Guac Is Extra, But So Are We

My son is nearing his 11th birthday which means I’m overdue sharing all about his 10th birthday extravaganza. He was struggling to come up with ideas but kept coming back to, “I want a Chipotle themed party.” My first response was, “That’s a restaurant, not a party theme” but after sitting on the idea overnight I came up with some ideas. I presented him the ideas the next day and together we tweaked and eliminated until he was left with a party plan he was excited about. I can’t wait to share what we came up with!

The Invitation

Believe it or not, Chipotle invitations are not readily available. I was able to purchase this Chipotle themed artwork off Etsy and then I used it to create a birthday invitation. It’s available in my Etsy shop should you decide to run with this creative theme as well!

The Decor

Shockingly Chipotle party decor is also not readily available. I had to get creative! I’ve found a balloon arch a great way to make a big impact at a low cost. I went with a silver and black pack of balloons and added an avocado balloon to one side and a chili pepper balloon to the other.

Using the same artwork as I used for the invitation plus a few other related images, I created this bunting to hang from our fireplace, near where we typically open gifts. It’s also available in my Etsy shop but beware you need to cut it out and string it yourself!

Chipotle sells this customizable ingredient t-shirt but sadly they don’t offer it in youth sizes. Thankfully, I have a shirt press and the ability to make my own. My son rocked this shirt for party time and I ended up making more for a few of his friends.

I repurposed the invitations into signs for each party station that were spread throughout the house for each activity.

Activities:

Ring Toss with Jarritos Bottles

I bought this unfinished crate from my local craft store and stained it with whatever stain my crafty neighbor had on hand (a round of applause for the crafty neighbors who always have that strange ask on hand). After the stain dried, I applied cricut permanent vinyl with the same logo from the invitation. I put a coat of poly over everything to secure the vinyl on the stain.

I let my kids go to town on a case of Jarritos and saved the empties. I sourced a pack of various sizes plastic rings on Amazon but you could even make your own out of pipe cleaners or use rings from another game you have on hand.

This old school carnival game was a hit! It was a blast to see the kids genuinely excited for each other when their ring hit the bottle’s rim.

Bingo

You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that another birthday thrown by me featured Bingo. Bingo is easy to customize for any theme, fun to play for all ages, and easily lends itself to a prize game. Although the kids tend to play several rounds, we only provide a prize to the first winner. To match the theme, the prize was a tortilla blanket that was wrapped in… you guessed it, a chipotle bag! This bingo game is available in my etsy shop if you want someone else to take care of the customizing!

Bean Art Guessing Game

I came up with this absurd idea in the middle of the night. We ran with it and a new favorite game was born! This game is essentially pictionary, but instead of drawing clues with a marker, the kids “built” the clues with dried black beans and pinto beans by laying them out on a piece of white paper. The kids split themselves into two teams and my daughter revealed the clue to each of the “builders” then gave them a countdown. It was so fun to see how the kids creatively used the beans and the colors to build their clues!

Pin The Burrito in Jack’s Mouth

It’s an old school carnival game like ring toss and a classic like bingo which is why some version of pin the _____ to the _____ is also common to find in our family’s birthday party agendas. For this version I took a photo of Jack wearing a shirt with his Chipotle order on it and his mouth opened as big as it would go! I had it printed as a 16x20 photo at our nearby Walgreens (they always have photo coupons, don’t forget to google for one). At home I printed 1” long burritos that had each party guests’ name printed on it. We stuck double-sided tape to the backs and blindfolded each guest before spinning them a few times and sending them on their way. This was a missed opportunity to use a tortilla eyemask which my son received as a gift later in the party.

Burrito Hop

I hesitate to call any of these games my favorite because I truly loved planning and executing them all but if I had to choose the one I’m most proud of, this one easily takes top billing. I knew I wanted this party to have an old-school party or carnival feeling which meant I had to figure out a way to incorporate potato sack races. That’s when the Burrito Hop was born!

I thought it would be clever if each kid was wrapped in foil and had to hop to the other side of the room and back. But when I started thinking about the downsides of sourcing and cleaning up that much foil I dreamed up an alternative. I purchased pack of aluminum blankets from Amazon. If they sound familiar, you’ve probably seen them wrapped around runners after they hit the finish line.

I used duct tape to make a seam up the side, creating a loop and then another strip of duct tape across the bottom. I reinforced the “seams” with more duct tape and then flipped the sack inside out so all the duct taped pieces were hidden inside. We did a few test runs across our kitchen (laughing hysterically) and we knew if it could handle the weight of the adults in the house, it would hold up fine for the kids.

Even so, I was worried we’d break one mid-race so I built a spare sack as a backup and kept the duct tape nearby! (Thankfully it wasn’t needed.) The kids loved this activity and it was a perfect way to get some wiggles out before we sat down to eat.

Food:

Well this was the one obvious part of planning this party! The only thing I had to think about was if we should do Chipotle catering or just order individual meals. We collected everyone’s order as part of the RSVP. Once I had that information and saw how much of everything we’d need to fulfill everyone’s preferences, I calculated that it would cost me nearly half to make individual orders. I made guacamole at home and also a crock-pot full of queso that stayed out for snacking throughout the party and ordered more as side orders for lunchtime. Chipotle makes it easy by labeling everyone’s orders which was so helpful distributing the food.

For cupcakes I found this churro cupcake recipe. We tested it out ahead of the party and deemed them delicious! We used a bag of frozen churros for the toppers and I made these logos off the invitation, printed myself on card stock, then cut with a circle punch. I glued a toothpick to the back then stuck it through the churro to secure it in place.

Goody Bag:

I’m admittedly not a big fan of goodie bags. We typically try to do either a book or a consumable gift. For this party we opted for a $10 Chipotle gift card to fund their next burrito and we made these rice packs with a taco party print. My son picked the fabric then helped to sew and stuff them all. We keep these in our freezer at all times, they’re soft and pliable and don't have the sting that comes with many ice packs— perfect for minor injuries with littles! They can also be heated in the microwave to soothe achy muscles or one party-goer’s mom reported that her son heats it each night to warm him up on bed. You can make your own set or my friend Kristi over at Desert Sparkle Designs sells them locally at craft markets.

It turns out that I like planning parties around unusual themes. It flexes my creative muscles and really gives me the opportunity to think outside the box. Most importantly, the party guests all had a blast, maybe just as much as I had planning it!