An Iconic Disney “Cars” Party—Delivering Real Ka-Chow!

Goggles: 2.5 hr | Tires: 1 hr | Photo Op: 2.5 hr | Cake topper: 1 hr

When we first planned my son’s 3rd birthday, it was to be a small celebration in the front yard. Serve cake to the neighborhood kids, sing a rambunctious Happy Birthday to my sweet Gabe. Done and done.

But then. We saw Cars3 as a family. Ah-DORABLE.

Annnd then. I saw these movie posters and fell into Cars Minimalist Love. These posters were excellent inspiration: simple, iconic and fun. Those big, flat-graphic blue eyes. How could I not do a Cars theme? Start your engines, minimalist moms. Let’s see if we can create a simple, iconic and fun Cars party that delivers some real Ka-chow...er in our front yard. (And bonus, let's see if we can do the DIYs in 10 hours or less. I think we can!)

Since this would be a party in our yard, we made invites to tack to everyone's front door a few days prior. Super informal, super cheap (not to mention a fun excercise in lettering!)

I love how the Cars trilogy has risen to an iconic status. We immediately recognize the Car's signature big eyes, Mater's smile, the Cozy Cone Motel, Luigi's Leaning Tower of Tires. So why not play off of such beautiful simplicity? DIYs below!

Lightning McQueen Goggle Eyes
Luigi’s Leaning Tower of Inflatable Tires
Piston Cup Photo Opp
Cars3 Cake Topper

DIY: Lightning McQueen Goggle Eyes

To see a bunch of Lightning McQueen Goggle Eyes running around made for great photo ops, decor AND party favors. (I loves me some multi-purpose props.) We ordered this 10-pk of safety goggles from AmazonPrime, grabbed a few sheets of my favorite colored paper from our craft nook, craft glue, scissors and hole punch. I did not create a printable template, because all you need is a good ole pencil. Freehand is much faster, easier, and you won't get hung up on perfection! Win.

The Neenah specialty colored paper (letter-sized) in this photo is enough for 5 pairs of Lightning McQueen goggles. If you want more, just multiply accordingly. Also, grab a pencil (which I forgot to add to the photo!)

You can grab these safety goggles from AmazonPrime in a box of 10, or any hardware store. Get the cheapest you can find ($2.50 each-ish), and don't worry about kid sizes. These puppies will fit.

Red Shape: Trace a pair of the safety goggles onto the red paper. Freehand a rounded-corner outline over top of the tracing. (It's okay if the red shape goes outside of the goggle shape by a little bit.) Trim out and use this as a template to create the remaining shapes.

White Eyes: Trace the red shape onto the white paper, so that you have a border to draw within. Study Lightning McQueen's eyes. They are basically a long white rectangle with two irregular humps on top. Draw and trim.

For the BLUE circles, trace a salad dressing cap (1-inch diam). For the BLACK, a Sharpie cap (half-inch diam). For the WHITE, use a hole punch.

Trim everything out during your fav tv show. Thirty minutes. Done!

Glue all pieces together, using your craft glue. Lay them under a heavy book for at least 2-3 hours (ideally overnight) so they will dry flat.

Blue painter's tape is a great way to adhere the eyes to the goggles. I added an extra layer of hot glue around the edges for good measure. Don't worry if you don't have hot glue. Just secure with a little extra tape.

Soda cans are the perfect weights to help the tape (and hot glue) set.

Bam. Lightning McQueen Goggles.

Piston Cup Photo Op

We had a water heater box in our basement, collecting dust. This party was the perfect chance to give it a makeover. Wardrobe boxes, golf boxes or double-stacked moving boxes can also be used to create this iconic prop. Kids tempera paint, yellow posterboard, pencil and a fat Sharpie are all you need. I also used my husband’s rulered I-beam level, which was a huge help to keep things straight.

Leaning Tower of Inflatable Tires

Luigi would be proud! These inflatable tires were the LIFE of the party, and worth every penny. ($2.50/ea.) We used this pump to inflate them, then used bakers twine to hold the tire stack together. After the kids arrived to the party, we cut the tire stack loose and everybody cut loose. They climbed them, danced in them, sumo-wrestled in them, and lounged in them to eat cake. At the end of the party, we gave them away as party favors.

note: We suggest using the inner tubes outdoors or in a large playroom. Also, you'll need parental supervision for this one!

Cars3 Cake Topper

My favorite baker & friend was on maternity leave this year. So I decided to see what I could do to spruce up an all-white Costco cake sheet cake. I used items from our craft nook (pom poms, construction paper and pipe cleaners). I ordered a large styrofoam 3 and these fabulous 5" silver candles. Deee-lish.

Ka-chow!

Hello!