School Bus Themed Birthday Party!

Even though they are a year away from going to school, my twin boys are obsessed with school buses.  They see their big brother get on a bus every day and think it's the coolest thing!  Here are some fun things I did for their party...

Custom t-shirts...

 

 
I don't tend to dress the twins the same EXCEPT for their birthday parties.  I'm not even sure why!  I like to make them shirts, have them destroy them with cake and ice cream  (and dirt, of course!) and then, after a wash, save them for sentimental reasons.

I took my school bus artwork (7under1designs) and added "Mathew is 3" on the side of the bus.  Then I printed my file onto t-shirt transfer paper, ironed it on the shirt and they were set!  TIP: Make sure if you buy iron-on transfer paper, you read the directions to see if you need to print your image normally or if you need to make it a "mirror image" .  The settings on your printer will allow you to print as the mirror image.  You can get  customized iron-on files for your child's party here... 7under1designs

School Bus Theme Party Banner/Decorations...

I LOVE 2 inch circles AND dollar stores!!  One page of circles, one 2 inch hole punch, a dollar store... and the possibilities are endless!!  I use circles for cake and cupcake toppers and use to spruce up pretty much everything I can think of! 

I bought some generic yellow and yellow/white polka dot party decorations at the dollar store and I made this page of school bus toppers...

INSERT FILE OF CIRCLES

Then I just punched them out and adorned my home with them!  The dollar store banner was turned into a custom banner, the dollar store popcorn boxes were turned into some nifty snack boxes, the dollar store party hats were a hit and of course the dollar store take home treat bags were...well... they are still dollar store treat bags with circles on them!  But, they are a bit cuter.  The stuff inside is really what counts to the kids!

 

 
School Bus Cake Pops...

I will preface this part by telling you that my sister has the cooking genes in the family.  I am not talented in the least in this area. But, that being said... who says I can't try?  And, I have to say that the tutorial I found on the web was FANTASTIC even though my finished product really wasn't!  My step daughter helped me with these and she got to eat the ones that fell off the sticks, the ones where the candy was cracked and the ones where the decorating part went off the rails!

 

I followed the tutorial very closely for the cake pops and everything went well until I realized that I made the school buses too large.  When she says a 1" scoop, she means a 1" scoop!!  I think I would have had better success if they were smaller and if I put a little less icing in there or used a different cake mix.  I bought the Duncan Hines "Moist Deluxe" cake mix and I think that made everything a little too heavy as well. Oh well... they still tasted good!

I didn't have any luck with the food writer pens but that was totally my fault.  I think I wrecked the blue pen in the process or didn't clean it properly.  So... my school buses are dipped in yellow candy coating and have mini M&M wheels but they are fantastic to me!

 
I took one of the kids' toy school buses, filled it with the green foam block and covered up the foam with the (dollar store) paper shavings and used one of my handy 2" circles and VOILA! my centerpiece!
  

 
School Bus Birthday Cakes...

Ideas for birthday cakes are so fun to research on the internet but executing them is quite a different story!  This is what I WANTED the cake to look like... (times two for the twins)

 
And here is what my finished cakes looked like...

I followed this tutorial (School Bus Birthday Cake) but, as you can see from comparing my finished product to hers, I am missing some key school bus characteristics... like people... cupcakes... and talent!! HA!

I knew from the get-go that it wouldn't look the same but I had to start somewhere!  If you're a baker, then you know what products she uses, probably have them on hand already and know how to use them.  I'm sure I could have worked a little harder at it but, like the cake pops, they are yellow with wheels and kind of resemble a school bus.  My three year olds knew what they were and were thrilled so that's all that matters!!

I used the template and tutorial from Melissa at My Cake School and used wagon wheels instead of moon pies for the wheels.  I covered my cutting boards with tin foil once I realized that I had just baked two cakes but had NO IDEA what to do with them!!
 
something else here to tie it together...

And to top it all off... a bouncy castle!! Quite a success!!