Leo’s 4th Birthday: A Transformers Party Recap

Where has the time gone!?! My little Leo is 4 years old!! A few months prior to Leo’s birthday he mentioned after watching Transformers that he would like a Transformers themed birthday party! I actually cringed when he kept mentioning that he wanted a Transformers party, I kept hoping that he was going to change his mind, but surprisingly he didn’t! LOL! 

My two biggest challenges for planning Leo’s birthday were making this Transformers Party classy AND party planning during COVID! As a lover of design and someone that loves planning events, I never imagined that I would be throwing a party during a global pandemic!

COVID Precautions

So, before we get into the good stuff, I wanted to address the precautions that we took when planning Leo’s birthday party. I know that many other provinces across Canada are operating in different reopening phases, but here in BC, we are now operating in phase 3 of our reopening plan, if you want to read more about it you can do so here. In Kelowna, our kids have gone back to daycare and both Justin and I have gone back to work.

When planning a COVID party it was really important for us to do a risk mitigation and assess who we were inviting and where those people have been. It was also really important for us to remind our guests of the upcoming gathering and to be very mindful of where they were going and who they were socializing with prior to attending our event. Justin and I sent out a message to our small guest list a month and a week prior to Leo’s birthday party reminding them of the upcoming event and the precautions that we were taking.

If you are nervous about talking to your friends and family about COVID I have included the message that we sent our guest list below. You are welcome to copy and modify it to send to your guest list if you are planning a small outdoor gathering!

Message

Hi everyone! 
I am just circling back on _____event on, _____ at _____. We are really wanting to ensure we are making the right decision for everyone’s health and safety. I want to remind everyone that if you have any signs or symptoms from now until the_____ or anyone in your household please notify us or kindly decline the invitation. Also, if you feel that you have been in a situation that may put you at risk such as TRAVELS, WORK, SOCIAL GATHERINGS, please reach out to us to discuss. The reason this is so important is there are potentially immune-compromised guests at _____, and we want to put their health and safety first – so if you have ANY hesitation please reach out to us privately.  We want you to feel 100% confident in attending the party knowing that there are children, pregnant guests and guests with immune deficiencies. We will have a handwashing station in the garage upon your arrival, and If we can keep everyone outside for the most part that will be great. If you or the kids need to use the washroom please use the washroom in the laundry room which can be accessed through the stairs leading up to the deck. Please note that masks are welcomed and encouraged!

Transformers Party Decor

Before we started planning for Leo’s birthday he made it quite obvious that he was really into having a Transformer themed party. While I was totally on board with whatever theme he desired, I found myself struggling with the thought of decorating with a palette of black, yellow, orange and grey!

I honestly never imagined (not in a million years! LOL!) that I would be using this colour palette for decor. I was really struggling with how I could make this Transformers Party colour palette classy and blog-worthy … LOL. Just when I thought there was no hope … Monika Hibbs came to the rescue and I found just the inspiration I was looking for on her website!

So, how did I do it? Well, let me walk you through that! When it comes to birthday party decor, I try to use as few plastic items as possible. Specifically, I LOVE using the paper balls and fans from Oh Happy Day; I think I have them in every colour at this point! LOL!

Not only are the paper balls and fans a great alternative to plastic decor, but you can reuse them over and over again. We recreate a balloon arch (without the balloons, of course!) with the paper balls and fans by hanging them with command hooks, that way you aren’t ruining your walls and it’s easy to disassemble once the party is over!

While I love eliminating as much plastic as possible, I still have a few balloons around which included a big yellow balloon, a “4” and a couple of Bumblebee balloons which we strung to the wall and attached with hooks to make it seem like he was jumping out of the wall (and into the party!).

Note; mylar balloons are reusable! If you are planning on using balloons Mylar balloons are a better alternative!

To add some additional Transformers theme touches, I had Carrie (our graphic designer), print some Transformers posters on Sintra board. Instead of having them framed, I gathered some frames from around our house and used command tape to attach the prints to frames to make it look like they were framed prints!

Food

For food this year, we tried our BEST to have individually packaged food, instead of finger foods! I usually prep a big candy bar for Leo and Annie’s birthdays for kids to make their own custom candy bag, but instead of doing that I premade them this year to avoid spreading germs!

For dessert, we had the most beautiful Transformers birthday cake, along with personalized cookies and cupcakes from The Cake Mama. Even though we had a cake, the cupcakes were super popular because guests felt safer eating them. We also had Okanagan Ice Pops back again for the second year (they are always a hit, even for the adults! Helloooo Bellini popsicles! 🤪) and they even made Leo a custom Transformers flavour! How cool is that?!

As a little takeaway gift, we decided to give the kids pre-made candy bags (instead of the candy bar we usually do) and of course, made sure that they were in the Transformer’s colours!

Gifts

Over the holidays and before we left on our trip to Disneyland, Leo became obsessed with all things Star Wars. So much so, that he begged us to make his new big boy bedroom Star Wars themed! We have been making a few changes here and there over the last few months, we painted his room, and purchased a “big boy” bed for him.

For his birthday, I knew that I wanted to surprise him with the last few final touches that would make this room the ultimate big boy Star Wars bedroom. We revealed it to him just before his party and he LOVED it, which made all of the planning over the last few months SO worth it!!

I know … I know … you’re probably wondering why I’m not sharing a few photos of Leo’s room makeover, well, that’s because I’m planning on sharing his full bedroom reveal on the blog veryyyy soon!

Until then!

xo

Jilly