Last summer we gave our oldest a fun backyard birthday party. He picked a Transformers theme and we had a lot of fun with it.
My husband has become quite the pinata maker. The year before, he made a Dr. Octopus pinata for a Spiderman themed birthday party and then he made this amazing Soundwave pinata for the Transformers birthday party. He used balsa wood to construct a frame and covered it in paper mache. He put so much detail into making this pinata. He even made a "cassette tape" and "tape deck" that opened. Finally, he painted the pinata to look like Soundwave. Well done, Honey!
Who's ready for some pinata action? I don't know much about Transformers, but apparently Soundwave is a Deceptacon which means that he is a bad guy so he is a perfect candidate for a pinata (since pinatas get beat up).
Dive in!
I was trying to be clever here, but I am not educated in the language arts of Transformers. Also, I didn't realize at the time that I put a Deceptacon (bad guy) image on the container. It was however, a nice way to distribute loot bags and make sure that names were on the bags. I bought solid color bags at Dollar Tree and glued on a transformer image that I found online. The bags were sold in 10 packs for $1.
I was really proud of my Transformer wrapping job and then found out that I unknowingly glued a Deceptacon on the package instead of an Autobot. Oh well, the colors are really pretty together.
My cousin loaned us this awesome bounce house for the party. The kids loved it and played for hours.
And lastly the menu... I don't have any fabulous food pictures to share. To simplify things, I combined a few homemade dishes with some easy store bought snacks. I used paper products form Oriental Trading Co. Another fun blog post if you haven't read it already. Oriental Trading Co. sent me some great Transformers products to review. They have a nice selection and my son was thrilled.
The menu: Chips and Dip Vegetables and Hummus Watermelon Blueberries Cheese and Cracker tray Honey Chicken Kabobs Pigs in a Blanket Hot Ham Sandwiches Corn and Black Bean Salad 
I went really easy with the cake for this party. I made chocolate cupcakes and frosted them with vanilla bean icing and sprinkles in the party theme colors. The link to the recipe is for a chocolate cake, so if you bake the recipe as cupcakes, bake for a lot less time. I think these took around 20 minutes.
We also made an Angel Food cake in a 10" square pan. This is two Angel Food Cakes stacked together to get the desired height. My sister-in-law actually frosted this for me (It's nice having help on party day.) with chocolate frosting. I cut the autobot symbol out of a black sugar sheet I purchased at Walmart. I used a print-out as a stencil and cut the design out with an exacto knife on a cutting board.
Sugar sheets come in this packaging and are usually sold one sheet to a package. I have seen them in craft stores, Walmart, and Meijer. They are versatile, edible, and come in handy when cake decorating.
Disclosure: I was not compensated for anything in this post. All opinions are honest and are my own. 
44 Comments
2/4/2014 03:48:27 am
This is a fun theme for the party. Your mistake with Transformer characters made me chuckle. Thanks for sharing with Afterschool! 2/18/2014 10:34:02 am
Wow you are a really talented party planner. That's something you should consider doing when the kids are older. You would be really great at it. And kudos to your husband on his pinata, He did a great job! 2/18/2014 11:00:15 am
I've enjoyed themed parties with my grandkids. Looks like you enjoy doing it for you kids and do a fine job as well. 2/18/2014 12:54:18 pm
The bounce house looks like a lot of fun! I loved those types of things as a kid, and it looks like every child there was having a blast! That is such a creative birthday party, and you did such an amazing job with every detail!!! The highlight would definitely be the pinata! I just can't believe that was homemade! 2/18/2014 11:02:15 pm
That is just so cute! What a great way to theme the party!!! :D 2/19/2014 01:53:00 am
I loved the theme for this party and thought it was cute how you used a decepticon icon; I would have done the same and not known the difference. Definitely makes for a great pinata idea. :) 2/19/2014 08:49:16 pm
Your husband did an amazing job with the pinata! How creative and so detailed! I'm sure your son loved his party - what 6 year old boy wouldn't love it? :) Thank you for sharing! 2/20/2014 01:44:30 am
I loved how much creativity my parents put into our birthdays as a kid and I hope to create the same memories for my kids - but it isn't easy! So, thanks for sharing such great ideas. And you've got some lucky kids! 2/21/2014 08:43:08 am
You did a LOT better than I ever could have when it comes to transformers. The most I can do is open a box that contains one! The party looked like a success! I hope y'all had fun! 2/21/2014 01:01:18 pm
Sorry to say that I don't know the first thing about Transformers. Looks, however, like your party was a great success and that's all that matters - no matter what the theme may be! :D 2/23/2014 12:09:36 am
Looks like such a fun party! My son would love a transformer party!
This is such a great idea for a boy's party. I love how DIY it was, but that it looks like it is not DIY. 2/23/2014 09:16:33 am
What a cute idea for a piñata! And home made. Now I'm impressed :-) 2/24/2014 02:44:22 am
What a great Transformers party you all had! I can see you put a lot of work into it. The piñata is awesome! It looks like the children had a wonderful outdoor birthday celebration! Pinning this to my Party Ideas board :-) 2/24/2014 05:29:03 am
This is such a great idea and so much better than buying a pinata. Thanks for sharing! 2/25/2014 03:33:45 am
So sweet! What a fun party. I bet he had a great time :) 2/26/2014 08:32:48 am
Very creative. I am impressed. I never had the energy to go that all out for a birthday party but I know others thrive on this. I guess my kids missed out a bit but I imagine they will still turn out okay. 2/26/2014 09:16:03 am
This birthday party was very impressive. How many hours did you spend putting the decorations together? 2/26/2014 02:16:24 pm
My husband said he spent about 8 hours making the pinata. I spent very little time on the cupcakes and transformer cake. Decorating was minimal since I used products from Oriental Trading Company for a blog review. I printed out a few transformer symbols for the treat bags, a present, and the loot bag holder. It was a lot of work to get everything set-up and all of the food ready, but it wasn't too bad. I try to get as much done the day before as possible and enlist the help of family. As the boys get older, they are becoming more helpful too. I think the hardest part is getting all of the food ready on time. I always host my parties late afternoon so that I have more time to prepare. 2/26/2014 12:27:52 pm
After seeing how much work went into the pinata and the party, I am not sure I would have been brave enough to watch the pinata get broken. 3/3/2014 12:21:45 pm
Looks like your child had a great birthday party. I personally love all the details you put into it. Thanks for the ideas too (they will come in handy for my sons who love Transformers too.) Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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Welcome to Home Ec @ HomeHi, I'm Faith, a former Family and Consumer Science teacher turned food blogger. I love God, my family, and food. You can usually find me in the kitchen preparing family friendly, homemade recipes and taking lots of pictures. 
Still Goldens, Southern, IL
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