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Train Party -3yr - Railroad Balloon Décor

November 2005

Kelli in San Marcos, Texas

Special Mention

Train Theme Party - Age 3

My three year old LOVES trains, so I wanted him to have a train birthday party that was going to be one that he could remember .  I did go all out, but I did a lot of planning a couple months before the party so I wasn't stressing the days before. It turned out so wonderful, and everyone had a lot of fun.   

The invitations:  The invitations were made on my computer.  They were quarter-half folded and had a train on the front and it said "All Aboard".  In the inside it said: You are invited to Engineer child’s name 3rd birthday party. Train Station: Our address.  Arrival and Departure: Time of Party. And it said To reserve you ticket please call: our phone number.  On the back I had a picture of my son playing with a train and a little caption bubble saying "I hope to see you there". 

Decorations:  I took two PVC pipes and painted them red and white, and ties two red balloons up at the top to look like railroad crossing guards at the end of our driveway.  I took black construction paper and made railroad tracks to our front door.  I had two old time red train lanterns hanging by the front door, and had a big poster (made with markers, glitter, and poster board) that said Station 454 (Our address number). On the wall when you walked in I had the train schedule with each stop - games, food, presents ect.  At each of the stops, I had a sign that said the stop number and what we'd be doing. For the presents, I took a large box and made it look like a train car. 

On our bathroom door I made a sign that said "Dump Deliveries Here" - all of the adults thought this was hilarious!   I continued the train tracks to the door that led to our backyard (where the party was).  I had train balloons everywhere and train streamers hanging on the walls.  In the backyard I had train tablecloths, napkins, plates, and I put train stickers on the plastic utensils for the food.  I had a pop-up Thomas the train house/tunnel set up in the backyard, and a jumpy castle in the shape of a train. 

I also got some boxes from a local fast food place and cut them and half, spray painted them, and used construction paper to make wheels and numbers on the side - they looked like boxcars to a train.  These games were good for the kids at the party because they were all ages 2-5 and they did get the parents involved which made them even more fun.   

The fun:  When the kids arrived I gave the boys an engineer hat and a train whistle, and the girls a fluffy had and some plastic jewelry (they were the rich passengers).  I then took their pictures and had my husband print them out and glue them to a train passport we had previously printed out(it said Train Passport to Caleb's 3rd birthday party and the date. I had train tattoos for the boys and simple face paintings for the girls.  There was a train movie on both TVs in the house, a train set out to play with, and a small kids table set up with crayons and train pictures to color. 

We played 4 games - did the train piñata filled with candy and small plastic trains that I bought at a local party supply store, we played musical boxcars - I used the cardboard boxcars that I made and played "I'll be working on the railroad" for the music,  Pin the whistle on the train (I used a poster board to draw a train and made whistles out of another poster board with the children's names on them), and coal races - I had teams of five kids with an adult at each end.  There was a pile of 5 coals (made out of black socks filled with marbles) at one end and a boxcar at the other. The object was to get the coals one at a time to the boxcar. 

When the boxcar was filled, the adult at the end with the boxcar had to run to a line I made in our grass and blow a whistle.  This was fun for the kids and adults.   I also rented one of those trackless trains for the last hour.  I had it at the end of the party in case there were some kids that didn't want to get off the train and finish up the rest of the party.  I also had a table set up outside for the kids that didn't want to ride the train where they could paint railroad tracks (previously made out of large and small Popsicle sticks glued together).

The Food:  I made a cake the shape of a train.  I got the recipe off of the Kraft website, I just made the cake have more boxcars then the recipe provided.  I used previously frozen pound cakes and cut them to look like a train.  I iced them with dyed cool whip (used food coloring) and had Oreos and gummy lifesavers for the wheels, and each cart had something different in it - animals (animal crackers), coal (cocoa pebbles), Corn (candy corn), cars (gummi cars), flowers (candy flowers) - I did a couple of the flowers because the kids picked out their own piece and this was a little more girly for the girls. 

I also made train cookies and made a train veggie plate out of the Gladware containers and a triangle Tupperware container I had.  WE also ate BBQ and fixins - not train related, but very Yummy!  The party was great. 

My advice if doing a party like this is to get as much done in advance.  The decorations took a while because the paint had to dry on the boxcars and the RR crossing signs.  My son was so excited the day of his birthday party, and he keeps telling me he wants to have another train party when he turns 4.

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