A few months ago, my son Charlie made a joke while we were shopping at Target and said “What if I had my 9th birthday party at Target. Just kidding, I know that would never happen…” and that’s when the idea of throwing this “Icee Sips & Target Trips” themed birthday party came to mind.

It was Charlie’s last single digit birthday so I knew we had to do something big! This was the same exact Target I have been shopping at since I was 5 years old. I walked this exact Target days before becoming a first-time mom to push myself into labor. This is the same Target I worked at for 3 months when I was 16. Fast forward 17 years later, and this was the same Target I rushed to see the Target ad I was in last December’s issue of Martha Stewart. I guess you could say this exact Target store location and I sort of go way back!

I had been holding on to these photos for 2 months, but finally shared the party on my Instagram yesterday and everyone went nuts!

So here's how it happened... At first, I felt a little funny asking the store director if we could throw Charlie’s 9th birthday party at Target, but he welcomed us with open arms and the rest was history. I was so so thankful to work with Target Store Director, Joe Forbes, who was totally on board with my wild idea from the very beginning.

To pull it off, I had my mom bring Charlie to Target that morning after we set everything up. She pretended they were just going shopping until they got to the section of the store we had the party set up. He was both puzzled and shocked! It took a few seconds for him to piece things together. All of his friends showed up wearing Target uniforms – red shirts and beige khakis. Joe had custom Target badges made for all the kids so they could be real Target team members for the day.

The kids had an epic scavenger hunt throughout the store followed by a... SILLY STRING FIGHT!

Silly string clean-up on aisle 9! That was craaazzzy! Hands down, I think the kid’s favorite part of the scavenger hunt was definitely the silly string fight in the store aisle!

At the end of the party, Charlie's friends all picked out a "party favor" from the Dollar Bin. Charlie was on cloud 9 happily scanning all of the items. Charlie said this party was his favorite memory of the summer. Mission accomplished.

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CREDITS

Creative Director, Melissa Johnson of Best Friends For Frosting

Project Developer & Stylist, Kim Alcala

Editorial Director, Event Planner, Molly Allen

Target Store Director, Joe Forbes

Photographer, Andy Johnson

Videographer, Ray Casillas

Balloons: Ready Set Confetti

Decorated Cookies & Kookie Kart: Konfections and Konfetti

3-Tier Target Cake: Megan’s Bake Shop

Target Party Sign: Paper Lane Designs

Custom Birthday Party Hats: August Root

Probably at Target Doormat: Linden Fields

Starbucks Ring Toss: Ford Country

Starbucks Coffee Customized Sign: Party Perfect Design

Target Sign: Custom by Dre