Imagine empty spray paint cans, boards of graffiti, backwards Vans hats, and scuffed kneepads. You’re at a skate park, right? Try again. You are at a four-year-old's birthday party. Or, at least, you are at Owen Fanning’s birthday party. Fanning may just be the coolest four-year-old around. He has been skateboarding and skiing since he could put on his own shoes, which are typically his checkerboard Vans. He learns from skating videos on YouTube in between NERF gun battles with his older brother. Jill Fanning describes her son as her “extreme sports kid,” a fearless adventurer.
Jill, who celebrates four birthdays (her husband and three kids) in only two months, dedicated this year’s party to Owen. She gave Owen the freedom to design his own celebration from choosing a theme, skateboarding of course, to picking out food, like a giant tub of cheese balls. Owen and his brother even helped their dad build a skate ramp and graffiti a large piece of plywood.
To keep that skate park feel, Jill set up the graffiti boards in her garage behind tables lined with sapphire cloths under black netting. Vases of tie-dyed roses and daisies sat in the middle of each table, as if the spray paint had spilled onto the flowers. Owen decked out the ramp with Vans stickers while Jill wrapped checkerboard duct tape around the water bottles and the tub of Owen's beloved cheese balls.
Guests arrived with their skateboards, scooters, bikes, and helmets while the Beastie Boys pumped in the background. Owen’s D.I.Y. ramp stole the spotlight as his guests showed off their tricks and competed for who could stay on the board. They tuned into their artistic side with sidewalk chalk and created their own driveway graffiti. One of the spray painted boards became the perfect backdrop for photo shoots where neon sunglasses and Vans trucker hats became props for punk-rock poses and candid smiles. Guests noshed on Owen's hand-picked menu of hot dogs, fries, and salad before diving into dessert. None of Jill’s kids are cake lovers, but Owen adores Oreos. So Jill stacked his favorite cookie in tall layers to create an Oreo cake. This was a huge hit. Kids could grab Oreos while running from the ramp to photo shoots. Jill stuck skating army men figurines on this and cupcakes and displayed the skating sweets on her husband’s tool bench over black and white striped cloth.
Later, kids swung at a skateboard piñata to fill their goodie bags with more sugar. Jill had prepared the bags with fun, practical items like skateboard erasers, Pop Rocks, and the Vans hats and sunglasses used for pictures. By the end of the night, you would think the Beastie Boys themselves had visited the party. Jill says the boys rocked the skater look with their backwards hats and neon glasses. Clearly, this graffiti painting, skater-in-training four-year-old knows how to throw a party.
Vendors
Linens: Special Occasions & Queen Street Linens, Lancaster, www.specialo.com Skater Figurines for Cakes: The Original AJ’s Toy Boarders, www.toyboarders.com Vans Hats: Vans, www.vans.com Flowers: Wegmans, www.wegmans.com Neon Sunglasses: Party City, www.partycity.com
By Kaila Young / Photography by Jill Fanning