Rev It Up for Birthday Fun

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Jackson couldn’t wait to turn three. In fact, if you asked him, he’s been three for a while now. It was his turn to pick the theme of the party this year so naturally he went with his gut and picked what most three year old boys do — Lightning McQueen and Cars. It also happened to be the same weekend that the new Cars 3 movie was to be released so it was fun to incorporate some of the new characters and themes.

Fun for this mama and a three year old boy anyways, not so much for Ellie, who wasn’t ever excited about having a Cars party, until she realized one of the new characters, Cruz Ramirez, was a girl and she was yellow.  

Ellie with her '7' cupcake.
Ellie with her ‘7’ cupcake.
Jackson with Lightning McQueen and Cupcakes.
Jackson with Lightning McQueen and Cupcakes.

Racers, Start Your Engines

We thought we would try something different this year, mostly because that is how the calendar worked, but also because our house is a tight place to fit all of our friends AND family, so we decided to have two parties anyways. We invited our Rapid City friends over to a Race on the night of their birthday during the week. And then, because all of our family lives outside of Rapid, we held another party the following weekend. 

Fun to have Great Aunti Sherri come to the party.
Fun to have Great Aunti Sherri come surprise us for the party.

Since we chose to skip our trip to Arizona this spring, we invited Auntie Sherri to come up for the party. We were able to keep it a surprise from Grandma Nancy and it was really awesome to take everyone to see the release of the new Disney / Pixar movie, “Cars 3”. 

The Race Details

Of course we had to watch the “Cars 3” movie trailers to gain inspiration. Jackson would come down and tug on my arm asking, “can we watch My Storm again mom?” because one of the other new characters names is Jackson Storm. I knew we needed both of the new characters right along side of Lightning McQueeen throughout the party, starting with the invites.

Our Rev It Up, Cars 3 Inspiration Party Invitation
Our Rev It Up, Cars 3 Inspiration Party Invitation

We lucked out and found this super cute and bright yellow dress for Ellie, which helped add to her minimal excitement for the party. All it needed was a little alteration in the sholders and a blue ribbon to tie it all together. Jackson on the other hand, got a brand spankin’ new Cars 3 Crew shirt that he opened up the morning of their birthday. The both of them were all smiles in their racing attire. 

Ellie's Party Dress and Jackson's Pit Crew Race Shirt
Ellie’s Party Dress and Jackson’s Pit Crew Race Shirt

Because there were two parties and three characters I went with 20 cupcakes of three different flavors — yes, 60 cupcakes — Yellow Cake for Cruz Ramirez, Red Velvet for Lightning McQueen, and Chocolate Cake for Jackson Storm, each decorated with our favorite home made frosting in their respective colors. To top them off, I printed and cut out just the character’s eyes which took these cupcakes right into the winners circle! And you can’t have a Lightning McQueen party with out having some Rust-eez Medicated Bumper Ointment (ice cream cups).

Cruze, Lighting & Jackson Storm Cupcakes.
Cruze, Lighting & Jackson Storm Cupcakes.
The Rust-eez Medicated Bumper Ointment was a crowd pleaser.
The Rust-eez Medicated Bumper Ointment was a crowd pleaser.

The rest of the decorations and food raced right along with the theme. We tailgated with Road Tacos (chicken) & Race Tacos (beef) along with all of the fixings, including Grease (cheese dip), Lug Nuts (black olives), Coolant (sour cream), Motor Oil (homemade guacamole), Dip Sticks (chips) & Nitromethane Additives (lettuce, cheese, salsa, etc.). We also had Stop Light Snacks (strawberries, pineapple, and green grapes) as well as Organic Fuel (water) and High Octane Race Fuel (Gatoraids). 

The Race Decorations.
The Race Decorations.

As fun as all of the decorations, food and cupcakes were, I think our Bickett Motor Speedway was the best. Out front we painted a race track in the lawn and fashioned three race cars for the kiddos to race in. It was so much fun to watch our children running circles with all of their friends. It was a great way to burn off that race fuel. 

Jackson loved racing in his Lightning McQueen car.
Jackson loved racing in his Lightning McQueen car.
Ellie really enjoyed that her car and dress matched Cruze so closely.
Ellie really enjoyed that her car and dress matched Cruze so closely.
Fronts of the Box Cars.
Backs of the three race cars.
Backs of the three race cars.

Pit Stop for More Party Pictures


The years seem to keep racing by faster than ever. It has been a joy to watch these two grow up together in the last three years and even more fun to look at how the last seven years has changed our family. We feel so blessed to have all of our family and friends stop by and help celebrate our children for their special day.

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