All Aboard!

As you know, I put together a train themed birthday party for my son who just turned 2. He had a great time. It was intimate in our home with few family and friends - we had originally requested the neighborhood community center and were pretty upset to find another party going on there...oh overbooking. Anyway, just about everything I put together was handmade. Take a look at the fun, however please excuse the photos themselves. I was a bit distracted by the party that the pictures are really subpar. I was a bit scatter brained and couldn't figure out the lighting for the life of me!!

I ordered the invitations off of Etsy. I also made all of the snacks that were served including Pizza Bites, Apple Chips, Candied Popcorn, and Chips and Salsa for the adults. The snacks were labeled and served aboard a train constructed by the hubby and I from cardboard boxes and wrapping paper. The drinks consisted of bottled water (labeled Steam Water) and chocolate milk (labeled Fuel) - all labels were made by myself and were super easy...just print out the words in your favorite font, cut them out and glue to layers of scrap paper.

 

The décor was really simple as well. It consisted of balloons and railroad tracks (electrical tape) leading to the front door. A "Happy Birthday" sign that we reuse every celebration and more balloons.

Since my son is only 2 (even if most of his guests were over that age), the activities were pretty limited, but still maintained a decent flow throughout the party. I passed out favors at the beginning of the party including a conductor's hat, a wooden train whistle (both ordered off of Amazon) and Chuggington coloring pages with molded crayons I made. They had a great time snacking and blowing their whistles for the first half hour-ish. Luckily we were at home and had the availability of my kids' toys. They started playing with cars, trains, dinosaurs, books and more right here in the living room where parents could keep an eye on their kids. And all of them got along great! They were playing well together and sharing and talking and laughing. It was amazing. Another simple activity I had lined up was a Silly Photo Booth. You can buy prepackaged props from Wal-Mart - the one that I got was in the party section and included a plastic background and face props (mustaches, hats, lips, glasses, etc.) And before a lull could make its way into the party, I brought out a cardboard box my husband had transformed into a train with windows (luckily we had just received our new couch in this very large box) and the kids colored away on it. :)

 

The reoccurring theme of the party is that it was simple, but fun. Nothing too extravagant and beyond my means...we saved a lot of money by making things ourselves (we probably spent on the lower end of somewhere between $100-200). This was all for 6 children and 10 adults.

For my son's 2 year portraits, check out my photography blog at Happy Child Images. :)

If I don't get a chance to post before Thursday, Happy Turkey Day to you!!!