Today is the day—my sweet Parky boy turns four! Where on earth did the time go? Just yesterday he was a slightly chunky ball of fur and now he’s practically an adult (not really, he’ll always be a puppy in my eyes!) To celebrate his big milestone, I threw him a golf birthday party complete with an excess of golfing puns, yummy food, and a little putting green.
This is the third year I’ve thrown Parker a full-on party. If I’m honest, the parties are maybe a little more for me than for him, but he still has a blast!
Golf Birthday Party
Party Prep
About two months before his birthday (October 6th), I usually start the party planning process. First, I head to Pinterest and search for toddler party themes. I’ll sift through those results for a while (go down a few rabbit holes) and emerge with a couple viable ideas.
Once I find some possible themes, I dive even further and scope out possible decor, activities, and food ideas.
This year, the two themes I considered were “Rawr, Parker is four!” and “Too-tee is Fore!” One of Parker’s nicknames is “Tootie,” which lent itself quite nicely to the golf theme i.e. “Too-tee.”
I actually considered the “Rawr” dinosaur party pretty seriously but then decided that the colors and decor would be too similar to his “young, wild, and three” party from last year.
As you already know, “Too-tee is Fore!” was the winning theme.
Invitations
Over the years, I’ve created Parker’s birthday party invitations with the free resources offered on Canva.
Typically, I will search their invitation templates, find one I like, and then edit the heck out of it.
They have a large library of templates along with graphics, fonts, etc. that you can add to your design free of charge.
After I settle on an invitation design, I upload the file to the Fedex Office website and have them professionally printed. My at-home printer doesn’t work all that often, so I’ve found it’s much easier to just pay to have the invites printed. I usually only print 3-4 pages worth and it ends up costing less than $5.
Photo Backdrop
Over the years, I’ve planned or helped plan a few get-togethers like dog parties, human parties, and showers, so I have a few staple items that I always buy now.
One of those staples are foil curtains. These babies are inexpensive and fantastic for making photo backdrops, covering walls, and adding pizzazz.
Another item I love for photo backdrops are paper fans, paper lanterns, or balloon arches. I didn’t use a balloon arch for Parker’s golf birthday party this year, but I’ve used them for several events in the past. They’re fairly inexpensive on Amazon and are surprisingly easy to make. They do take time (and a balloon machine is advised) but they are completely doable if you don’t want to spend a ton on professional balloons.
Please note, that I created a more elaborate photo backdrop on the porch for Parker’s party. It looked incredible. I was so happy when I walked away from the large backdrop and began working on the small backdrop pictured in this post.
The humidity in Florida was quite atrocious on party day, so my original backdrop fell before I thought to take a photo of it. A very sad realization for me! Especially, because I didn’t have humidity issues for his party last year.
I rallied though and did what I could with the little bit of time and material I had left.
Signage
Chalkboards, letter boards, whiteboards, or any other kind of board are invaluable when it comes to party signage. I’ll admit that I probably have more of these types of boards laying around than the average person, so if you don’t have any (or you need more) you can usually get them for a great price from your local craft store or Amazon.
Here are a few of my favorite board options
- Type Set Co. magnetic letter board
- Small letter board & oak stand
- Large Letterfolk letter board
- Small chalk boards
- Large chalk board
- Mondo Llama chalk markers
Here are a few puns to put on your boards:
- Happy Birdie, name!
- Name is Fore!
- Name’s Pro Shop
- Thanks for playing a round with us!
You could also use foam board or something disposable like poster board or card stock if you would rather spend less and not have boards you may not use lying around. I used card stock and a few brush pens to make all the food labels and absolutely love how they turned out!
Decor
To really bring home the golf birthday party theme, I purchased a few inexpensive golf items off Amazon including a pack of 50 practice balls and wooden tees.
My brother actually started playing golf recently, so I knew that after the party was over, I could pass all these things on to him.
I used a few glass jars and vases I had around the house and filled them with the balls and tees to make some simple centerpieces.
I also used a ball and tee to make the putt cakes you’ll see down below when I discuss the party food. Before using them on food, I washed each ball and tee.
Lastly, I picked up some glittery party hats for the occasion—silver glitter hats for the humans and blue + green glitter hats for the dogs!
Party Favors
I have two young nieces and my love language is gifts, so it goes without saying that party favors are important to me!
As soon as I decided on the golf birthday party theme, I put the Little Tikes golf set in my shopping cart. This golf set served several purposes:
- It was a super cute party prop and made for excellent decor
- It provided an activity and something fun for the girls to do. I set it up on my porch and the AstroTurf from my porch renovation in the spring made an excellent putting green!
- Can you say ultimate party favor?!
Because my nieces are young + prone to spilling (and Parker’s tail has a mind of its own) I knew I wanted to have party cups with lids. After some brainstorming, I decided to use my Silhouette Cameo to make custom party tumblers!
After doing a ton of tumbler research on Amazon and not loving what I was seeing, I stumbled across these children’s tumblers are Target. You have to buy the cups, lids, and straws separately, but when it’s all said and done, you end up with six tumblers for $9. A way better deal than what I was seeing on Amazon.
I created a golf ball design in the Silhouette Studio software, used one of my favorite fonts (Britanic Bold) to write the words, and added a little ribbon flag to complete my design.
I can’t tell you how happy I am with the way these tumblers turned out! Also, everyone at the party commented on the quality of the tumblers themselves. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—that Target knows what they’re doing!
Food
I love a good pun and let me tell you, there are a ton of gems out there when it comes to golf birthday party puns!
Here’s a list of food ideas including a few I considered but didn’t end up using:
- Club sandwiches
- Peanut putter sandwiches (PB&Js)
- Chip shots (chips)
- Par-faits (yogurt parfaits)
- Sand traps (Rice Krispie treats)
- Putt cakes (cupcakes)
- Arnold Palmers (1/2 iced tea & 1/2 lemonade)
- Wedges (orange slices)
- Hole in ones (powdered sugar donut holes)
Dog cake
On his birthday, Parker gets his own three layer dog cake! I found this super easy (and what I assume is delicious) dog cake recipe on Pinterest years ago and always make it in these tiny Wilton cake pans.
Instead of whipped cream as the icing, I melt a bit a peanut butter in the microwave and poor it on top. It’s looks cool and you don’t have to worry about refrigeration or anything like that.
Well, there you have it! Too-tee is fore and his golf birthday party kicked some serious putt!
Parker turns five in 365 days, and I’m already playing around with a few ideas for his next party!
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