We love all the Toy Story movies, so when a friend asked for help throwing a Toy Story party for her kid's birthday, we were full of ideas. We ended up creating a Toy Story themed party with lots of fun decorations, favors, and place settings that Buzz, Woody, and Jessie would love to attend.

Here's a video showing how we made the different pieces for our Toy Story party decor and put together the whole Toy Story party.

DIY Toy Story party decorations

We're sharing 6 easy DIY decorations you can create for your Toy Story party:

• Woody themed table runner
• Buzz Lightyear drink cups
• Cowgirl Jessie serving platter
• Green alien cupcakes
• Barrel of Monkeys placemats
• Individual pizzas in mini pizza boxes

Keep reading for step-by-step tutorials to create these Toy Story party decorations.

Woody themed table runner

After covering the main party table with a blue sky and clouds tablecloth, we created a table runner down the middle that took inspiration from Woody's clothes. An inexpensive cow print table runner went down first, and then we topped that with a long piece of yellow paper onto which we had drawn a simple grid with a red marker. Then we draped a red bandana banner artfully down the middle.

A basic brown felt costume cowboy hat served as a table centerpiece, and we emblazoned it with a toy sheriff badge to make it clear that Sheriff Woody was in town.

For extra character, we sprinkled plenty of little green army soldiers around the table. It just wouldn't be Toy Story without them, and they are inexpensive, so they make great party favors as well as decorations.

Buzz Lightyear drink cups

We decided to bring Buzz Lightyear to the party on the drinking cups. Simple white foam coffee cups match the color and vibe of Buzz's uniform, and with the addition of our wings, they were a hit with all the guests.

To make your own Buzz wings, start with our free printable template. Just download our printable Buzz Lightyear wings and print them onto regular white carstock.

Before cutting out the wings, you'll need to sacrifice one of your foam coffee cups to make a template. Just cut the top rim off the cup (about 1/2" to 3/4"), where it's thicker than the rest of the cup.

Then put the cup upside down in the middle of the wings and trace around it. This marks exactly how big the hole needs to be in order to slide up onto your cup.

Use scissors to cut the hole out, and be sure to save that cup, because you can use it over and over for tracing all of your wings.

Now take your scissors and cut the wings out, leaving about a 1/2" ring around the hole you cut out. Now you've got custom wings that will fit your exact cup size.

Slide the wings up onto the cup. They should fit right up against the rim. If you use a "squishy" foam cup like we suggest, it should stay put. (If you a paper or plastic cup, it might slide down, so just use a little tape or hot glue under the rim to adhere it.)

Can you think of a better way to turn the most basic foam cup into something so adorable for your Toy Story party?

Cowgirl Jessie serving platter

To represent Jessie on our Toy Story party table, we focused on her iconic red hat, and created a serving platter from basic partyware and craft supplies.

It started with a trip to the party store, where we found a clear plastic plate and bowl that were the right size to match each other and resemble a hat when the bowl was placed upside down on the plate. It's important that the plate and bowl you choose are clear plastic or else this technique won't work.

First we flipped the plate upside down on the table and used regular white craft paint to paint curved lines around the brim, to mimic the stitches on Jessie's hat.

With the same paint, we added a stripe on the inside of the bowl, around the rim.

Then we took the pieces outside to spray paint them red. To prep the plate, we just put it face down and spray painted the bottom only. To prep the bowl, we covered the entire outside of the bowl with masking tape and paper, and then spray painted the inside only.

We used Rust-Oleum 2X in Colonial Red, which worked great on the plastic and was the perfect color.

When the paint was dry, we flipped the plate over to reveal the finished design. And since all the paint is on the bottom/back, it's totally food-safe!

We removed the masking tape from the outside of the bowl, revealing the red and white, and used some hot glue to attach the bowl, face down, to the center of the plate.

And just like that, you have a serving platter that looks just like Jessie's hat! And since we kept the paint on the bottom of the plate and the inside of the bowl, it remains food-safe.

Toy Story green alien cupcakes

Now that we have a cute cowgirl hat platter, let's fill it with some cupcakes! We made green alien cupcakes using a super easy technique that you'll love.

We started with a batch of our basic decorator's frosting (recipe below), tinted bright green, and piped it in a big mound onto the cupcakes. We didn't even use a tip in our disposable icing bags — we just cut the end off and squeezed out a big blob.

Now my trick for getting this icing into a smooth rounded mound is to shape it with a paper towel. Because this icing dries to the touch pretty quickly, you can let is sit a minute and then just dab it gently with a paper towel and push/form it into shape, and it won't stick. So much easier than trying to spread it smoothly with a knife, and it gives it a cool texture, too.

Adding three candy eyes gave those green mounds such character!

To finish them off, we added a little mound of frosting on either side to create ears. Again, you can shape this with a paper towel if you need to.

These little green alien cupcakes are absolutely adorable on Jessie's hat platter, and it looked great in the middle of the table next to Woody's hat.

Barrel of Monkeys placemats

We wanted to create something really special for each place setting on the table, so we decided to make giant Barrel of Monkey placemats. They even link together down the table!

To make your own monkey placemats, start by downloading our Barrel of Monkeys pattern and printing it onto regular white paper.

Then cut the four pieces out and tape them together along the dashed lines to form your pattern.

Put the pattern onto a piece of red poster board and trace around it, then cut the monkey out.

The arms have just enough of a curve that they should hook together in a chain. You could even hang them on the wall in your party space, or suspend them from the ceiling. (But you might want to switch to foam core instead of poster board so they are more durable.)

To round out the place setting, we added some cow print napkins and, of course, some white plastic sporks.

Individual pizzas in mini pizza boxes

You saw that pizza box at each place setting, right? That's dinner! We served up individual pizzas to the guests, each in its own mini pizza box with a cute label.

To create your own mini pizza boxes, start by downloading our mini pizza box labels template and print it onto full-sheet sticker paper.

These labels are sized perfectly to fit our exclusive 5" white mini pizza boxes. Just cut them out and stick them onto the top.

These boxes are the perfect size to hold a Red Baron Singles pizza, which is a perfect serving size for kids.

If you have other plans for food or don't want to serve individual pizzas, these boxes also make great party favors! Just fill them with toys, stickers, cookies, or other goodies for your guests.

All in all, this Toy Story party was a huge success. We love how we were able to incorporate elements of so many characters with their iconic patterns and shapes.

 

White Decorator's Icing

Print

Create a basic, versatile icing that works for all your cake decorating needs. This bright white frosting makes your tinted colors show true, and the quick-dry texture will help keep your decorations firm and in place on your cake.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

• one 2lb bag of confectioner's sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• approx 3/4 cup water

Instructions

1. Add sugar, shortening, and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Add about 1/2 cup of water and begin mixing on slow speed.
3. Add additional water as needed until the icing is the texture you like.

Notes

Be careful not to add too much water at once. (If you do, just add more sugar). Finding the right texture takes a little practice. Too thin and your decorations won't be firm, but too thick and you won't be able to squeeze it out of the bag.