#3 Racing Birthday Party!

i felt certain about two things for Ethan's birthday. First: All food there would be E-Safe. Second: Cars would be involved. So I went with the race car theme, embraced the "slanty 3" and the rest is history.
A friend who is an awesome graphic designer owed me a favor, so he threw together the cute party invite with awesome Ethan illustration. Then, I got some great car themed goodies for the bags from Oriental Trading. Other fun racing decorations came either from here or here or here.Sis-in-law Jeanie makes amazing cookies, so she whipped up these cuties, using this vegan cookie recipe. (Last year, I vowed never to attempt this type of cookie ever again.)
Ethan's cars filled a corner as our "race track." Easy enough, right? Toddlers don't stay in one place too long, so they quickly moved on to...The DMV. Where they could make their own license plates, from craft foam, stickers & glitter glue. We also had some of these guys - first drivers license, perhaps?
Next, off for paint jobs & work in the body shop! At the Body Shop, they got to paint & color wooden cars. 
Or color pictures of cars.
For the food, we had bagels (Tires) with flavored cream "cheese." I made strawberry and veggie flavored cream cheeses from using Tofutti brand. Plus bananas and coffee (Fuel!!!). We topped off a good breakfast with some checkered vegan cupcakes.Then, it was off to do some climbing & work off those cupcakes! I have no intention of putting on a party like this every year. I am actually a big advocate of simplicity. But I figure I have it in me to throw a small handful of good parties during their lifetimes. Maybe in another 5 years we'll do it up again!