I can’t believe it’s been a year already since Stitchy’s last birthday party!! My babies are growing waaaay too fast (HBelle just graduated 5th grade, too!!). Last year, we threw a backyard carnival, but this year we decided to WRECK IT! Stitchy was wavering between Mario and Sonic, so we decided to turn to Disney (of course). A Wreck-It Ralph theme gave us a reason to throw together Stitchy’s favorite video game characters!

I do have to admit this year’s party did kind of sneak up on me. I’m normally planning ridiculously far in advance, and for one reason or another, that didn’t happen this year. That being said, these kiddos are perfectly happy as long as they’re playing together.

I had a free credit on Snapfish for photo cards earned, appropriately, from Disney Movie Rewards. We took photos on our March Walt Disney World trip specifically for these invitations.

HBelle had water shooters at her birthday party last year, and Stitchy knew since then that he wanted to have them for his. They were a Dollar Tree find, so we grabbed a couple dozen, filled up a water container and let the kids go wild. Luckily the weather dried the kids pretty quickly, so they were free to really drench each other.  😉

We booked three hours at the Rotary House in Norman for his party this year, thirty minutes each for set-up/take-down and two hours for the party. Rental includes tables and chairs and a basically blank canvas inside. It was the perfect size for his “friend party” this year.  Additionally, the building features a small kitchen with sink, full fridge/freezer and microwave, two fully equipped and stocked restrooms and a cleaning closet with supplies. Renters are instructed to clean the building, as the city only provides an employee to unlock and lock the facility.

Another great amenity of this location is the playground just behind it.  It was the perfect spot for the kids to run around and dry off before they came into the building for eats, sweets and pictures.

After the kids just couldn’t stand the fun of the playground anymore, we headed back to the building for snacks.  Since the party this year was between meal times, we just provided light snacks: taquitos, Bagel Bites, fruit, chips, cookies and root beer floats!  YUM!

Thanks so much to Becky at Disney in Your Day for sharing her Root Beer Tapper labels with us!

As the kids started to finish their snacks, our fabulous photographer, Channe Keenan of Channe Nicole Photography, started shooting away at our table cloth back drop. This is so easy and budget-friendly! Simply grab plastic tablecloths in the color of your choice and fold over and tape and little pocket along one of the short ends. String a rod or rope through et voila! Or if you’re looking for extra easy, just tack the cloths directly to the wall.

Photo props were a DIY a couple nights before the party.  See, told you I was last minute on this one.  I printed the characters on white cardstock (after realizing I was kidding myself when I bought foam sheets with thoughts of recreating the characters with that), cut them out, stuck ’em in my laminator then glued them to dowels.  Easy peasy, and the kids had lots of fun with them! 

After we had pictures of fairly clean children, it was time to bust out the cake. I always have visions of making an elaborate cake. From scratch.  Thanks, Pinterest, for giving me pipe dreams. It didn’t happen again this year. However, Sam’s comes to the rescue every time. Not much in the way of Wreck-It Ralph designs, but we rounded out the cake with some of Stitchy’s toys. And, as he did last year, decided the cake is where we’d stray from the theme with the addition of Angry Bird cupcakes.

After sugaring them up on cake and root beer floats, it was time to build Sugar Rush racers!!  Again, lots of Dollar Tree supplies since I wasn’t too worried about taste, just creativity.

I didn’t have time to order his typical book this year, so we went with the autograph frame featuring a photo collage from Walgreens (hello, FREE!) with pictures from each of his birthdays.