When your baby turns 18...

    It's probably not the easiest thing to be the youngest child and the only boy.  I absolutely cherish the first glimpses of the man he is becoming but he will always be my baby. As our children became older, we only had big parties when they hit certain milestones like turning 13. Baby boy was turning 18 so it was time for something special to celebrate.   I'm not sure where the idea came from, but it seemed that no one could give him a better send off than his old friends Buzz and Woody. He was going to be gone to his Youth in Government State Assembly the three days before the party so I decided to keep the theme a secret and let him be surprised when he came home the night before the party.

   Maybe it's because he is the baby, but I saved a lot more of his childhood toys than I did his sisters'.  Lucky for me, I saved every Toy Story toy that the boy ever had.  This made it very easy to start planning decorations.  I used them in several areas.

Buzz Lightyears were perfect to hang up high from fishing line

Some of his favorites greeted friends in the entryway along with a page from his scrapbook we took at Disney with his Toy Story friends.

    Then I started thinking about the Little Green Men. We had to incorporate them.  So I cut white card stock into strips and hot glued the little soldiers onto the strips. Then I could use the strips  anywhere I chose.   For some reason, I couldn't find any on parachutes, and we HAD to have some hanging on parachutes.  White Dollar Tree plastic tablecloths cut into circles with the little soldiers tied to them with dental floss is what I decided to use.  They ended up being my favorite decorations of the night.

If you look closely you can find them in all sorts of places.

   We had to have party favors and I found these amazing Toy Story Pez Dispensers and ordered two boxes.  Then I decorated another area with more old toys and red bandanas for them to wait to be handed out.  By the way red bandanas are SO handy to have. I've used them for Independence Day and assorted other occasions in decorating.

FYI, the Pez Dispensers had random quantities of characters but I'm happy to report that everyone that wanted a Jessie got one.

    Because I couldn't leave well enough alone, we HAD to have a photo booth.  This was so much fun to put together. I used Dollar Tree plastic tablecloths again. The background was pale blue and I taped it with clouds cut from paper to make it look like Andy's room.  Then I used darker blue tablecloths to make the curtains.

There were Woody and Jessie hats, a Buzz Lightyear mask and assorted props for my son and his friends to use.

The Boy and Buddy the Boxer had their photos taken with the Etch A Sketch frame that I made from red poster board, foam board and a little gold paint.

At the end of the night, I'm pretty sure that I had the most fun of all. It was so much fun getting ready for this party. I've loved every minute of being this boy's mom. He is loves his family, is a hard worker, has an incredible sense of humor and the kindest heart. Believe it or not, throwing this party helped me start letting go of the little boy so that I could appreciate the grown man.  It was the first of the "lasts" that were soon to come with it also being his senior year of high school.  Later that night, when only a few of his friends were left, they decided to make a video. This was the "thing" when he turned 18 and it seemed the perfect way to end the evening.  The one in the Batman underpants belongs to me and I couldn't be prouder.