cardboard birthdays

"No matter how many toys you have, kids will inevitably want to play with the cardboard box the toy came in more than the toy itself."

Haven't we all heard this before? Here at Little Papercuts, we've taken this sentiment to a whole other level :) Our 'Cardboard Birthdays' began when my son turned one. To accompany our farm themed party I made a tractor out of large cardboard boxes...nothing fancy, just a few boxes put together to form a tractor shape and large enough that a few small children could climb inside to 'drive'. We used large plastic serving trays for tires and voila, instant tractor. Well, to say the kids enjoyed themselves would be an understatement! They had so much fun climbing all over that thing that it almost seemed a shame to throw it out. But it gave me inspiration for the next few birthday parties that would follow

I loved that the basic items we used were so simple (cardboard boxes, paper/plastic plates, coloured paper, paint, hockey tape and glue), and with a little bit of creativity they were transformed into some of my son's favourite cartoon characters.


















When Alex turned 2 he was obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine, so I grabbed 2 boxes from U-Haul (this ensures that the boxes are new and clean since the kids will be inside them) and a cardboard cement tube from Home Depot and put together a train that the kids could play in.



















The passenger cars were just smaller boxes cut in half that they could sit inside. We made a light house out of more cardboard and construction paper, and our paper lantern shade was transformed into Harold the Helicopter. The kids and all the adults were thrilled with our efforts, and I knew that this party would be hard to beat...enter Lightning McQueen:)



















Thomas was followed by Cars when he turned 3. By far the most challenging of all the parties I've done because I didn't want the cars to be square. But by scoring the cardboard from the inside I was able to achieve a rounded car that everyone fell in love with.



















We made 3 cars that year, since he was turning 3, Mater the tow truck, Sally the Porshe and Lightning McQueen the race car. Alex was so thrilled with this party, that he chose Cars again for his 4th birthday, and I took a break from making cardboard characters (I wasn't about to make anymore cars...they take up a lot of space!)

















Last year marked the last 'cardboard birthday' I will ever make for him (now that he's in kindergarten he wants large parties with all of his classmates). I chose WALL-E to celebrate Alex turning 5, mostly because I love that movie, and also because I anticipated that it would be relatively simple since WALL-E is square :)

















With one large cardboard box, some extra cardboard shaped into teardrops and accented with plastic plates for his eyes, paper towel cardboard tubes for his arms, aluminum elbow duct pieces for his neck, rubber floor mats for his treads, and a bit of paint, WALL-E couldn't have been more perfect! We made it big enough that the kids could sit inside of WALL-E's trash compacter, and we even made his little cockroach friend who sits on his shoulder.
















Again we utilized our paper lantern shade, this time transforming it into Eve, simply by adding a balloon suspended with fishing line for the body and some white poster board cutouts for arms. I loved this party, and so did my son:)























Even though these projects took a lot of planning, I will miss them :( No matter how much work they were, the look on my son's face the mornings he woke up to find Thomas the Train and Lightning McQueen sitting on our kitchen table, or WALL-E sitting outside his bedroom door will forever be etched in my mind. Complete Joy :)