tj's cops & robbers party

tj had a hard time narrowing down a party theme this year. he contemplated a star wars party, a truck party, a tool man party, a halloween party,  a cowboy & indian party, & a blue party. but in the end, he went with a "policeman party" which was kind of a given considering his love for all things police. i was not at all excited about his decision. i had no clue how to pull off such a thing. then one day it dawned on me, oh, duh, cops & robbers. ti's only requests were donuts, "lockers" (handcuffs), & all his friends. this party ended up being one of the easiest, yet. a small order to online order, a few late nights crafting, a run to krispy kreme & we were set. we opted to have it at kepaniwai heritage gardens for its location & beauty. but, i totally overlooked the fact that it's the wettest spot in the area & this party was being held in the middle of december. bad call, mommy. thankfully, the kids didn't mind the drizzle (hence my sons' extra frizzy hair). 

the party started with finger printing & mug shot coloring & a few rounds of hot money bag (ya know, hot potato with a money bag). tj loves anything that resembles stamping so the finger prints were a highlight for the birthday boy.

next, the kids picked if they wanted a cop or robber treat bag. each was filled with a snack (chocolate milk, donuts, donut holes) & cops & robbers goodies, (tattoos, a robber mask, play jewelry, gold coins, hand cuffs, & a badge). they ate while checking out their goods.

while they were in to their dress ups they posed for their own mugshots. which was pretty hysterical for the adults.

that's when i realized (wink, wink) that the piñata was missing & in its place were some rather suspicious finger prints (originally, i planned to have coop dress as a robber & the kids would have to chase him down to retrieve the stolen goods but since the party was held during school hours i had to adjust my plan). the kids searched the area using the robber's footprints & fingerprints to track down the piñata. they worked together to open the piñata & dig in to the goods. my mother-in-law made the most adorable money bags for the kids to put their candy in & use to haul home their party favors.

while the mom's worked on clean up the kids did car chases, some were cops & some were robbers (originally, i planned to have a chalk board painted box car for each kid that they could decorate with chalk but i got to lazy at the last moment & this happened instead.)

tj loved it all. especially, pretending to be a policeman all day. and opening presents. he woke up the next morning asking if he could have another birthday party.

oh, yea, & i made all the printables for the party so i figured i'd share the labors of my love. if anyone's interested here are the links to the free printables.

mugshot coloring pages

finger print pages

mugshot quote signs

mugshot background (my photoshop skills are very, very basic. these are large files since i printed them large-i went with the industrial print from fedex, something like $3 each. long story short, the files are too large to upload to google docs & i don't know of any other way to upload them. if you'd like these printables email me & i'll send them on over.)