaze me and I love using her for all of my events! Her charming cookies were too cute to eat, but naturally the first thing each child went for!

The cute little wood cupcake stands my husband built added the right amount of height to the dessert table and here’s where I decided to use the extra Toy Story figurines I got from the Dollar Store!

I simply took off the blue base that each character was standing on, and placed them on top of our homemade chocolate cupcakes!

Besides Woody and Slinky Dog by the birthday cake, I felt like I wanted to keep the cake pretty simple with just a few macaroons, some sprigs of greenery, and of course the fun wood number 4 cake topper by My Mind’s Eye.
Simple and sweet.

I can’t even handle how cute this mini striped cake is!

What I may have loved most about the day was taking a special moment before all of the guests arrived to show Avery what I had set up for him!

He had the sweetest smile on his face when he saw everything – one I don’t think this mama’s heart will ever forget! I am beyond grateful to my amazing photographer and dear friend, Nicole Conner, for perfectly capturing not just the day, but also that precious moment!

Throughout the day, I couldn’t help but notice Avery continued to have the biggest smile on his face surrounded by friends and loved ones, it truly was a memorable celebration!

Vendors:

• Photography: Nicole Conner

• Invitations: Minted

• Chalk Art: Chalk Chic Mama

• “You’ve got a friend in me” Canvas sign: The Wooded Lane

• Toy Story Character Sweatshirt: Eli and Emery

• Black Acrylic Place Cards: Simple & Sentimental

• Toy Story Character Cookies: Stefanie Rosales

• Cakes & French Macaroons: Flour + Sugar