(party) little blue truck play date with the step2 raptor

I am a Step2 Ambassador and am partnering with Step2 for the following review. I received a product in exchange for my review and honest opinion.

When I first got a sneak peek of Step2’s new ride on push toy, the 2-in-1 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, I immediately knew that both of my kids would go crazy for it! I was right because as soon as my 4 year old saw the box, he begged me to build it right then and there. It took about an hour to build (by myself with 2 hyper kids running circles around me), and they haven’t stopped playing with it since! The coolest part, for a mama of both a preschooler and toddler, is the 2-in-1 feature. You can use the car as a ride on push toy or it can be powered by foot when you remove the hand bar and floor panel. I love how Step2 thinks about how their toys can grow with their little customers. We also love the storage spot in the back for sippy cups or stuffed animals and the lights in the front of the Raptor really light up, which is a fun little detail! The blue Raptor is a Sam’s Club exclusive and should be on the shelves any day now if it isn’t there already!

We’re huge Little Blue Truck book fans around here. My husband has those farm animal voices down and I can do a mean “beep, beep, beep” sound. If your kiddos have never read this book before, be prepared for a dump truck/farm animal obsession. The Step2 Raptor reminded me of a modern day Little Blue Truck and I thought it’d be fun to surprise my kiddos with a Little Blue Truck themed play date. This would make such a cute 1st birthday party theme too! You’ll have to get a little creative because there aren’t any store bought decoration out there for this theme, but it’ll be unique and you might actually end up saving some money DIY’ing it. I’ll fill you in on my super easy play date party details, feel free to steal them!

On the snack menu, we kept it simple with animal crackers for the kiddos and pie for the adults. Want to hear a little secret from one sleep deprived mama to another? Head to your local bakery and grab a pretty pie and a few mini pies. I’m all about easy and outsourcing when possible for parties! I found these pretty mini pies at Trader Joe’s in the frozen section. I just had to set them out an hour before the party to defrost and they looked super cute on the table. Logan loved finding the animal crackers that matched the characters in the book. Pour your animal crackers in a galvanized tin, which can be found at Lowes, and add some twine and wooden scoop for a nice farm-ish touch.

Let’s talk decor and party favors. I used a wooden crate to house our centerpieces on the table. See the flower “vase”, it’s really an old tin can covered with blue gingham scrapbook paper. The milk bottles and old toy truck were thrifted. I found the Pig chalkboard at Michaels and the farm animals at Jo-Ann’s. I recommend hitting up the thrift shops and looking around your house to find decor. For party favors, I filled 1/2 pint mason jars with blue (of course!) play dough and tied a farm animal cookie cutter around it with some twine. So simple and the kids had a blast making animal shapes out of play dough. See the pie stand? I made that by super gluing a plate to a candle holder. I reuse it for just about every party I host, so it was well worth the effort.

For the grand finale, the kids took turns riding around in the Step2 blue Raptor. I added a few farm animal balloons to the truck, just like at the end of the book when the animals piled in. We found some overalls and a farm hat on clearance at Target for Farmer Logan and Amelia looked adorable in her piggy costume that I purchased last year after Halloween! I recommend hitting up the stores the day after Halloween to find discounted costumes. We also shop consignment and thrift stores for play costumes. You can see the Step2 Raptor in action on the See Vanessa Craft You Tube Channel.

Beep, beep, beep!