When my son was four years old he wanted to be a fireman. So of course he wanted a fireman birthday. I had just had a baby three weeks earlier so I wanted to make the party as easy as possible. It didn’t take much effort and the party was a great success.
Invitations
I found a clipart of a Dalmatian dog wearing a fireman’s hat. I copied it on to cardstock and then colored the fireman’s hat red. I also printed the party information.
Decorations
I decorated for the birthday party with red, yellow, and orange balloons and streamers. I bought red plates, cups, and napkins.
Cake
Besides my son’s friends we had a lot of family at the party. So I made cupcakes and a cake that we served at the birthday party.
Cupcakes – I frosted the cupcakes with white frosting, stuck candy flames standing upright into each cupcake, and then put pretzel sticks around the base of the flames for wood. I made the candy flames by crushing red hot and butterscotch candies and then melting them at 200° for about 20 minutes. Check them periodically and if they aren’t melting you might need to turn up the heat, but be careful it will burn.
Cake – Of course I also made a fire truck cake. When I cooked the cupcakes I also cooked a small cake in a loaf pan then a large cake in a 13 x 9 pan. I put the loaf pan-cake on top of the 13 x 9 cake to form the cab. I used frosting and pretzels to make a ladder and Oreo cookies for the wheels. I bought Watkins red food coloring so the truck wouldn’t be pink. I used M&M’s, gumdrops, and white frosting to add the necessary details. It helps to look at a picture of a fire truck while decorating the cake. As you can see in the picture the heat made the frosting melt and the top of the truck was sliding off so you might want to stick wooden skewers through the cake to prevent it from sliding.
Gift Bags
I found a collection of fire trucks at the dollar store. I added some red and orange candies and fireman stickers.
At the fire station each child got a hat, coloring book, stickers, and candy. Check to see if your fire station has items for the kids. If not you might want to get fireman hats at your local dollar or party store.
At the fire station I took a picture of each child wearing fireman clothes and sent it with the thank you cards.
Party Games
Bingo – I found fireman related clipart on-line and made my own bingo game.
Pin the Tail on the Dog – I drew a large picture of the Dalmatian we used on the invitations and we played pin the tail on the fireman’s dog.
Tour of the Fire Station – I had arranged for a tour of our local fire station so we loaded up the kids and drove over. They had so much fun trying on the fireman’s clothes, climbing in the truck, and my son even got to talk to a dispatch operator.
