Kids Construction/Engineering-themed Birthday Party

My eldest is already 7! Can you believe it? Time surely has a way of creeping up on us. Now I had to plan another party with my eldest son’s choice in mind. This year he requested an engineering-themed party. I quickly got to work on building an engineering party with a theme of construction. He also wanted a pool party, so I came up with a construction/engineering themed party at the pool.

Yes I know, I am trying here to work with these kids, so anything will do for now.

If you would like to know more about planning kids’ parties visit my blog post on How To Plan A Kids’ Birthday Party On A Budget.

Have you also found any tips that you could share? Please feel free to add to my list, or ask your questions or concerns below.

“Engineering themed party that was not only fun to do but exciting!”

Engineering Theme

Can you imagine that there was no engineering theme on Pinterest at all? Everything was for a construction-themed birthday party.

There were so many construction-themed ideas that came up, however not many were focused on engineering themed. I, therefore, used the ideas that popped up and instead came up with civil engineering constructing a pool. Genius if you ask me!

search for ideas

Once I decided on a theme, I searched for ideas that will help me to select items that can match my theme.

As I mentioned earlier, Pinterest is my go-to for ideas surrounding engineering themes. I got a few ideas that I could work with and decided to do what I had to do in order to get this party together.

Budget

Remember the goal is to stay within budget. Therefore we want to be able to find cost-effective decor for the party. That would include, tablecloth, tableware, favors, food, etc.

I created a list of what I would need for this party and also a sketch of my table decor and placement.

Using Google search, shopping tab, I was able to find and compare prices for items that I needed to use for the party. This helped me to stay within budget.

bargain Hunt

The Bargain hunt begins for this construction-themed birthday party.

My first stop was at Walmart. I went to their party aisle to get paper plates, napkins, utensils, silver tins, and favors that were even cheaper than in the Dollar store. Target also surprised me this time with affordable favors for the goody bags. Therefore also shop in Target as well to snag some affordable items.

The construction-themed backdrop was purchased on Amazon. It is made of vinyl and not plastic. It added so much color to the theme.

Invitations

Canva as always is my go-to for party invitations that I was able to print in Walgreens for my son to invite his friends at school. I was able to get 25 invites for about $11 on sale at Walgreens.

Canva is also FREE to use and you can also get their PRO account for just $12.99 a month, or 119.99 yearly if you want access to more features and if you plan on using it for a long time.

I was also able to send it digitally to friends and family that were far away.

Decor

For decor, I decided to purchase and use these items that really worked well with my theme and brought everything together perfectly. Most of these items can be purchased on Amazon.

Balloon display

The balloon display was done by my talented sister-in-law. She actually used a combination of black, yellow, and orange balloons. These balloons were purchased at Walmart and my sister-in-law used extra balloons from her stock.

However, to save time on having to shop for balloons locally, they can also be purchased on Amazon. She also added kid zone caution tape purchased at Party City and regular caution tape to give it a unique look.

Serving trays, cake trays, and clear containers

The white cake and serving trays were purchased at Party City. The clear containers were purchased at the Dollar Store. They can also be found at Walmart.

Display under-construction boxes

The boxes I used for the snack stand were made using old square boxes that I had at home. I wrapped them in construction brown paper and added yellow cardstock paper on the front.

I also added circles that I repurposed from a Lego theme napkin from a previous birthday (you can just cut circles out instead). I also made the under-construction signs on Canva, that were cut out and glued to the box or attached to the cones.

Food labels

The food labels were done on Canva. As mentioned earlier, I use Canva to DIY my labels and any decor.

To purchase Construction/engineering food labels, visit my Mommy Inspired Printables shop page.

Construction signs

Construction signs were placed all over the pool cabana and gave such a real authentic construction site feel. These were also purchased on Amazon.

Table Decor

I purchased construction-themed table cloth for the cake and food tables on Amazon that really tied in with my theme.

I also created these table toppers that I made on Canva and personalized them with my son’s name, and glued them to the orange cones. The orange cones that I used for decor were purchased at the Dollar Store, but can also be found on Amazon.

Cake

I decided to purchase the cake at Walmart this year. I am usually a Publix cake fan, however, the theme and the color that I needed were not available. I was able to find a cake that was large enough to share with everyone at Walmart and best matched the construction/engineering themed party. Therefore the cake was done at Walmart this time around.

They were also able to customize my cake with my color preference which was amazing.

Favors

For the favor bags, I decided to purchase some from Amazon. I found these cute small boxes, that were a hit at the party. They matched the decor perfectly. I was able to fit a maze, small play-dough, a small notebook, a small snack, and a pack of gummy candy.

food

For the food, I tried to find items that would be representative of the construction/engineering themed party.

The items that I used were:

• Wrecking balls -Oranges
• Gravel – Chocolate-covered raisins
• Boulders – Popcorn
• Cheese sticks – Cables
• Chocolate mini donuts – Spare tires
• Wafers – 2 x 4 lumber

These were all purchased in Walmart ( oranges, cheese sticks, chocolate mini donuts, and wafers) and Costco (chocolate-covered raisins and popcorn)

Entertainment

After all, it was a pool party, so we got some water blasters and pool noodles for the kids and grown-ups to play with. Can you believe it? They all had a blast!

I purchased the pool noodles and water blasters at Walmart, You can also find them on Amazon. They can also double up as party favors as well to give away.

Overall everyone had a blast at this construction/engineering themed party by the pool!

For more party ideas or inspiration on activities for kids visit the blog post below:

• Mario-Themed Birthday Party On A Budget
• DIY Mario-Themed Party Decor And Food
• 12 Movement Activities For Kids To Stay Fit
• 10 Fun Screen-free Activities For A 3 To 5-year-old

Did you find the strategies listed in this article helpful? What were some of your favorite tips? How have they worked for you? Leave a comment below, I’d love to know what you think.

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