Looking for a fun theme for your child’s next birthday? Crush a monster truck birthday party theme with these tips and tricks on a budget. This post contains affiliate links. By clicking or using the links, I make a small commission at no additional cost to you.

How to Smash a Monster Truck Party Theme

Trevor is in love with monster trucks and cars right now. When we asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday party this year he told us monster trucks. I wanted the color scheme to be bright and colorful since his birthday is in August and it’s still hot in Florida. We chose to have his party at a local splash pad and it worked out so well.

So much thought went into planning and executing his party the way I envisioned it. I started by booking the venue, coming up with the color scheme then searching for all of the decor. Booking the venue in advance is a huge must because kids birthday party venues tend to book pretty fast. I booked our venue 3 weeks in advance, honestly because I procrastinated. We did have to have his party on a Sunday morning which wasn’t ideal but it ended up working out for us.

After you book your venue and pick your color scheme, you’ll want to plan out all of the other details. Think about the guest list, food/drinks, games, etc.

Birthday Party Decor

The color scheme of this party was bright and colorful. Most of the inspiration I found for a monster truck themed party was filled with darker colors and I wanted to stray away from that. I really wanted to do something a little bit different so I opted for teal, neon green, and orange as the star colors with accents of gold, white and black. The colors really came together beautifully. When putting together the decor, I pulled a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and Instagram. Here’s the mood board I put together when figuring out what I wanted the party decor to look like.

For this party, the arches were an absolute non-negotiable for me and I’m so grateful my husband made it happen. You guys know I love building things but I just wasn’t up for it this time and realistically didn’t have the time to execute it. My husband stepped in and created both of the arches I wanted in 2 days. We’ve never built anything like this before but he figured it out and I was so happy with how they turned out. The arches were a huge hit at the party. Everyone loved them and they were the perfect addition to the party decor.

I kept the tablescapes simple with white tablecloths, orange safety cones and white picture frames with customized graphics. These checkered table runners are cute as well. I got a flag banner from Hobby Lobby that I used to decorate the arches and food tables. The balloon garland was used as an accent on the arches. I didn’t get to finish the balloon garland the night before but what I was able to pull together looked so good.

Where to Buy Monster Truck Party Supplies

grab some monster truck party supplies

I sourced all of the birthday party decor from Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree and Walmart. The goal of this party was to throw the best party that we could while sticking to our budget. We had a strict budget of $400 for this party and that included gifts for the birthday boy. I love parties and I love hosting them, and creating those special moments for our kids but I also like to be very realistic about the budget. I’m not a huge fan of spending tons of money for something that will only last for a few hours. With a little bit of planning and creative thinking, you can plan amazing events on a budget.

I tried to stick to the party color scheme when buying the party decor. Hobby Lobby always has great deals on their party decor. They’ll typically have things like plates, napkins, forks, and tablecloths for 50% off. We didn’t use these napkins but they would’ve been so perfect for the theme. I was able to use the checkered pennant flags from there as well as cupcake toppers. Dollar Tree was a great resource for the traffic cones. They sell them in a pack of 2 for $1.25. If you’re looking for monster trucks to decorate, Dollar Tree is a great place to get them as well.

I used white frames from IKEA (which are now discontinued) as the table centerpiece with custom signage to match the theme. An alternative to the picture frame could be monster trucks or even a different picture frame with the signage. I love these wooden monster trucks as table centerpieces. You could easily paint them to match the party color scheme.

The balloons from the balloon garland all came from Walmart except the number balloons which I got from Five Below and Amazon. This balloon garland kit from Amazon is perfect for the color scheme. You can always grab the smaller number balloons from Dollar Tree as well.

Monster Truck Party Favors

I’m super picky about party favors. Typically when we go to parties my kids get things like candy or things that they don’t love. I know that most kids love candy but my kids aren’t a huge fan unless it’s chocolate but since our party was outdoors that wasn’t an option. I spent a lot of time thinking about what a cost effective and practical party favor would be for this theme,

At first I wanted to do sensory jars but those would just take too much time to put together and cost more than I wanted to spend, putting us over budget. So since our monster truck party was actually a “monster truck splash bash” with a water component I decided to do bubbles. It was the perfect affordable gift for our guests that fit within our budget and would 100% go over well with a group of toddlers and elementary aged kids. Really all kids love playing bubbles no matter their age so it worked out perfectly.

And since it was the end of summer I was able to find lots of bubbles on clearance at Joann. I ended up getting 80 bottles of bubbles for only $12! It was such a steal. I made little thank you hang tags that I could tie onto the bottle of bubbles and display on our party favor arch. In the end, I ended up not using the hang tags because honestly my kids lost our hole punch and I didn’t have enough time to tie all of the tags on. The kids loved the bubbles and we had some left over that they were able to play with them at the party as well.

If you’re wanting to stay on a budget for party favors, bubbles are an amazing option. Stores like Target or Walmart have packs of bubbles that are perfect for parties. Tie on a customized hang tag with some pretty ribbon and it takes up the party favor a notch.

Here’s a few monster truck party favor ideas:

Gift Ideas

We kept Trevor’s gift to a minimum this year. He has tons of toys and this was a huge party with over 50 guests so I knew that he would be bringing home gifts from the party. This Monster Jam Playset is a perfect gift if you’re attending a monster truck party and it’s under $20! This LEGO set is great for older kids. Grave Digger and Megaladon are super popular monster trucks, and these remote control versions are a hit with kids.

grab a gift for your next monster truck party

Monster Truck Party Cost Breakdown

Like I mentioned earlier, I really tried to stick to a tight budget for this party. Trevor’s birthday falls right around back to school. We wanted to pull the entire party together for under $400 and we did just that. Here’s a breakdown of what the entire party cost us.

• Venue (local splash pad for 3 hours) – $70
• Wooden arches – $93
• Bubble party favors – $18 (grabbed a 11-6packs on clearance from Joann for under $2 each)
• Printed invitations – $8
• Welcome sign/poster – $3
• Decor (balloons, banners, traffic cones, etc) – $50
• Cake – $35
• Food – $60

Total cost – around $337 give or take

We had about 60-70 guests at our party, and had plenty of food for everyone. Food is always one of the things I’m the most nervous about but this time around we kept it simple and everyone was happy.

watch how the party came together on my stories here

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