A First Class 4th Birthday Mail Party {Click.Ship. Party}

Party Theme: Inspiration can come from unlikely places, even an old rusty neighborhood Post Office mailbox.  It hit me one day that a mail party would make such a fun theme! What child doesn't love delivering and receiving mail?  I contacted my favorite duo at Piggy Bank Parties to create a brand spanking new mail party collection. They delivered the most fun, all-inclusive party collection I have ever worked with!

Colors: Red, White, and Blue and accents of mail carrier uniform blue

Invitations and Graphics: Piggy Bank Parties designed the collection to include interactive invitations! Each guest received a mailbox invitation with a movable red flag. Two letters inside the mailbox provided party information for guests.  Piggy Bank Parties thought of every special detail possible, from 4 cent stamps to celebrate the birthday boy turning 4, Mail Truck favor boxes, custom stamps, and envelope banners.

Decor: Guests were welcomed to the party by a whimsical Knock Knock Factory Post Office wreath. I created the rest of the party decor out of any and all packaging materials and boxes delivered to our house that month into the party! The table runner was made from kraft paper and mini envelopes. Centerpieces were made out of boxes and packing peanuts. Large manila envelopes were used as place mats. Mini envelope buntings were strung from Airmail Divine Twine and red and blue balloons were anchored in boxes of course! 

Desserts: I placed my cake plate right inside an official Post Office mail bin filled with mail as main focal point of the dessert table. The cake was topped with a glittery "Post Office 41608" (my son's birthday makes a great zip code!) cake billboard and a fondant mail truck. Fondant stamps and envelopes were placed on top of lemon and raspberry Chambord petit fours. I built a 3-tied dessert stand out of packages to display shimmery mailbox cookies. The most coveted dessert on the table was "Owney's treats", graham crackers shaped as dog biscuits. 

Activities: The kids played a mail sort game using a mail box we crafted out of cardboard. Each party guest received a mail carrier name badge and got to work stamping, sorting, and delivering mail. At the end of the game each child had a mailbox full of mail. The mail opening activity helped control the flow of the party by giving clues and hints as to what we were doing next. The kids received a letter that said "time to learn about Owney", so we gather around and read a special library book about a special dog named Owney, the Post Office Mascot in the 1900s. He became a very famous dog in his time traveling the country via railway and even took a trip around the world by boat as "registered dog mail"!

The kids then received a special letter requesting them to "Design your own stamp". We talked about the importance of stamps and why the illustrations and people represented on our stamps are so important. The kids then used their new colored pencils to design their own stamps. The next few envelopes contained party favors such as mini letterhead and envelopes, stamps, and a special kraft tube filled with colored pencils. All the favors were designed to fit perfectly into the mail truck party favor boxes designed by the ultra talented and creative Piggy Bank Parties.

Finally, the last envelope the children opened had a letter inside with a fork attached stating it was "Time to Eat Cake", so we moved back to the dessert table with our forks for some birthday cake and singing.

Pick Your Own Favor: The children each got to pick an Owney to take home. Owney wore lots of metal tags on his collar to show all the special places he had visited so I made collars adorned with metal tags for each dog and piled the dogs on top of a mail bag (Owney's favorite nap spot). This was a huge hit! The children were delighted to chose their own new friend to take home!

The party was a first class success. Our sweet mailman even parked his mail truck in front the of house for the day and even popped in for a visit!

Vendor Credits:

Photography: Allison Kaharick 

Mail Party Collection, envelopes, ribbon, printed banners, food labels, and signs- Piggy Bank Parties

Wreath- The Knock Knock Factory

Balloons and Paper Rosettes- Polka Dot Market

Fondant Mail Truck and Petit Four Toppers: Edible Details

Cookies: Frog Prince Cake and Cookie Design

Cake billboard and Noah banner: The Purple Pug
Kraft Tubes with colored pencils: Sweet Lulu
Educational Resource and stamp printable: Smithsonian National Postal Museum