Elliot’s 3rd race car birthday was a huge hit! After a big Circus Party last year, we wanted to pull together something nice and low key, which still celebrating with his friends. After putting together his new race car bedroom, there was no hesitation for the theme. It had to be red race car! So I jumped onto the Cricut and got creating. Here’s the end result! Discover how to pull together this quick and easy DIY look!
Disclosure: This post on Red Race Car Birthday contains an affiliate link, and at no additional cost to you, I’ll earn a small commission if you decide to purchase after clicking through the link. I’ll only ever recommend things that I love and believe will help you, and the decision to purchase is entirely yours!
Red Race Car
Of course, no red race car birthday would be complete without some red race cars! I jumped straight into the design studio and found a template I liked from the thousands included! It was easy to simply adjust the colours to create something I knew Elliot would love. The first thing I got to work on was a big cardboard back drop for the party table.
Since the backdrop was bigger than the pieces of cardboard I had, I needed to split the design up into sections. Once all the sections were ready to go and scaled to size, I cut it out on the right coloured cardboard.
I used Transferable Vinyl for the bottom of the race car, as I simply had some of it hanging around. Plus, I was able to print the whole background on one piece, which was nice and easy.
I then cut the cardboard and assembled the pieces on top with glue. Simple! It looked fantastic at the back of the party table.
Using some balloons from Amazon, I put together a balloon garland behind the race car, made to look like the smoke coming out the back as it revs away!
It’s so easy to do, simply starting with small balloons and then blowing them up bigger as you go down the garland. Elliot loved it!
Party Favours
Race Car Shirt
Finally, the birthday boy needed something to wear on his big day! So naturally, with the car still ready to go in the Cricut Design Space, I found out HTV and cut it out and ironed it on to his shirt.
I layered the HTV on top of each other and heated one by one to get it to stick.
The front and back were both personalised for Elliot (nickname Otto). He wore it to daycare on his birthday and it was a huge hit!
Race Car Birthday Cake
Call me crazy, but I love to make the kid’s cakes on their birthdays. Elliot had set me a challenge with the race car theme, and it took a bit of time to come up with a design. He was thrilled with the end result.
I will admit the one thing I did learn was that fondant and humidity = sweating cake. Hence the shine! I know for next time a fondant cake needs to be kept cool, but not in the fridge. I sat it in air conditioning to save it from further damage and it survived until party time.
My eldest daughter helped bake the cakes two days before the party. These were popped on the cake board and layered, then covered with a buttercream crumb coat.
Once that was set, the fondant went on. I then purchased a square fondant cutter (shop here) to create the race car look at the bottom.
On top, each of the cars was made from fondant. I made them a week before the party to give the fondant some time to dry out. Finally, I crushed some oreo on top and at the bottom, with two race flags in the middle, which were simply printed off and stuck onto tooth picks.
Voila!
Looking for more great cake ideas? Check out this Race Track Cake here!
The inside of the cake was yellow, blue and red to match the race cars on top.
Race Car Birthday Set Up
The rest of the set up was nice and easy! I bought a few of the decorations. Here’s where I got some of our party supplies:
- I lay out a white tablecloth and popped a black table runner down it. I think cut out white felt pieces that were stuck down it to look like the road.
- Inflatable car tyre (Shop here)
- Cups and plates (shop here)
Finally, food! We kept it nice and simple and put together a grazing board. Some of the things included:
- Cabanosi
- Olives
- Nuts
- Grapes
- Carrot
- Cheese
- Dips
- Cucumber
Need more tips when it comes to planning that next important occasion? Check out our DIY party planning checklist and get started today!
