How to Make a Robot-Themed Birthday Party: 5 Ideas

My little one is turning 3. This year, the birthday party theme was ROBOTS.

Once I decided on a robot image I brainstormed several ways I could incorporate this theme into the party. I got a photo-cake made, decorated goodie bags with a picture of a robot, and filled each bag with a windup robot, a mini rock 'em sock 'em robot, a rubber ball and of course every kid's favorite treat: candy!



There are several ways you could make your own robot-themed party.

First you need to decide on an image. You could either google and download a royalty-free image from the web, take a photograph of a toy robot, or if you are artistic draw your own robot.


Here are a few ideas on how to incorporate this theme into your party:

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1) Make photo prints of the robot and decorate the party bags with them.

2) Make a large photo print then have your local bakery make a photo cake with it.

I had someone else draw a robot image for me then I scanned the artwork using my scanner at home. I wanted to use this image on the goodie bags and a larger image for a photo cake. The original image was 3.5" by 3.5". Here's a nifty way someone showed me to calculate the scanning resolution:

Multiply 150 (dpi's) by the size you want to print it to (which for me was 8"), then divide that number by the size of your original. Here's how my formula looked:

150 multiplied by 8 = 1200 divided by 3.5 = 342.86

I rounded 342.86 up to 350 and scanned the image in at 350 dpi's. Then I uploaded that image to a photo printing website and ordered 4x6 prints for the goodie bags and an 8x10 print for the cake. I was surprised how great the image looked blown up to an 8x10 print.

I used a corner rounder to trim the corners on the 4x6 prints, then used glue dots to adhere them onto kraft handle bags. I got the bags at Diddams for .70 cents/each but you could also get them online here or on ebay.

I sometimes get cakes at my local grocery store where they have an in-house bakery. They didn't have any robot-themed cakes so I brought the 8x10 robot print and asked them to make me a photo cake with it. You can tell them how you want the borders and edges iced and if you want any other decorations. I wanted to keep things simple so I just picked a photo from their cake book and said decorate it like this but use my photograph in the middle of the cake.

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3) Print the robot image onto labels or magnet sheets to make stickers or fun refrigerator magnets to put in the goodie bags.

You can use good old white mailing labels or make moo stickers like this.

To make custom refrigerator magnets, you can print the image onto these inkjet magnet sheets.

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4) create a stencil of your robot image and either "freezer-paper stencil" or "gocco" print it onto t-shirts to give away as favors.

I think doing freezer-paper stencil shirts would be good if you are having a small party and only have a few to make (say 5 or less). Gocco would be a better choice if you needed to make more than that.

These are some cool shirts someone made:


Stencil-related sites:
Stencil Art...Creating Stencils
Unwind: Freezer Paper Stencils
stencilry (ready-made robot stencils)

Gocco-related links:
Save Gocco (general info).
gocco tutorial on flickr.

If you're going to gocco onto t-shirts, you'll need to use a gocco stamp kit like this:


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5) Fill the goodie bags with robot toys or candy. There are a few places you can get 'em.

The local party-supply store is a good place (I got these cute windup toys at Diddams!) or you can get toys and candy here:

Robots at Tin Toy Arcade
Robot Pops
Robot Lollipops

and if you're up for it, you could even make your own robot candy using a robot candy mold!

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The day before my son's party, I went shopping for an outfit for him...and what did I find? Robot shirts on sale! And not just one style, but two! I bought both shirts for $10 bucks. I'll post pictures of them as soon as they get washed (they're sitting in the hamper, happily stained with birthday cake).