Race Car & Elmo Inspiration Boards

So, here it is, I promised I'd post some of the inspiration for my next two parties. I know I said I'd do it last week, but for Pete's sake I was busy making party hats, cleaning up mud pies and tending to toddlers!

For the Race Car Party (above) my inspiration came from the cupcake I saw on roundaboutsleeves.com. I decided I'd go with a black, white & green theme and I might throw in some blue. The party is going to be at Chuck E. Cheese, so I'm limited as to all the decorating I'd like to do, but I know I can work it out. So far, I've got to make a candy cake centerpiece (more on that in a later post), cupcake picks, table bunting, party hats and the invitations. Since that party is more towards the end of the month, I am working on the Elmo party bit by bit.

So, here is the inspiration board for the Elmo Party:


When I was first (ahem) approached about making the decorations I remembered the Sesame Street party that was done over at Hostess With the Mostess and thought that I could do a lot with bright colors and patterns. From there, I thought about the invitations and figured that I could set up my own in home photo session and take some pictures of Little Chunkies and Baby Elmo. That's when I came up with a take on Elmo's World and instead we would have Elmo's Playground. I decided, I'd turn the back yard into a fun playground for the kids. This works out perfectly because the party is for a one-year old and the majority of kids are all under four. There won't be a need to play games or have a bunch of activities. Plus, it's a sure-fire way to tucker their little hynees out!

After I did the invitations - which I will post at a later date - it was on to the other items, such as the banner (click here for the sneak peak), hats, high chair bunting and so on and so forth.
There is so much more for me to do and I just keep coming up with new ideas everyday. I know at some point I will have to stop myself, but for now I'm still in insane mode. Pray for me.

Please see the links below for photo credits from the inspiration boards.

Race Car Pictures:
Card Invite: Daily Gnome
Balloons: Best Birthdays
Race Car Flags: Fun Party Supplies
Race car food: tasteofhome.com
Race Car Candy Cake: pamcake.com
Cupcake Sleeves Roundaboutsleeves.com

Elmo Pictures:
Balloons: (No photo credit available)
Polka Dot Fabric: dreamstime.com
Curling Ribbon: eHow.com (not sure of the exact article)
Elmo Candy Buffet: Madden Family Blog
Elmo Invitation: eHow article
Candy Tree, Elmo toy & candy, Izze Sodas: Hostess With the Mostess
Elmo Party Decorations: Garbonzobeenz blog - this blog has some really cute ideas on it if you enjoy scrapping