February is one of my favorite months to plan a party. There's something about celebrating a birthday in the middle of winter that feels extra cozy, especially when the celebration involves diggers, dump trucks, and a whole lot of hard hats. This year, we celebrated our son Owen turning two, and there was really only one theme that made sense for our little construction-obsessed guy: all things trucks and tools.
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When it came time to pick a venue, I knew I wanted somewhere that would take the stress off of us and put the fun on the kids. We landed on DOZER in Leawood, a construction-themed indoor play space that was an instant hit before we even got the invitations out. Owen was the youngest kiddo in our group, and DOZER turned out to be the perfect fit for exactly that reason. The space is designed to welcome children of all ages, and DOZER provided entertainment for every kiddo in attendance, from Owen's two-year-old friends all the way up to the eight-and-under crowd playing on the diggers, building with the foam bricks and wood planks and scooping up the sand.
DOZER's Private Birthday Party package made planning so easy. For less than $400, you can get an hour and a half of private play space all to yourselves, room for 15 friends, and complete set up and clean up handled by their team. They also provided all of the party supplies, including tablecloths, plates, napkins, and juice boxes, because as they put it, "our goal is for you to show up with some cupcakes (or cake) and some snacks for the kids". As a parent who has hosted plenty of parties from scratch, I cannot tell you how nice it was to walk in, set down a cake, and not think twice about the rest. (Parties are available on Saturdays and Sundays, so we booked our Sunday morning slot and had the whole space to ourselves.)
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To dress up the space, we brought in a balloon garland in Owen's construction Kelsie with Sha Daisies Balloons, that perfectly matched the DOZER backdrop. It was such a fun, colorful touch that made the space feel extra festive for photos.
We also had the sweetest hand-painted banner made by Sierra Thomas of XOXO Celebration Co., a small business out of Spring Hill. Sierra hand-painted "Digging Turning 2" in the perfect construction-themed colors and font, and it made for such a special backdrop for guests to take pictures in front of. It's the kind of detail that photographs beautifully and that we'll get to keep forever as a keepsake from Owen's big day.
And of course, no birthday is complete without the cake! Kayla with Fluffy's Cakes outdid herself with a construction-themed masterpiece that had Owen (and honestly, the adults too) staring at it for a solid five minutes before we could even cut into it.
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Watching Owen run around in his own hard hat, surrounded by his friends and family, made all the planning worth it. DOZER took so much off our plates and let us just be present and soak in the moment of our little guy turning two. If you're looking for a stress-free, kid-approved party venue in Leawood, I cannot recommend DOZER enough!
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Thank you to everyone who made Owen’s second birthday such a special occasion!
