We had Caiden's official birthday party at the Forest Park Miniature Railroad just outside the Fort Worth Zoo. A train-themed party was a no-brainer due to Caiden's current obsession with trains, but I didn't want it to be all Thomas. Also, I wanted to have some fun myself and make many of the decorations and extras. It didn't really go as planned, but we had a lot of fun anyway! A couple things I learned for future parties
- It's very risky to have a party where you can't reserve space. When we got there to set up, all but one table were spoken for. Boo!
- Spring birthdays, outdoor parties and Texas weather don't mix. I had been praying for no rain. Which it didn't, thankfully! But it was crazy windy. Boo!
- Don't mess with balloons if your party is outside, especially if it's windy. They'll just get tangled. Boo!
- Make sure you have a memory card in your camera, because it does you no good if you don't. Boo! Thank you so much to Ashlee, Shiva and others who took pictures for me!
Anyway, enough of the bad stuff... on to the good stuff. I'm sure you are well aware that I like to be crafty, so birthday parties are a perfect opportunity to do just that. And of course I used my Mighty Machine and Pinterest to help me along the way.
To start with... the invites. I loved how they turned out. (inspiration
here)
You might have already seen the shirt I made him for the festivities.
I made Caleb a different version of it, but he wore his jacket most of the time.
Here's the table setup. (remember that I only had 1 table available, after I'd planned on 3!)
I chose a pull-string pinata because I don't really trust 3-year-olds swinging a bat in the air :)
Thomas the Train temporary tattoos!
Everyone loved the train ride.
After the train ride we had cake, cupcakes, and cookies. My sweet foodie friend, Erin, helped me make the cake. We used Pinterest of course to help, but she made all the icing and fondant for me. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out! (cake inspiration
here)
You can just barely see the banner I made with the Mighty Machine in the picture above.
The candles wouldn't stay lit in the wind, so we pretended.
Train engine cookies
And I used the Mighty Machine to fancy up some non-homemade cupcakes with some train wrappers.
And of course Caiden opened his presents. Caiden was so cute because after he opened each gift, he would go to each person to say thank you.
For the party favors, I used my Mighty Machine again to personalize some cups and each one had some bubbles and a Thomas & Friends pez dispenser.
So hard to get everyone to look at the camera!
Don't mind my chubby cheek. I had just taken a bite of bagel!
Special Thanks to my mom & stepdad, Eric's mom and the McCrary family for making the trip from out of town for the celebration! We were so glad you came to celebrate Caiden!
Whew! I'm glad Caiden and the guests enjoyed it, but now it's on to party #1 for baby #2. Makes me want to cry!
