ALL ABOARD for a super cute red & blue Choo Choo Train Party by Brandi of Jack and Marleigh! Party guests were invited to “Jackson’s Station” for a vintage train themed celebration, complete with a train ride and dining car style lunch! I love the mix of modern graphics with burlap and natural wood details – not to mention the ridiculously clever DIY “train cars carrying snacks!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Wooden toy train engine place card holders
• Train engine shaped watermelon slices displayed on fruit skewers!
• “Chew chew” napkin wraps
• “Luggage” favor boxes filled with old fashioned candy, popcorn & train whistles

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Brandi…

This is a party I threw for my son’s 3rd birthday. He is obsessed with trains and begged for a “big blue choo choo” party. I am not a fan of licensed parties, so I sought out a printable with a blue train engine. Thanks to NickWillJack, I found it! We had the party at our local train depot and museum.

Decor

My scheme centered around the blue train engine with lots of bright red and burlap. We used natural wood to add to the “vintage” side of this somewhat over-used party theme. The entrance to the party had a sign that said, “Welcome to Jackson Station.” The guests were greeted with a beautiful picture of the birthday boy on train tracks with his giant red balloon. My son’s best friend is a stuffed animal monkey named Miles, who has been at every birthday party! Being a important guest, he had to have a party shirt! Jackson got so excited to see Miles waiting on him and his friends to party!

Food

We had tickets for each child to board the train. The invitations stated “Come chug along with me the day has come I”m turning 3” so we used that theme throughout. We had a food table complete with a wooden train engine and cars to hold our snacks. We had Station House Sandwiches, Train fruit skewers, Cheese and Crackers, and Popcorn. We had dining tables set aside in “the dining car” complete with menu’s in the traditional restaurant frames. We used party rental vendor Little Occasions to rent a child size banquet table and chairs. I used a burlap runner and lots of candy as the centerpiece of the kid’s table. We had gumballs and whirly pop bouquets, with lots of other candy favorites. The kids loved being able to reach out and snack on all that yummy candy. Each child had a wooden train complete with their name for a place card.

Train Ride

Once the party was going a trackless train arrived right outside the station and sounded its’ horn. The birthday boy grinned from ear to ear when he looked up to see a “big blue choo choo” at his birthday. The kids grabbed their “luggage” and “tickets” and went to board the train. Jackson had been practicing all week saying, “All Aboard.” He blew his train whistle and said it in a very low voice (he is so shy), but luckily we captured it on camera. Miles made the trip as well and all the kids enjoyed their popcorn, bubbles, train whistle, and blue taffy.

Cake

The cake was last and the kids loved it. Jackson was so proud of his “blue choo choo” cake topper from Edible Details. My homemade cake banner looked great until the wind started blowing… but oh well, I tried.

I hope you guys like this party as much as I did! My husband and I have an Etsy shop for our personalized picture frames and home decor and my goodness I am so thankful for his talent. He made all of the heightening boxes and banner boards. The frames were the extra special touch. I definitely couldn’t have done it without him!