Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tate Airways Flight 1024

Tate's second birthday party "took off" this past Saturday as approximately 10 young passengers and their carry-on parents joined us for an airplane theme party.

First, the invitations were sent out to look like boarding passes:


My friend Eleanor at Pink Peppermint Paper did all of the creative and design work, and she is fabulous! She designed the "Tate Airways" logo that says "Flying High Since 2007."

We sent the invitations in red envelopes with a tie closure to look like travel documents. The return address said "Tate Airways" and we printed "Important Travel Documents Enclosed" in a stamp font on the envelope to make it look official.

The location was Founders Plaza, which is an observation area at DFW airport where you can watch planes take off and land. I called the airport for permission and was told they never had a birthday party there before! But it's one of Tate's favorite spots to visit, so we thought it would be enjoyed by his friends as well.



A banner I printed at FedEx Office greeted guests to our picnic area.



Pink Peppermint also designed "Baggage Check" and "Baggage Claim" signs for the gifts and favor bags. The airport doesn't allow you to bring extra tables to the picnic site, so I used pieces of luggage to hold the gifts and favor bags.





My sisters both wore white shirts and black pants to look like TSA security. I gave them badges that said "TSA: Tate's Super Aunts."




For lunch, we served Lunchables. Not only was it easy for a picnic setting, but the packaging looks like airplane trays! I also had individual packages of pretzels, because, you know, that's what you get on airplanes. My sister cut out placemats in the shape of white clouds for the blue tablecloth.



We had some airplane theme toys for the kids to play with.


Cousin Blake brought his own seat. I guess he didn't want to ride 'coach' with the rest of the party-goers at the picnic table!

Note that cousin Blake came dressed in an appropriate "wing man" shirt to serve as Tate's sidekick!


The cake. Um yeah. It was made out of cupcakes and was supposed to be in the shape of an airplane. I'm not so sure. And I picked it up on the way to the party and didn't even notice that Tate's name was spelled "Take." Luckily my Mom did a quick fix on it to correct it.



For the favors, I ordered white bags that look like air-sickness bags (aka "barf bags.) The stickers were done by Pink Peppermint Paper and say "We're Sick to See You Go. On behalf of our captain and flight crew, thanks for flying Tate Airways."

Inside the bags we had rubber ducks dressed like pilots, a glider plane, little plastic parachute men and individual luggage tags for each guest.

After the party, we sent thank you notes from "Captain Tate Robertson."



We had a great time, and the birthday boy loved every minute of watching the "ah panes" land with his friends!



9 comments:

Sarah said...

Holy Crap. Your Ideation was in seventh heaven planning this out, wasn't it? I am way impressed. If you feel like quitting your day job--you and pink peppermint could start a gig. Love it! Love it! Love it!

Unknown said...

Precious Tate and an awesome idea! You out did yourself... Love it all. You made you mother proud... This is Joanie, not Ross. Love ya.

LKW said...

I have been so anxious to see everything and you most definitely did not disappoint. As always, wonderful job and precious ideas. Love it! Tate is a lucky guy. Happy Birthday! Enjoy your stay in terrible twosville!

Jessica said...

Jenny, what a great theme party! You nailed all the details. I'm so glad you guys had such a pretty day for the festivities.

Happy birthday, Take! I mean, Tate!

granola02 said...

Very creative and the Smiles on Tate's face made it all worth while.
Happy Birthday Tate!

Marya said...

My favorite is the barf bags and the "we're sick to see you go." That is AWESOME. Love the idea - wish I could replicate that for Gavin's next birthday in the vacant lots near the Memphis airport, but I'm afraid the kids would get hit in stray fire from a drive-by.

In all seriousness - this was a fabulous idea! Eleanor did an incredible job - I LOVE her stuff!!!

pink is the new black said...

OK, I LOVED every bit of it! You've laid the gauntlet for sure! As for that last pic of Gwen with the birds and such...I'm gonna need a copy of it...needs to go on the black and white wall for sure!!!!

By God's Design said...

LOVE his birthday party theme!!! You are so creative!

The Gilmores said...

OMG! This is soooo AWESOME Jenny! AWESOME!!! Bravo! You rock!