Train Themed Birthday Party
Back in June of last year, I showed you my son’s train-themed birthday party outfit. Last month, I shared a step-by-step tutorial on how we made our train-shaped piñata. Today, we are going to talk about his train-themed birthday party!
But before I get started, a little side note.
By now you know that I am all about birthdays! I love the excuse to celebrate life and as always, I wanted my son’s birthday celebration to be super special. In my mind, I had plans to create a fun atmosphere for our little guests and I was going to incorporate lots of train elements. So, I started planning my son’s birthday party three months ahead of time because I knew it would take a lot of work to put together. Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favor on the day of his party, and I never anticipated it to be extremely windy. Because of that, I couldn’t decorate properly to bring my vision to life and had to exclude almost all the details involved. Despite this hiccup, I made it my top priority to make my son feel nothing but special. #ducttapetotherescue
That said, I didn’t get the best pictures or a lot of them, but I got enough to capture my son’s special day. So, without further ado, let’s get into how I pulled it off.
Theme
Like always, the first step in our party planning was choosing a theme. As you may recall from our Halloween costumes last year that my son is obsessed with trains. So, when it came for the theme of his birthday, the decision was simple.
Invitation
Once we had a theme, the next thing I did was get started on the invitation. I found this adorable train invitation by Big Dot of Happiness from Amazon. I loved the simple design, classic color palette, and it set the stage for the whole party. Then I customized it with our party details, and the birthday boy hand delivered each invitation to his little friends.
Venue
After that, I put some serious thought into where we would hold his party. I really wanted my son and his friends to have a good time and kids at this age have so much energy. In the end, like my son’s golf-themed birthday party, I decided to host the party outside of our home and you just can’t go wrong with a park! Not only are parks awesome because they have a built-in activity, but the kids have a lot of space to run around outside. Let me just say, they absolutely love playing there. They got to run, jump, slide, bike, and so much more. It really is the perfect venue for a birthday party! #score
Decor
Table
As for the décor, whenever I host my son’s birthday party, the kid’s table set-up is always my favorite to put together. I knew I wanted something fun to use as a place setting and these ones from Big Dot Happiness were one of my favorite things from the party. Next, I paired the placemats with disposable light blue plates, utensils, and white napkins I bought from Walmart. Then, at each place setting I placed a bottle of Sunny D orange juice that I bought from Costco. I wrapped both the cutlery and juice with a coordinating train party label, which, in my opinion, allowed everything to stay cohesive.
Centerpieces
Since it was such a hit, I opted to recreate the centerpieces from my son’s birthday party last year. The only thing I did differently are the lollipops I used. This time, I went with these rainbow lollipops from Amazon for a bit of extra added fun and colors.
Food
In terms of menu, the food was easy, and everything was store bought from Save Mart. Since the birthday party was in the afternoon, our menu included ham and turkey sliders, chicken tenders, and a fruit tray. But I also had donut holes, goldfish, and my parents brought other items like Filipino eggrolls and pasta. Apart from the cupcakes and cake, all food items were served in disposable trays. I saw these train cars idea all over Pinterest and figured it would be easy to recreate. I used these large and small foil trays I found at Target as the train wagons. Then, I used black card stock paper to create the wheels and attached them with glue to the trays.
Cake & Cupcakes
Our local Save Mart made my son’s birthday cake and cupcakes. I have worked with them several times in the past and always loved their creations. I went with a half sheet style carrot cake that was decorated with a simple blue sky and green grass buttercream frosting. Then, I topped his cake with this fondant train set topper I found on Etsy to go along with our theme. My son adored it and I love the simplicity of this cake. Though, in hindsight, I do wish the train set topper came with a happy birthday sign. Nonetheless, I couldn’t have been happier with the final result.
Of course, cupcakes were a must too! I opted for both vanilla and chocolate flavors with red buttercream frosting and blue sprinkles. Yum! If you are local, definitely keep them in mind for your next party.
Activities
Beside the built-in playground at the park, I wanted there to be other activities to keep all the kids happy and entertained.
A simple activity idea for our train themed birthday party was a train ride so I asked the parents to bring their child’s bikes or scooters. The park we held the party at had a circular walkway and I had the kids pretend to be a train as they bike through it.
Of course, I knew that not all the kids invited wanted to bike or ride on their scooter. One other thing that we did was that we brought out a few of little guy’s train sets to the park. I can’t count how many trains sets we have at our house anymore and he loves taking them out to play every chance he can get. So, I had him pick three of his favorites to bring to his party to play with and share with his friends.
But the fun doesn’t stop there!
As a craft, one of the train party activities was built your own train. I was inspired by this project that I found on YouTube where she creates a Christmas train out of popsicle sticks. For the party, I wanted to include a few more for variety, so I added stickers. I also wanted to keep it simple so the craft would be easy for young children and little hands. Therefore, I prepped the components for the kids in advance and provided small Ziploc containers of supplies for each child. The kids loved making their own train during the party, and then got to take them home as an additional party favor.
Lastly, a party is never complete without a piñata. This not only jazzed up the food table for our train-themed party, but it also made for a fun activity! All the kids were looking forward to it and they had fun taking turns hitting it. Needless to say, eating lots of candy afterward! For the piñata favor bags, I used these colorful paper bags I got from Amazon.
Final Thoughts
All in all, the party was a huge success. While the party was only a few of hours long, almost everyone stayed later, and my son enjoyed himself so much with his friends. He told me later he had the best day and that alone made all the planning worth it for just that.
If you are looking for more birthday party ideas, I linked the previous years’ parties below.
Tell me – what are some favorite themes you’ve used for your kid’s birthday parties? Have you done an outdoor birthday party before? How did it work out?
*Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you).
**Additionally, some items linked above are not the exact item shown because it is either old or sold out, but I linked similar items for those that are unavailable.
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